Chronicle+Character+-+Cristo+Bedoya

Cristo Bedoya
 * Character’s name**
 * Role in plot**
 * Role in plot**
 * Role in plot**

Cristo Bedoya is a friend of both the Narrator and of Santiago Nassar. He is a medical student. The role that Cristo Bedoya plays throughout the morning before the murder of his close friend Santiago Nassar is that he tries to warn him of his impending death. On the night before the murder, after the wedding Cristo, Santiago, Luis Enrique and the narrator all went to the Xuis’ house (the home of the newlyweds) to serenade them and “set off rockets and fireworks” (67). After leaving Xuis’ house, Santiago and Cristo walked home and Cristo left Santiago at his back door, they agreed to meet later to see the bishop arrive. About an hour later, after Santiago sleeps, he and Cristo Bedoya meet and walk to the square to see the bishop arrive. Then, on their way back, Yamil Shaium decides to confirm with Cristo the rumor of Santiago’s murder, so Cristo and Santiago part ways. After Cristo learns of what the Vicario brothers are planning to do he begins to search for Santiago. He first goes to his house and tries to find him there; he goes to his room and takes Santiago’s gun. He then goes to the narrator and Margot’s house because he thinks he will find Santiago there to warn him, but cannot find him. By the time he comes out of the house, it is too late for the murder has already been committed. After the death, the townspeople try to recruit him to help with the autopsy because of his medical background but because of the close relationship that he and Santiago had he is excused. The name Cristo means Christ. The name literally means Bearing Christ. Although the name is Spanish the origin is Greek, it comes from the name Jesus Christ. There are many allusions to Jesus Christ in //The Chronicle of a Death Foretold// especially in the actual murder of Santiago Nassar. The image of Santiago Nassar’s death alludes to the death of Jesus in that he was held up against the door by the knives, the brothers stabbed him but he did not bleed, and in the autopsy report stated that the deep stab in Santiago’s right had “looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ” (76). There are other allusions to the death of Jesus, for example the roosters who crowed noisily are a reminder of when Peter the apostle denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed on the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Cristo in the novel has a significant name because it is his name which directly reflects that of Jesus Christ. On the morning of Santiago’s death Cristo is the man who finds out about the rumors that the Vicario brothers are going to find and kill Nassar. Cristo is frantically running around trying to find and warn Santiago and get him somewhere safe, out of harms way. Cristo Bedoya could have been Santiago’s savior; however he fails in his mission to save Santiago’s life. The connection to be made here is that in the Christian religion, Jesus Christ came to the world to save the people of the world, yet most of the world rejects Christ. The world does not think that it needs to be saved, but by comparing the world with Santiago Nassar it is believed that without Christ the world is condemned just as Santiago Nassar is condemned to death without the warning from Cristo Bedoya.
 * Significance of name in work**
 * Significance of name in work**
 * Significance of name in work**
 * Student’s name**
 * Student’s name**
 * Student’s name**

Arie Pittman