Outline

Intro
 Hook
 Mini blurbs for each text
 Comparative thesis statement

External
Body Paragraph 1: Traditional Gender Roles
CoaDF ~ Angela v.s. Society
 Angela is forced to marry to benefit the family’s situation
o “Love can be learned too” Angela’s mother p23
 Angela is forced to sacrifice and do what’s best for the family
 Relationships are transactional in this world disregard love and romances

 “The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls had been reared to get married.”
 “They’re perfect,” she was frequently heard to say. “Any man will be happy with them
because they’ve been raised to suffer.”

 “I’ve been going from town to town looking for someone to marry” Bayardo p17

Body Paragraph 2: The blind pursuit of wealth, family and familial obligation
AmS ~ Chris v.s. Joe
 Money and the family’s business
 Chris is an idealist who believes there is a way to obtain wealth without using immoral
means
o “Oh Annie, Annie… I’m going to make a fortune for you!”
 Even though Chris seems like an idealist who has morals in the pursuit of
wealth, he still vows to make a fortune for Ann. Showing how he is actually
more similar to his father than he thinks
 Joe is a pragmatic realist who thinks he has to find a way to make money for the family
at all costs
o “Listen, you gotta appreciate what was doin’ in that shop in the war. The both of
you! It was a madhouse. Every half hour the Major callin’ for cylinder heads, they
were whippin’ us with the telephone. The trucks were hauling them away hot,
damn near.” Joe p29
 It wasn’t just personal greed that motivated Joe to increase production, but
the military also demanded that the factories produce more materials for
the war
o “Must you be inspired?” Joe p15
 Joe and Chris having conversation over maintaining the family business,
and their characters are in direct contrast over the matter of money and
what must be sacrificed to achieve wealth

Internal
Body Paragraph 3: outdated traditions
CoaDF ~ Vicario brothers
 They didn’t truly want to murder Santiago, they did it out of duty to restore their
family’s honour
o “It’s to spare those poor boys from the horrible duty that has fallen on them”
Armenta p39

 Questions the notion of honour and male gender roles
 The Vicario brothers are town between doing what society expects of them bus
suffering from internal guilt after committing the act
o “I never would have married him if he hadn’t done what a man should do.”
Body Paragraph 4: guilt and liability
AmS ~ Larry
 Larry killed himself out of guilt from his father’s actions during the war
o “Larry didn’t kill himself to make you and Dad sorry.” Chris p79
 Juxtaposition of Larry's almost noble act and Keller’s cowardly act of
escaping of the consequences of his actions.
o “I can’t express myself. I can’t tell you how I feel—I can’t bear to live anymore.”
o “Every day three of four men never come back and he sits back there doing
business… I don’t know how to tell you what I feel… I can’t face anybody”
o “Sure, he was my son. But I think to him there were all my sons”
 Larry’s guilt over his father’s actions
 Consequences of the blind pursuit of wealth
 Larry kills himself out of shame, Joe kills himself out of shame when he realises tha
consequences of his actions
Essay
Intro
Authors often use literature to reflect on society. In order to comment on a society’s beliefs
and values, they create conflict based on the respective societal periods in which the
narrative takes place. The inner turmoil of characters and outward conflict allow readers to
understand the world of both works and how each work comments on their respective
societies. Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons (AMS), written in 1946, tells the story of the Keller
family and how internal and external conflict materialise in their pursuit of the American
Dream. The play uses these conflicts to comment on post-World War 2 society that had the
blind pursuit of wealth. Columbian author Gabriel Garcia Marques’s Chronicle of a Death
Foretold (CoaDF) is a novel published in 1983. Marques’s novel contains internal and external
conflicts surrounding familial obligations and gender. While not directly challenging societal
norms, these conflicts subtly, yet powerfully, question and indirectly criticise the outdated
traditions prevalent in Columbia during the 1950s. Miller and Marques use internal and
external conflicts typical of their respective periods to criticise the values and beliefs of these
societies and create a powerful social commentary.

Body Paragraph 1
In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, traditional gender roles are portrayed through Angela
Vicario's relationship with her family and the societal pressures imposed upon her. Angela is
forced into a marriage of convenience to benefit her family's reputation and social standing,
a choice that disregards her personal desires or feelings of love. Her mother's statement,
“Love can be learned too,” encapsulates the transactional nature of relationships in this
society, where individual emotions are secondary to familial duty. This line underscores how
Angela’s autonomy is sacrificed to meet societal expectations of women, who are expected
to marry for the family's benefit rather than for personal fulfilment. Furthermore, when
Angela returns home after her failed marriage, beaten and shamed, her mother’s actions
reinforce these oppressive expectations: “She went into the bedroom and returned with the
soaked sheet,” showing how Angela’s worth is reduced to her ability to meet societal
standards of purity. Both quotes reveal how Angela’s personal sacrifice is not an isolated
event but a reflection of a broader societal framework that dictates the roles and limitations
of women, treating them as pawns in transactions aimed at securing family honour. Through
Angela's story, Márquez critiques the rigid gender norms that subjugate women, highlighting
how they are coerced into conforming to oppressive expectations.

Body Paragraph 2
In All My Sons, the blind pursuit of wealth is explored through the conflicting perspectives of
Chris and Joe Keller, specifically regarding family and familial obligation. Chris, the idealist,
believes that wealth can be obtained without compromising moral principles. His declaration,
"Oh Annie, Annie… I’m going to make a fortune for you!" illustrates his belief that he can
achieve success in a way that aligns with his values. However, this promise also reveals that
Chris is not entirely different from his father, as he still equates personal fulfilment with
financial success. On the other hand, Joe represents a pragmatic, even ruthless approach to
wealth, prioritizing financial stability over ethical concerns. His defence of his actions during
the war, "Listen, you gotta appreciate what was doin’ in that shop in the war... the trucks
were hauling them away hot, damn near," reveals that his decisions were not only motivated
by greed but also by external pressures from the military. Joe’s statement, "Must you be
inspired?" further highlights the contrast between his realism and Chris’s idealism. Joe sees
sacrifice, particularly ethical sacrifice, as a necessary part of maintaining the family’s
financial legacy, whereas Chris holds onto the belief that wealth and morality need not be
mutually exclusive. This tension between the two characters underscores the broader theme
of the moral cost of wealth, particularly when family obligations are involved.