The novella was inspired by real-life events that occurred to García Márquez's godbrother. García Márquez heard the story of a young couple that got married in Sucre and, on the day following their wedding, the groom rejected the bride due to her lack of virginity. The bride was determined to have had relations with her former boyfriend, who was consequently pursued and murdered by the bride's two brothers in order to avenge the family's honor. Though many publications speculated that García Márquez had witnessed the murder firsthand, the writer was in fact not present during the events, which took place in Sucre in 1951.[1]
There are key differences between the action of the story and what took place in reality.[2] For one, in the novella, it is never clear whether or not Santiago Nasar had a prior relationship with Ángela Vicario before her wedding, whereas in real life, the bride had had sexual relations with her former boyfriend. Additionally, García Márquez chose to make the two assassins in the novella twins, Pablo and Pedro Vicario. In real life, they were simply brothers. Lastly, in the book, there is a reconciliation between Ángela and the groom who rejects her, Bayardo San Roman. In real life, there was no such reconciliation.[1]
Brief references are made to Márquez's earlier novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, with Bayardo San Roman's father being mentioned as having fought against Aureliano Buendía, one of that novel's main characters.
