English 10 IB
6/1/09
Ms. Peifer
The Most Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
The short story "The Most Handsomest Drowned Man in the World", by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is about a huge drowned man that washed up on the beach of a coast village in Columbia. This man has a major impact on the inhabitants of the village, because the man is so different. The villagers clean off the drowned man of the debris and mud that caked his body, and they find that he is the biggest, strongest, and the most handsome man that they had ever seen. The villagers sewed clothes that were big enough for him, and they held the largest burial ceremony that the village had ever seen. They named the man Esteban, because they knew that was the only name that fit him. Esteban had a lasting impact on the people, they built bigger and wider houses so the memory of Esteban could live with them, and they planted huge coastal gardens so that passengers on cross-sea liners could wake up and smell the flowers on the shore. Some themes of this story are how the drowned man's beauty and difference from the rest of the villagers changed their lives for the better and also how sincere and compassionate people can be, even for a dead person.
There are lots of allegories within this story, and most of the happenings in this story stand for compassion and love. The fact that the villagers stopped everything that they were doing just to find out who this man was and where he came from is very compassionate and loving. Also, Marquez uses descriptive detail to express what Esteban was and what he meant to the people, and how he became more and more important as the story went on. The atmosphere of this story is very loving and compassionate, and also sad in a way that makes the audience happy for Esteban and the villagers, because the way the story makes the audience feel is how the village feels about Esteban and how he effected them. The mood is also the same as the atmosphere, because the audience feels the same mood of the villagers in the story, and the villagers different moods throughout the story are expressed well throughout. The point of view of this story is kind of odd, because the audience half-knows the characters thoughts and feelings, but its not blatantly expressed throughout the story, but also near the end, an "I" is slipped in as if it was just one person telling the story.
There are lots of allegories within this story, and most of the happenings in this story stand for compassion and love. The fact that the villagers stopped everything that they were doing just to find out who this man was and where he came from is very compassionate and loving. Also, Marquez uses descriptive detail to express what Esteban was and what he meant to the people, and how he became more and more important as the story went on. The atmosphere of this story is very loving and compassionate, and also sad in a way that makes the audience happy for Esteban and the villagers, because the way the story makes the audience feel is how the village feels about Esteban and how he effected them. The mood is also the same as the atmosphere, because the audience feels the same mood of the villagers in the story, and the villagers different moods throughout the story are expressed well throughout. The point of view of this story is kind of odd, because the audience half-knows the characters thoughts and feelings, but its not blatantly expressed throughout the story, but also near the end, an "I" is slipped in as if it was just one person telling the story.
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