Printed with permission of Artist Luisa Rivera
In the beautiful and haunting story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a great change takes place in a remote village on a seaside cape after a beautiful drowned body washes to shore Why do you think I might have assigned this as the first story of the course?
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148 thoughts on “Week 2 Discussion”
I believe you might have assigned this as the first story of the course, to show us how imagination and storytelling can change someone’s life. In the story, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez” the village itself and the people where dry, the did the same things each day and there was not any sense of happiness or life. Once the Deadman came to their village the world of imagination, they did not even know they had starts to expand filling with fantasies and curiosities. The women paint pictures of the man in their brain, on how his life was before death. They also compare the men in the village to the dead man, who soon becomes known as Esteban. Soon after this everyone has built a story about the dead man. Once it was time for the dead man to set sails, the villagers realized, they just wanted to live life and be happy. Storytelling has the power to help people change the way they think about something, the way people live their lives and so much more. With just a bit of imagination and storytelling you can inspire others.
I believe what you are saying is true because I know firsthand that storytelling can have a positive effect on others because of how they inspire them to do more and be more. There are many different kinds of stories like “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” that are mysterious and beautiful that can give people a different perspective or a better understanding of the lives that others may or may not live.
Marvin, your comment is so well taken. Please just be sure to address comments to others by name so we can all follow along. Thank you!
I totally agree with you Marving, there is always room for understanding and knowledge from this type of eye-opening or magical stories that are told. We can learn to examine those stories and try to make sense of them although they can be a little different from what we are already used to reading and understanding. In this case, the villagers learned that their environment is one of many and that there is room for change and acceptance.
Heaven, thank you for starting off the discussion board on this high note. Yes, this story, among many themes, points to the power of stories to change readers’ lives. The villagers create a story about the dead man, and then they challenge themselves to be equal to that story—to expand their own horizons to meet the limits of their imagination.
Hello Heaven, I totally agree with your statement .The villages were secluded from the outside world, so as soon as they saw someone who was different from them they were amazed. The way they created a beautiful story about a dead man tells you a lot about their lives. And one of the conclusion when can draw about this story telling is that a great individual has the ability to change others positively, and could encourage them to do better for their lives.
Hello Heaven, I want to say that I agree with you, I actually wrote something really similar to what you said. Ms. Conway sure choose this story as the first one of the class to make us understand that the class it meant to make us better. As this class seems that will have many stories in it, sure the power of “imagination and storytelling”, along with some good stories would make us change or at least find new prospective and ideas.
Heaven, I agree with you about how storytelling can change someone’s life since it opens our imagination to possibilities we never knew existed. The drowned man awaken the imagination of the villagers and brought light and color to what was once a dull place. The villagers created their own stories of this drowned man, they began to imagine what his life was like and this also allowed them to expand their imagination. Indeed, imagination and storytelling can take us from one place to place, inspire and challenge us.
I agree to everything you have to say Heaven. This story has made me imagine while reading it and makes me think how life has been for the village before. I can also say from first hand experiences stories have inspired me in many different ways from getting my life together to making me pursuit happiness or just plain out more curios to find more interesting stories.
I 100% agree and I genuinely love this comment. Anything can create a change in people’s lives and in the case of this story the deadman sparked something into those villagers that nothing else could have.
Also yes story telling does have an amazing way of changing your perspective. This story had a lot of great details put into it as it progressed and it was for me satisfying the way it ended and a possible message for the reader to come across.
Manuel, please be sure that you address comments to others by name and that your comments meet the length requirements.
The story itself allows us to anticipate things in a different way. It has taken a whole new toll and has urged us to think of something in a very surreal yet somehow in a veridical methodology way. Through this form of learning stories like, “The most handsome drowned man” by Gabriel Garcia; moreover allows us to comprehend the perspectives from other companions. On the other hand, it certainly will help us to change the way of looking or considering things besides from our point of view. I believe the professor assigned us this story as our first course to let ourselves explore and see how far our intellect can go. However, also to consider other people’s opinion being unbiased and non-judgmental about it with an open mind. Likewise, to comprehend the very concept of far-fetched stories like this, to contemplate fictional scenarios, and help implement in our everyday life for a good change is what I believe is the main purpose of this assignment. In conclusion, these types of stories make us recast our critical thinking, educate us to enhance the creativity of ours, and help ourselves figure out any circumstance of life in general.
Prasika, I have to admit that my goals in assigning this story first were not quite as far-reaching as you express here—though I should strive to create such profound goals. But yes, I do assign this story first as a way of exploring how the telling of stories can change the reader. As you write, we can enhance our critical thinking, become more creative and take on new perspectives about life. This is the primary goal of this course—that everyone will be larger in thought, more open to ideas, and more receptive to the power of storytelling.
Thank you Professor! 🙂
Hello Prasika, i like how you bring up that this story makes you rethink how you employ critical thinking. Fictional stories are a great way to provide perspective from another’s view point. I think another reason the professor gave us this reading was to show how much a change in perspective can effect the way a person thinks. I believe you also brought this up when you said how we should be considerate of opinions of others unbiased. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this paper and it made me think a lot more about the story on a deeper level.
I think you assigned this as the first story of the course because you wanted to emphasize the impact of storytelling and how stories can sometimes have a profound, or almost magical, effect on those who internalize them. Although the villagers made up their own narratives for this John Doe with no other prompt than his physicality, I think you chose this story because you wanted to expound on the idea that perception is key. I also believe that through this story you wanted us to grasp the notion that perception is flexible; like how for the men it started out as just a random body they didn’t really want to deal with any longer and to the women, he instantly became a sort of wonderland of possibilities they didn’t realize existed until then. In the end, both men and women regarded him in a saint-like nature, and both parties viewing him from two opposite spectrums of perspective arrived at the same conclusions.
Antonia, I love what you write here about “the notion that perception is flexible.” If students can leave this class with a sense of openness to the messages embedded in each of the works we read this semester, that is an enrichment that transcends grades and the completion of a requirement. We are here to grow and become larger, like the people in Esteban’s village. Thanks for your thoughtful comments!
Antonia, I also noticed the difference in how the men treated Esteban versus the women. The women were more tender hearted and sympathetic and once the men started to realize he could be one of us and not a person to be jealous of they also placed Esteban close to their hearts. This is what sparked the change in the village with everyone building the village bigger and more beautiful.
Antonia, I agree with your thoughts on this. I too believe that Professor Conway assigned us this story to enable us to broaden our individual perceptions and observe contents beyond our ability to envision things in an unbiased way.
Prasika, please be sure your comments to others meet the length requirements so that you can receive full credit for the week.
Antonia, I agree with you that stories can have profound or magical effects on us if we internalize them. Stories have a way of opening up our imagination and changing our life. I love your statement ” perception is flexible”. This is true because everyone perceive things differently; to the men at first they could not understand why the women was fussing over a no body and to the women, he was marvelous and filled with poise which they never knew existed in men. This drowned strange who was viewed by both men and women of this small village came to the realization that he amounted to something.
Antonia, I agree with you that stories like these can often leave a magical effect on us, especially when you look at it from a different perspective. I love how you pointed out that they regard him in a saint-like nature. Depending on how you view this story and its symbolism it can have a biblical meaning or be about grief and how others live on in our memory. There is so much to unpack with this story so I like how you said “perception is flexible” because it is when we read stories like this. Our perception is always changing depending on how we analyze the text.
Hi Serafina, I thought I left a reply to you but I cannot find it here now so I hope i’m not being to repetitive. I noticed you also picked up on biblical references in this magical story. The fact that flowers and sentimental trinkets are left with Esteban replicates behavior that has existed throughout the ages in the bible as gifts for God, but can be found in the history of many cultures and religions. Behind it is the thought that If God is happy, you have his favor. If Esteban is happy, maybe he will come back to us so we wont anchor him, we will send him on his way but with the forever hope he will come back and/or at least give us favor and bless us. There were several biblical references in this work including when they referenced “holy water, ” but is think this idea is not just biblical, but universal. I’m glad you picked up on that.
Hey Antonia,
I totally agree with the reasoning for Professor Conway for posting this story first. It’s showing the power of storytelling but what is even stronger is the internalizing story and really trying to understand the story and having your own reactions and acting on them. Additionally I noticed the same thing with how the different reactions of the men and the women to the dead body. It just shows how in life everyone has different reactions, you couldn’t have put it any better “perception is flexible.”
I believe you might have assigned this as the first story of the course to give a view of the mythic struggles that the characters in stories and how strange events such as a beautiful drowned body washes to shore, can affect them. There are also elements in this story that may convey a form of mystery because of how it a beautiful dead body and the protagonist of this story have to solve the reasons behind it and answers the questions that the reader may have, such as how did he drown or where did he come from? These questions are essential for the reader to have because of how it keeps them interested in what is going in the story.
Marvin, thank you for your post! I agree that there is a great sense of mystery in this story. At the same time, this story is rooted in a very simply ordinary village. It is the creative act of these simple villagers that results in the birth of a myth that gives life to their community.
Hi Marvin, I do agree with this story keeping the readers interested and forcing them to think questions that they probably would not have thought about. I think the author ends the story, well in my opinion off with readers thinking, If the dead man will ever return? and Does he watch over the village? If I haven’t read this story with the class I would have definitely thought it was related to the fiction genre mystery but I would also have to say the fiction genre mythology. Even though he is not a God, the women in the village do treat him as such. Furthermore, the experience and life he gave them will be told for many generations.
I think the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was assigned to us as our first story of the course because of the symbolism. Depending on how you analyze the text, you can walk away with many interpretations that can change the story’s identity and how we relate to it. This story has themes of identity, transformation, and even biblical ties if you dig deep enough. Which changes your perception of the story in the same way the villager’s perception of the man had changed over time. Stories that revolve heavily around symbolism cause us to constantly change our interpretation and make room for more possibilities. In the same way, the villagers decided to make wider doors for Esteban and men like Esteban. Stories like these show us the power of storytelling, it forces us to walk away with a piece of it in our hearts and minds.
Serafina, I find your emphasis on the symbolism in the story to be interesting and also borne out by the text. Certainly, the ideas of large doors, springs sprouting up from the earth, flowers blooming where they never bloomed before, are all symbols of the great change the comes about in the Village of Esteban!
Serafina, I love the fact that you tied this story to a biblical reference. It’s almost as if this story is a parable. You can definitely walk away with different interpretations and none of those interpretations are wrong. I also saw a lot of symbolisms in this story especially with identity and perceptions.
Regina, just be sure your comments to others meet the length requirements.
There isn’t a length checker and if I’m responding I’m not aware of how many words or letters are being used.
Regina, I know there is no Word Count tool. However, your post was about 50 words. So you can figure that you should have another line or two. It doesn’t have to be exact, but a little more than two-thirds the word count.
Hey Serafina, I enjoyed hearing your take on this story. I totally agree with you about the symbolism, and I noticed a few themes that I could have used to interpret the story too. I love your idea of symbolism allowing us to “make room for more possibilities”, I’ve never heard it so simply put or so well described. You put into words the essence of how I felt while reading this story. Also, your last line gives this powerful image that makes me want to read more stories just to feel that power again. Keep up the good work ?
Hi Emmalee, I enjoyed reading your perspective on this wonderful story, especially the way you considered that his name gave him an identity. An identity gives us a sense of purpose and we usually attach to our names. While one might argue that some people hate their names, it doesn’t change the fact that our names give us a story, it attaches us not only to a past and present but also to a future. It is the first introduction of who we are to a world that has yet to meet us and all we are. In this story i liked the way the woman who choose the name, “Esteban” was an older woman of the village as our elders are often associated to be of the most wise in a community for their experience. Thus when she names “Esteban” will be the dead mans name, even the younger more stubborn women accepted it was meant to be his name. I liked you outlook.
Serafina i love how you noticed how the villagers have different perceptions of Esteban therefore it gives us different perceptions of the text, i too noticed that. I noticed how the women would almost worship this dead stranger that came to them by surprise and compare him to the men in their village, while the men couldn’t understand why these women were so obsessed with an absolute stranger. I believe the author ended this text in the best way because he shows how the villagers have changed their whole village around after encountering this large handsome stranger.
I think the story was assigned to get our minds thinking outside the box and think differently then we’d normally do in a story. We can learn to perceive things through different methods as the story progresses
Manuel, please read “Information about Discussion Boards” in COURSE INFORMATION for details about length requirements. I want everyone to get full credit for their posts.
I believe that “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was introduced to us to helps us see that through different genres of literature, concepts of philosophy can still be thought. In this story Esteban brought a change to an island that didn’t know or comprehend what it was like to be different from everyone else. His size and features alone brought fascination and curiosity. They gave his death and life before death meaning. At first they were suspicious of him when he first arrived on their shore and then we can see the progression of how they went from not understanding him to loving him like their own and giving his life meaning. Also, through their appreciation for him, he became a symbol of difference. They made everything in their village bigger to symbolize that there are different people out there and maybe next time they meet another Esteban they can be better prepared to accept him. In my opinion this story shows that we can grow and have a change of character through people we don’t know and have never met.
Regina, thanks for the good comments. I think the positive response to strangers is one of the many themes we can find in this story. And I certainly hope that happens in this discussion board as meet each other. This story is also about the power of stories to change lives and perspectives, which I also hope will happen during the next 15 weeks as we read stories, poems, and plays.
I think you have assigned this as our first story of the course because its reflected off of an impactful change not just with those apart of it, but also for the readers to explore as well. Judging by the illustrations alone is captivating and it seems this is a story that tells of a person that has power to change others.
Jerome, I’m so glad you appreciate the illustrations! They have been generously shared with us by artist Luisa Rivera, who gave her permission to use them in this course. And you will see lots of other beautiful artwork on the weekly pages. However, you need to review the length requirements for Db posts in COURSE INFORMATION so that you can get full credit for the week
I believe you assigned this story as the first story of the course for us to see how stories can change our thinking and imagination. Through this story it can be seen how when we are exposed to different aspects of life or to new things we often are left with questions. Some of these questions becomes apart of our everyday life and they begin to change our perception about what we once believed and thought was the only way. I also believed you choose this story to show us how we shouldn’t take anything at face value because, how we see a person is not the story of that person as with the drowned man he seemed strong to the women and a nobody to the men but after peeling off dirt and moss they realized he was a somebody who seems saint-like and although strong probably had to deal with sadness because of his body.
Treshel, I agree with you because this story did expose different aspects of life and it made me understand that asking questions about something is important. Once you start asking questions it may become a habit and you’ll get answers as you continue in life. This story brought some sense into me and I learned that imagination is power. It’s something beautiful that people should try out. As the women in the village that became happy with the stories they made up in their mind.
Treshel, thanks for the thoughtful comments. All of what you write is true, but I also choose this story as the first because it is a story about how stories can change lives and perspectives. I am sure that you and others will be changed in some way by at least one work of literature you encounter this term.
Treshel, I agree with your statement but I also didn’t think about how something different then causes us to make questions of our own in our own lives. Really nice thought! Also it’s really true how questions can change our perception which then in turn, changes in thoughts and actions in our everyday lives. I believe also that when you have a change in perception, you then get to educate others as long as they’ll listen. Just an example from the story, the men didn’t understand why the women acted how they did until they actually showed them. Really nice thought again !
I also agree that change in perception can lead us to change and in the case of the villagers, it was a change in knowledge and innovation. The dead man Esteban was an inspiration for them although there was no prior knowledge of this man. they imagined and questioned what could have been if he was alive and the things they could learn from him. After the village said goodbye the village was renovated to receive people like Esteban in the future because of their hungry for curiosity and desire to learn from the outside world.
Yes definitely! As you read you can always find a way to find many things that leave you with ideas that affect our everyday thinking. Everyone has their own way of thinking and perceiving things, and it goes all over the place when you read or learn new things, almost becoming a combination of it all. It can also question everything you’ve known to now. But in the case of this story I do agree that we shouldn’t take things off face value and always try to dig into it deeper then what’s given to us. And your reasoning was also well explained. Great comment.
Manuel, we don’t know to whom you are responding in this appreciative post!
I think you might have assigned this as the first story of the course because it is tied into what we are going through right now well maybe not completely. In the story, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ” the villagers started off as a “boring “ group of villagers and when the dead man came in the women villagers started imagining about the dead man and started creating scenarios in their head and based on that they became happy. And after the dead man left they chose to be happy. Now this can relate to how we are living now because before covid I took my freedom for granted. I watched all the old videos of when I was having fun and I was happy. Now I wonder when I will have all of that again. I sometimes create scenarios in my head of what would I be doing if none of this would have happened.
I believe you have assigned this story first for the class to examine to give us a taste of what is to come,You did his by showing us that we will be tackling interesting reading pieces and gaining knowledge of these said pieces and taking test on the readings and our understanding of the reading.What I gained from the reading is that people that are handsome or beautiful are viewed to not have any flaws and under a close view with lots of pressure on them.This creates uncertainty and the depression that is seen in these people at times just like in Actor’s and Actresses lives.This story really proves that you do even if your are viewed as beautiful or handsome you are not perfect and all humans have flaws even if they don’t show them as the common person.
Michael, thanks for posting. The reason I use this story first has more to do with storytelling itself. in this story, villagers create a myth about a dead man they do not even know, and this creative act leads them to want to live up to that myth they have created. They build bigger houses, dig deep for springs or water, and become larger as human beings. They expand their sense of possibility and perspective!
Thank you for reaching back out profressor
I believe Ms. Conway chooses the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, so we as students understand that this class as the drowned men in the book is meant to made our life better. In the story the villagers give identity to the corps, in the process understanding, and using their imagination to list the ups and down of his old life. Similar to the villagers giving an identity to the coups, the corps also give an identity to a desert-like village that appeared boring with nothing special, the decision of the woman’s to upgrade their houses to fit the needs of Esteban’s ghost, give the village a sense of identity as it later on its known as the Esteban’s island. But still why would Ms. Conway decide to put this story as the first to teach to the class? Well similar to the story, this class will act as Esteban dead body, and us as the villagers. In a sense this class will make us better, “upgrade” our way of seen things, I notice this class will have many stories for us to read, maybe they will function as Esteban did to the village, making us “less boring” and also entertain us in the process. I believe this class would make us better somehow, similar to Esteban corps make the village better, or that would be the possible intention of Ms. Conway by choosing this story.
I know I wrote Woman’s, and it should be women, I just copy and pasted the wrong one, and by posting and pasting I mean I did it in a Work document first to fix everything but still managed to make that mistake.
Jon, we all make typos! Don’t worry!
Jon, I love your answer! What you express here is exactly my hope for this course. You are the villagers, and the stories are what will open and expand your intellect and imagination!
I agree with you Jon, I believe Ms. Conway chose this story to show us this class will “upgrade” our way of seeing things. In other words to me it seems as if for example now that covid is happening and many people are struggling, losing loved ones, and just hurting. Its good to think positive and believe things will have a positive outcome in the end because it will only give you more strength to keep moving.
Jon, your response gave me validation and a new eye. I had a similar response to yours. As i was going through the comments after i submitted my post, I was getting worried because most of them have similar themes but only a handful compared Estabans village to our class. It also made me think of how we are going to view a class like this and others when we do go back in person. How differently were will appreciate semesters and life like this one. Some are going to be ecstatic to go back and meet new friends and make new friends, while others would want to be back online where they essentially choose how and if to interact. I assumed through this whole pandemic that everyone would be happy to go back, but then realizing that this may have been a huge gain to induvial who experience things like social anxiety. It made me question how our lives are going to be when the country starts to open back up again.
Hi Jon! I agree with you completely about how we are the villagers and the stories we read are act as Esteban. As students, we tend to grow and gain new skills from the classes we take. When reading different texts, we’re always learning something new and develop a new perspective on how we see the world. This happens by taking apart a text and understanding each part. We also try to relate to the text and seeing how we can use the message the story is telling us in our daily lives.
I love your point-of-view on this story and also your way of connecting the story to Ms. Conway’s class and her possible intention of choosing this story for us to read. The use of magical realism in these types of stories also helps us to use our imagination which I’m sure most of us haven’t used in a while so it stimulates our brains while making us aware of little things that we would have otherwise taken for granted.
Payshanti, please be sure to address your comments to others so we can all follow along. Thanks!
Hi Jon, I agree with your statement: “this class will act as Esteban dead body, and us as the villagers.” I think this class will help us think more deeply and develop critical thinking and imagination through reading texts. We as the villagers will be inspired and motivated in this class by reading different stories. I also believe that this course will make us better because we will develop our imagination and thereby accumulate new knowledge.
Jon, I agree with you about what you said, about how this story changed many people’s lives by how the villagers looked and made new looks or updates in their daily lives. The way how imagination can have a great effect on a story that makes other people’s life easier. The other reason I agree with you is using a simile for our class to Esteban, every story we read and write about will make us better readers and annotate important text in the story.
I believe you may have assigned this as the first story of the course to present how just one person can make a drastic change to someones life. In this case, instead of it being through actions, this story presents how imagination can change the life of a village. In the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, we can see these imaginative thoughts go to work from the women to the men of the village and the impact this washed up body has. When reading the story and hearing about the village, it sounds very bland, no excitement what so ever, everyone has a duty and that’s all, until this dead man washes ashore. Once this mysterious man washes up in the village and the women start to clean him, there’s something about him that make them fantasize. These women start to lust over this man and his physical structure to create his story. They are left breathless by his appearance, the way he was big and strong that he couldn’t fit into his shirt, this man was everything that their husbands weren’t. Through this also, they start to think of the potential problems he could’ve had due to his size which make them want to honor him more and when the men get back, at first they’re not too happy. The men become jealous due to the way the women were so fond of him until they lift the cloth from his face and soon enough the men are reeled in and feel bad also. They give this dead man the name Esteban and through the stories they made in their heads, he now has an identity. This has a domino effect on the village giving them a story also as they give their village his name in honor, plant flowers wherever they can and fix up their houses just incase he comes back or they meet someone else of his structure. The village is more lively, creative, inspired and now has a story through making an identity for this body that washed ashore. They created something out of nothing.
Emmalee, this is a beautiful take on the story. You show how the story continues to enlarge as the villagers add their own ideas an impressions. They really know nothing about this man, but in their collective imagination they create a figure they would like to emulate. The men will be more like the women’s imagined Esteban. The houses they build will be large enough for someone like Esteban. Everything has expanded as a result of their imagining of possibilities!
Hi Emmalee, I enjoyed reading your perspective on this wonderful story, especially the way you considered that his name gave him an identity. An identity gives us a sense of purpose and we usually attach to our names. While one might argue that some people hate their names, it doesn’t change the fact that our names give us a story, it attaches us not only to a past and present but also to a future. It is the first introduction of who we are to a world that has yet to meet us and all we are. In this story i liked the way the woman who choose the name, “Esteban” was an older woman of the village as our elders are often associated to be of the most wise in a community for their experience. Thus when she names “Esteban” will be the dead mans name, even the younger more stubborn women accepted it was meant to be his name.
Professor, I believe you assigned this as our first story to show us how our imagination and creativity can be a great thing. In the story, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez” before the Deadman arrived on their shore their life’s were too simple since they were doing the same thing’s everyday. After the Deadman arrived the women in the village were so intrigued in him and gave the Deadman a name “Esteban” and constantly admired his body, later on they started comparing Esteban to the men of the village. But this made the village men insecure and jealous. Throughout the story the villagers used their imagination to create a story for the Deadman and how great he was. After the Deadman left the villagers even expanded their properties to always remember Esteban and this brought them happiness and joy.
Juan, yes, this story is so much about the power of imagination to enlarge people’s lives. I think there is some ad on TV now to the effect that if you can imagine something, you can make it happen. This is what occurs in this story as the villagers imagine a life for the dead man and then come together to try and live up to that imagined life.
Juan, I agree with your statement. I definitely think that the simple life the villagers were living prior to being introduced to the drowned man fueled their excitement towards him. In their attempt to bring an identity to this unknown man they named him and spoke of him as if he lived there prior to his death. I can definitely relate to attempting to bring life to any little thing just to make things more interesting.
Hello Juan, I agree with you, the villagers have been living a dark life until the dead came to the shore, and if there were no dead, their life would go on like this. It is the arrival of dead people that changed them and made them feel passionate and happy. They name the dead and imagine the story of his life, which in the end gives them a new purpose, and it is their imagination that has changed the way they live and communicate.
I think you assigned this reading as the first of the course because magical realism helps all of us open our minds and imagine a little more than we can, in the story The most handsome drowned man “by Gabriel García Márquez” shows us how in In the town, everyone’s life was a constant routine and for this reason they all looked the same. In this way the drowned man made everyone in the town begin to imagine and create images of what the man was, his imagination flew and in a certain way this is what we need to start this course, let our imagination fly to open our mind to more learning.
Daniela,
I totally agree with your statement: “let our imagination fly to open our mind to more learning.” I feel it’s so important to keep an open mind, so we are more able to allow new things in; this is a huge part of how we learn successfully! Depending on how we frame something new, we can either look at it with dread or instead with the curiosity that can lead us to wonderful and “magical” new perspectives.
I couldn’t agree more with your statement, “magical realism helps all of us open our minds and imagine a little more..” I think that it captures the essence of what magical realism is trying to teach us and how we can apply this new way of thinking to our daily lives to transform it from being a boring day-to-day routine to an adventure filled with so many possibilities.
Payshanti, please address comments to others by name.
Daniela,
Yes I agree in the idea that the people of the village were open minded and we can also be open minded to create more room for character transformation and growth! I agree and think professor Conway wanted us to apply this to our everyday lives. Just like she shared her story about the fur hat, we too can find little magical elements in our everyday lives.
In my opinion, you might have chosen “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of this course because the experience of the villager’s life had changed from their new perspective after the beautiful drowned man washed ashore which had arisen their imaginations to develop their new ways of living afterward… Similarly, literature can have the impact of increasing our intrigue, by making us think and consider a deeper analysis of what we read as if we are making the stories come alive. We uniquely interpret and relate what we read to ourselves, and this, in turn, broadens our perspectives and thoughts. The villager’s mystification of the beautiful drowned man captured their wonder so that thereafter it became part of who they were and affected many ways of their lifestyle; literature too has the ability to engage and immerse who we are by evoking this sense of magic and wonder in us.
Migeni, thanks for the good words! Yes, it is definitely my hope that this story will serve as a model for how we should approach all stories and poems we read in this class, as well as how we approach others in this discussion board. We should be open, compassionate, and imaginative towards the literature and towards one another.
Migena, I agree with your statement. Even if you read the same story, each person has a different way of thinking and interpretation. And that opinion and way of thinking influences oneself and others and becomes a new stimulus. It may be possible to change the way of thinking and thinking and make discoveries. I think the villagers were able to make a big difference in their lives by the drowning man and get a feeling like never before.
Migena, I couldn’t agree more with what you said! I also think that literature can be a reflection of our internal world. Like in any good story, storytelling can expand the horizons of our imagination, and to reveal a new piece of land in our mind. In a way, the village can an analogy to a phase in our life that we fill emptiness and looking for something that will shake our routine.I really like how you put it all together, very inspiring!
In my opinion, you assigned “ The Most Handsome Drowned Man” By Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of the course to let us imagine what it would be like if we try to understand, respect, and be compassionate to people who differ culturally, religiously, and socially. The villagers positive thinking results in a beautiful story that we all could learn from. Because of their actions toward the dead man, their village became so famous that every fisherman wanted to stop by their village. We can also learn that no matter what, it’s never too late to explore or learn something new. And it is interesting how the villagers imagined his non- physical qualities like empathy, quietude, and modesty. Finally, what is amazing about this story telling is that the appearance of a dead man wash of shore is able to transform an entire village for the better.
Fatu, your comment is so interesting because I just responded to Migeni saying almost the same things. I assign this story first because it is a wonderful model for how I hope we will approach the literature in the course, as well as how we approach others, who may bring different ideas, experience and perspectives.
This is an interesting perspective and I love how you noticed that the villagers gave “Esteban” non-physical qualities because it was one of the things that I wanted to talk about. I mean people in today’s society people are so quick to say mean things about someone without even knowing anything about them but in the story the villagers didn’t even know where the deadman came from or anything about his life when he was alive or the type of individual he was, and yet they still chose to see him in a positive light.
Payshanti, please address comments to others by name so we can all follow along. Thanks!
Fatu, I like your though on why professor choose this story as the first. The story does show us that compassion and understanding people who we differ from is very important. When we open our imaginations to ideas and feelings given by others we open a whole new world we can learn from. This drowned man who washed ashore on the beach of this strange and dull village was able to leave a mark on the lives of the villagers, this shows as you mentioned, that no matter what, its never too late to learn something new.
In my opinion, I think that reason you chose this story as the first assignments to show the power of imagination can bring individuals together and somewhat the belief in magic. Meaning, symbolizing or creating a sense of purpose out of what others may see as insignificant can bring joy and prosperity to others. With this, I believe that you are trying to send a message especially now, since we are in a pandemic and confined to our home and/or devices. I might be wrong about this but, as I was reading, I was seeing how many of the woman were creating a storyline for Estaban while the men where gaslighting the woman. This can be compared to how we, the students, choose how to engage with each other even if we are not face to face. Some students can choose to make the best of the situation despite the odds and make it a priority to engage with fellow classmates as it can lift spirits without them even knowing or some can do the assigned work, get the grade, and go on to the next thing.
Megan, you make some interesting observations about student interaction and how it can relate to the story. If we take on the behavior and attitude of the villagers, we will be open, compassionate, and giving. I’m not sure I agree that the men were gaslighting the women, but they definitely have a different take on the dead man. They go from being burdened and jealous to putting themselves in his shoes and imaging what kind of life he must have led.
Hi Megan, I agree with your opinion about how the power of imagination bring people together, and like you mention, especially now with the pandemic. In the story, the imagination of the people on the village created a life for Esteban, and all of them change after him. Likewise, with the Covid-19 we had to use a lot of our imagination and find the way to live with this new type of life. I think that our imagination can help us to work together in this class, while we learn in the process.
Kenia and Megan—and others—there’s an interesting thread being woven into this conversation about Covid, and it is relevant and thought-provoking.
I believe that the purpose of assigning “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of the course is to show the power that a story can hold. One single story can affect the way you view certain things and help open your mind to more that you would’ve never expected or thought of on your own. In the story, the village is known to be dull and follow the same routine every day. Their life experience was nothingness but it all changes when this beautiful, tall man is washed ashore . The villagers start to call the man Esteban and they create a story using their imagination of what might’ve happened to him and more. This story helps the village find their personal meaning and make them better. After they had to let Esteban go, the villagers upgraded their homes and started to realize how much more there is to life. They were trying their best to live up to the stories they’ve created from their imagination. As students, we need to understand the kind of lessons/messages we can learn from stories we read ourselves. It could help make use better and have a different perspective on the world.
The reason you may have assigned this reading as our first story of the course may be to show us how magical realism is used in stories and how it can be used in a constructive way to help us see situations in a different light. When a little bit of magic is added to element of reality and a sprinkle of imagination is used, one can open their mind to the endless possibilities that storytelling has. As one can see, the villagers had no magic, purpose or sense of identity before the arrival of “Esteban” but now after they found him their village and lives are transformed for the better. They want to paint their houses, plant flowers, expand the size of the doorways in their houses and do so much more to show that their village is a place worthy of a man like Esteban. He shows the villagers how they should live their lives although he’s already dead.
I do agree with you that the villagers’ own world were brightened up after discovering something magical. and i agree that the story telling was top notch on describing wide range of beautiful words. But i would also like to point out if that really is a better for the villagers’ life afterward. what is the point of building large doors if they don’t need large doors as their size are not as big and tall as Esteban. In the end , they were content with their life before and after discovering Esteban , their life are never the same again. For the better or worse.
Thanlwin, please address comments to others by name so we can all follow along. Thanks!
I believe you assigned this story as the first one to be read in this course because it is about opening up your imagination and thinking about things that could be but most likely won’t be.
It is a great story to start off because it gets you thinking about what if ? or how?
Alexsander, please do review length requirements for posts so that you can receive full credit. See COURSE INFORMATION.
The Most Handsome Drowned Man by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a story of washed-up drowned man discovered by a villager at rural part who are astonished by what they found. I think you assigned us this as first assignment because It is a very short story and easy to read but it also convey wide range of imagination from villagers in the story. The name Esteban represent the being that is perfect to them and idea of the being that died before they even had a chance to have that being in their life make them feel wide range of emotion such as sorrows and grief. In reality they are not sorry for the man who has died but for themselves for not having him with them. It show they become not content with their husbands after comparing with the dead man. Story like this make me wonder if ignorant is the bliss sometime.
I believe you assigned this first story for the beginning of the course because you want us to have an open mind. “The Handsomest Drowned Man In the World” by “Gabriel Garica Marquez” tells a story of a drowned man washed up in a remote village and everyone comes in with different perspectives. The kids who first spotted the body thought it was an enemy ship until they came close and realized it was a body. The men from the village simply saw him as just another drowned man. The women on the other hand who were cleaning the body made many observations from being tall, magnificent and having a death look of pride. Until then they started questioning themselves how his life may have been before death. With his big size they started concluding that he have not had good life because they could “picture” him going through doors sideways, cracking his head on crossbeams. Until now there imagination went all over the place. They started comparing the drowned man to there husbands and even picturing a life with the drowned man named Esteban. With there open mindset they have created a story of a random drowned man and have changed there life. In the beginning it was stated “The village was made up of only
twenty-odd wooden houses that had stone courtyards with no flowers and which were spread about on the end of desert like cape”. Until the end they gonna break there back’s planting flowers and saying sunflowers are not gonna which way to turn. This story makes me question myself more and makes me think how life was before the drowned man arrived and now makes me more of an open minded person and makes me think that maybe this drowned person made life better for villagers because it made them come close and even outsiders.
Brian, I agree with your statement, while reading “ The Handsomest Drowned Man” it made me open my mind as well, to where he may have lived, what he may have done, and if he had any family. The entire town opened their minds to a stranger who washed up on their shore. I feel like the village had compassion in caring for him.
To have an open mind in definition is to be willing to accept new ideas, unprejudiced. Brian, your narration of the storyline was, very accurate. You stated “with their open mindset they have created a story of a random drowned man and have changed their life”, having this open mindset the villagers were able to see what was missing in life. Through understanding possibilities beyond themselves were able to change. I really enjoyed your post and at some moment found humor in your reflection which is quite refreshing. Towards the end you stated “this story makes me question more myself”, that really important because I have to admit that even I found myself in self-reflection after reading this story felling that sometimes people miss out on a lot because because of closed-mindedness.
I think you might have assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of the course because you wanted to show us how imagination and vision of new perspectives can inspire people to change and improve their lives. In this story, something new appeared for people, something that helped and motivated people to change their thinking and made it clear that if an unknown young drowned man can be so big and handsome, then they too can become better, live brighter, or at least somehow try change the life. Towards the end of the story, the presence of the drowned man influenced people to make their village and their lives better than they previously imagined possible. Moreover, it seems to me that this story gives the reader the idea that in order to change your life for the better, you just need to see the beauty in your thinking and in your own reality.
Attynai I agree with everything that you said about how we were given a “vision of new perspectives” because this story was very inspiring. they thought so highly of Esteban and they are holding themselves to a standard for him is magical. I was surprised when you said how they changed their life for the better and how we need to see the beauty in our thinking because I never really thought about it like that and I think that’s an amazing way to see it that way. this story was definitely a good story and im glad the professor assigned it.
Although your response was fairly similar to mines, I really love what you had to say towards the end of your response. I agree that thinking in ones own reality can brighten and liven up your writing. I would have to say though I think what cause the villagers to change their way of living wasn’t their own will but more so that external factor that they allow to judgement from.
In my opinion, The reason I chose “The Most Handsome Drowned Ma by Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the very beginning of the course is that people’s thoughts and values change depending on the surrounding environment and circumstances. I think the villagers would have lived the same way they used to if they had not met the drowned man. However, their way of thinking and values have changed due to unprecedented encounters and situations. Also, villagers may be able to interpret it independently and imagine each one to discover new possibilities. It turns out that men and women treat him differently in the village. In the end, they had the same idea, but when I first saw him, women and men had different ideas and perspectives. Both sides thought from different perspectives, but they influence each other by their critical ideas and opinions. I think the critical thinking and imagination of others will become a new part of their lives.
Professor Conway, to be honest I’m not sure why you decided to assign “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of the course; could be for many different reasons, but the first that it come to my mind is to teaching us about using our imagination. My takeaway on the story is how powerful is the imagination. The life of the people on the village change after they found the beautiful drowned body. They really believe the stories in their mind, because they not only gave him a name (Esteban), they even decide to change their houses after imagining Esteban struggles for being so big. This is probable what a child feels when he or she has an imaginary friend, for the kid all the things that they talk and do with the imaginary friend are very real. Also, the people of the village remind us, how wonderful is when a whole town come together to help a stranger that in the future become a family.
Kenia, I love your first line here! But you seem to have given good thought to the question as evidenced by your response!
I think you have assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” as our first short story because of the impact Estaban has on the lives of the villagers. After the women attentively care for and clean the drowned man, they name him Estaban and when the men return from the neighboring villages, they claim him as one of their own. The women in the village had never come across such a mythical and magical figure, and they begin to imagine what his life must have been like with his handsome face and tall, strong body. They imagine him to be godlike, his authority could have drawn fish out of the sea, he is not like any of the men in the village. The men however, have a very different perspective. They think to themselves they wouldn’t want to be a drowned man, a burden, a Wednesday dead body. The people of the village realize that he was a person just like they are and he also faced challenges, this makes him more relatable. They keep his memory alive by naming the village Estaban’s village. In Estabans village the houses are painted happy, beautiful colors and the doors wider, ceilings taller, and floors stronger. There are even beautiful flowers on the cliff so that the people passing by on ships will be able to feel Estaban’s spirit is still with them.
Sandra, yes, it is because of the impact the dead man has on the village. But what does that have to do with our class?
I believe the message you wanted us to take away from this article is, having faith creates more room for growth! The villagers believed in Estaban to be a mythical, fantasy like figure. He was not like any of the men in the village. Their imaginations ran wild thinking of what Estaban’s life must have been like and they realize how difficult it must have been for him to always be standing, in fear he would break someone’s chair. They wanted Estaban’s memory to be able to roam through the houses at ease so they decided that they were going to make a change. Having faith in Estaban to be this mythical figure created room for growth and transformation because they wanted to honor Estaban for the magical view on reality that he gave them. The power of a dead man was able to transform a village of people.
Sandra, thank you so much for following up! This post applies the ideas of your first post to the our involvement in this beautiful story.
I have a few reasons why you chose “The most handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as our first story. The first reason you chose this story is to motivate us as students. In the beginning of this story it was very dreary. It was very routine and as we go in the story we see a change in people as they try to hold these standards for Esteban and its magical. I like how they gave a story and identity to Esteban which brings me to my next reason. You could have chose this story to give us an idea of creativity and freedom. I like to think that the way they were imagining Esteban from only looks was almost an example of how we should be creative when we write and in my opinion I want to think of this story as a standard I will try to hold for myself.
Mark, I like your use of the words “creativity and freedom.” By the creative act of writing a story for the dead man, haven’t the villagers freed themselves from the very dreariness you mention in your post?
I think you have assigned this assignment as the first article to the class because the story is speaking about imagination and and not only that but the way that someone can come into your life and just change your point of view and the way you think or even look at life. So I feel like you are probably going to do that with us because we will also learn a lot from you professor. Also, every professor helps each student think a new sort of way and that shows how much of an inspiration that someone who knows a lot more can be and teach us new things & some of us carry it out through life too.
Jaylene, thanks for your good comments. But I have to say that it is less about me and much, much more about you and your personal response to the literature that you are going to encounter in the weeks to come. Each one of you will respond differently to the stories, play, poems, and novel that we are going to read.
After reading “The Most Handsomest Man” , I believe that the imaginative story was chosen as the first assignment to show how a person’s imagination is capable of developing . In the story , the women begin to realize how he’s different from the rest of the villagers due to his stature and how he looked. They begin to care for him to give him respect following his tragic death , meanwhile they develop a connection with the drowned man and start to imagine who he was before his death and begin to give life to who they believe Esteban was a person . Not to add , they sympathize the burden they believed he had faced from having to be different from the ideation of normal that the villagers had . In addition, the story portrays the opposing perspectives between the women and men from the village. The women compare his stature, capabilities, lifestyle and him not being able to belong . Once the men don’t understand why the women are infatuated with a corpse , nonetheless that Esteban was a stranger to them , this leaves them vulnerable to thinking the women are going to continue to want to live out this fantasy they’ve created . Furthermore , the women overlooked the fact he didn’t belong so they had welcomed him and wanted to deliver a proper funeral . It’s seen when the men want to get rid of the man they view as a nuisance , the villagers had come to the conclusion how close-minded they once thought and the lack of color and dream they had in their lives prior tp Esteban’s presence .
I think you assigned the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as our first assignment to get us thinking. I think the magical realism depicted in the story gives us room to use our own imagination to form our own conclusions based on Esteban’s role in the village and on the villagers. Before the villagers became familiar with Esteban they treated him with the same respect they would have if he were alive and visiting their village on his own. Even when he was in the water his peculiar form didn’t lead villagers into being afraid of him because he looked different from everyone else in the village. They even went as far to describe how his home would look if he actually did live in the village with them further appreciating him and his peculiar stature even though he was dead. This reading was a perfect way to get us to start thinking and analyzing ourselves.
Hey Nefertaria I found your view of the story enlightening because it brought me to another idea or way to look at the story. The villagers did say many times how big and different he was from everyone else and you are right they absolutely did not treat him any different that they would anyone else in fact they might have treated him better. I think that says alot that we should always keep in mind to treat everyone with respect no matter how different they are.
I think you may have assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first reading to get us to use our own imagination and to think about fantasy and magic. I think magic and fantasy is fascinating to everyone and when you’re reading about it, you forget reality and transport yourself into that story or book. In Marquez’s tale, they find a drowned man, and instead of carrying this stranger back out to sea, they cleaned him, put clothes on him, gave him a wake and a name called Esteban. They were so entranced by this man and his size, who they never even knew. From reading the story I imagined that they were humble people, they knew of everyone in their village and cared for a complete stranger who was dead.
Hey Khadijah, Although I came up with a very different view on why I thought this was the first story, I feel that you have very strong points. I didn’t really think of the importance of using imagination when reading this story, but recently I’ve heard that fiction is important for expanding your mind, and improving creativity in ways that cant be gotten from strictly nonfiction. Being able to put yourself in situations in ways that aren’t totally “normal”, but instead bringing some imagination into it really does help help change the way I perceive the story and more.
I believe we may have been assigned this story first to understand the importance of perspective. As we all have our unique qualities and persolatinities this also comes with perceiving the same text or occasion in many ways. As shown in the story though the females and males didn’t have the same beliefs and/or presumption when it came to what to do with the dead man, towards the end they came to an understanding that bettered the lives of everyone in the village. I believe that though we never have to deal with that particular obstacle, there will be times in class when our beliefs differ from one another. At the end of the day we need to be the bigger person and accept feedback to become better us and better writers.
I think that this assignment is our first story of this course, to let us realize how an imagination of a story could affect how people are living now. In “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is showing the readers how something new appeared for people, something that helped and motivated people to change their thinking and made it clear that if an unknown young drowned man can be so big and handsome, then they too can become better, live brighter, or at least somehow try to change the life. The villagers didn’t know how far their immigration could go until the died bidy was found and had my meanings, that caused them to find their happiness no limits, The other reason I think that this story is assigned because there are literary devices used in the story to make the readers see how storytelling can affect the way people are thinking with their imaginations.
I think this story was assigned to us to give our imagination a better outlook on things. What I mean is anything could change your life if you give it a chance to let it. As for the villagers it seemed they were living life wherever the wave took them. The encounter with the deadman sparked change in their outlook in life. They found a reason to feel. And through their new feelings it lights a fire in others to change as well. I also want to point out it only took one person to bring people together. Anyone reading can get this feeling of enchantment or magic based on how you perceive this phenomenon. It really does show how incredible life can be if you’re open to exploration and change.
I agree with you, the story revolved around the idea that our imagination could give us a better outlook on things. The villagers knew nothing of the drowning man but gave him a story. He could’ve been the cruelest person there is but they instead made him a person who even in death is sorry that they have to deal with him. Before the drowned man their lives were shallow and dull but his introduction brought them inspiration, light, and even vibrancy.
Kadeem, please address your very good comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
Manuel I agree with what you are saying, before the deadman was discovered they did the same things everyday and never dreamed about having different lives. After he was discovered they began to picture things differently and tried to picture how different things would have been for him, they no longer wanted to just live life the same everyday they realized it was so much more out in the world that they did not know about. The villagers had never seen anyone who looked like the deadman before, seeing him made them realize how sheltered they are from the rest of the world and how little they know about it.
I honestly can’t be 100% certain for the reason this was assigned for our first week. The story was quite interesting and really exercised my mind, as I am sure it has for other students. Based on the analysis’ that were provided, the story revolves around a sense of imagination and magic entering the lives of the villagers. I would assume this will relate to us. The stories we will be introduced to may have the ability to inspire us and develop our senses of imagination. Storytelling has the ability to change people, whether that be a reading or what someone tells us directly or even a news story. The reading may have been given in the first week as some sort of bridge to what other readings we may be introduced to
I believe you have assigned this as the first story of this course because it shows how far ones imagination can really take them, it shows how powerful storytelling is. In “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” before “Esteban’s” body was found the people in the village would live their lives the same way everyday they had no imagination and they knew nothing else expect for things they did daily. Once “Esteban” was brought to the woman of the village they began to imagine how life would be for him they also began to imagine how different there lives would be with him and they began to compare him to there husbands things that they would have never thought about before. The villagers had never seen anyone who looked like “Esteban”, them being around someone who looked nothing like them fascinated them and they began imaging how different his lives would have been then there’s.
The most handsome Drowned man was assigned first for many reasons, from its length, so its depth and meaning. For instance as someone who has not read much over the last few years, I feel that it was actually quite refreshing to read the short story, and rereading to try and get a better grasp wouldn’t have been to hard. In addition, despite the short length of the story, it had a lot of depth to it. What I mainly got out of it is how society may sometimes fail to be inclusive towards everyone, but it is effort to change that is important in bringing about a better society for not just those who were excluded, but also for those who were included from the start; of course this view may be more geared toward the trend we have been seeing in the last couple years (BLM, LGBTQ+ support, etc). In addition, it may point to the way that we are so quick to take things for granted until they are gone, and we get the importance of that thing/person; in this case Esteban had more value post-mortem for the village, than when he was alive.
I believe you have assigned “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of the course, because it shows us how the imagination can broaden people’s lives. In the article, a desolate seaside fishing village, a group of villagers living a gloomy life, one day, unexpectedly will be moved by a dead body. The people were excited and busy about this beautiful corpse of an unknown person, whom they named Esteban, and who they imagined passionately. This short story gives me the feeling that the overall tone is upward, although there are men’s jealousy and women’s suspicion. But when they all fell in love with the beauty of the drowning people, when they really began to see beauty and light, their lives began to change. Imagination gives people new lives, new hopes and new ways of interacting.
I agree with you Hongbin, I do believe that the imagination is a powerful thing and this story does a great job at portraying the ways in which using your imagination and finding the beauty in things can change your perception of life and in some cases even birth anew. The villagers were given the opportunity to start over after their experience with the drowned man and in this grim situation, their imaginations allowed them to find this nugget of gold, this profound inspiration, the motivation to change their lives as they knew it to be better.
The story of the “The most Hnadsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, tells a story of how a village is given hope when the outside worlds makes contact through the body of the drowned man. I believe the author describes the women becoming excited and the end of the story when the village plants flowers and widens the doorways as a sign of hope. Life has been given back to the village. I think this is the reason you gave us this reading as our first story is show how powerful the impact of stories can have. Imagination and storytelling are incredibly powerful tools that can bring hope to desolate people or bring ruin to a prospering society.
Elif, please just be sure that your comments meet the length requirements and are posted before the weekend so you can get full credit.
I think you assigned this story to us first because right now during this strange almost apocalyptic time in the midst of a pandemic, we might all feel similarly to the people in the town before Esteban washed up. Life feels a bit dull and lifeless. However, who is to say anytime or any place in the near future something wonderful, maybe even life changing might happen? That we might find immense beauty somewhere in the world or within ourselves that might spark this kind of magical metamorphosis we see in the story with the villagers. During a time like this where we are in isolation we have a lot more time to do some introspection and look within ourselves or out at the word to find something beautiful. What I take from this story is a glimmer of hope, that I might one day also find something so inspiring and enlightening as Esteban was to the village.
Hey Miranda, I did not think to connect the story to our current events. The connection between the drowned man washing up, to something wonderful happening amid these strange times is the optimism we need. The people of the village remodel their homes and resize their clothes in honor of the drowned man, and hopefully in the near future we can have our own drowned man to fix our issues or even shed some light in these dark times.
In my opinion, the reason why the professor assigned this reading is to understand the importance of storytelling, and how this component is crucial for ones reading experience. In the Story, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, we learn that unique experience of the village people with a beautiful dead man. The village presented as place without development or growth, people living the same thing everyday. What makes it so interesting and surreal, is how a handsome dead body can intrigue and change the surface of the village. Through this story, we understand how much impact storytelling can have on our imagination, and even such that can change the way we observe things in our life. Each one of us can relate to this story in different angles, for example the village can be our internal world, in which sometimes can be desolate until something profound happening to us and change the way we perceive our life. This story can be a beautiful analogy to our life as well.
When I first opened up my OpenLab and read the quote instructor Conway choose for the main page, I knew this was going to be one of my most interesting classes this semester. It sates,
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
After reading “The Most Handsome Drowned Man”, I believe professor Conway choose this as her first story to share with us as enlightenment of how literature can change the way we look as things, people, concepts, perspectives in our present moment, as well as our thoughts about the past and future. This story accomplishes support of this quote in just a very short time. It is not a 300 page novel but in just a few short pages, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is able to transport us into a world that was once lonely and isolated and ends up giving even a dead man a past and a future, and an entire village, a feeling that “they belong and have a hope for the future.” This story is riddled with topics that transcend time. Life, death, life after death, sense of community, changing perspectives, a sense of purpose, the importance of a name and how it affects lives and so many more through ages are just a few of the talking points of this story. It lends itself to being open about topics such as religion, folktale and myths and magical realism which also this transcend time. This story addresses human nature in a broad aspect, but also can resonate personally with and individual, if they open their mind to seeing how these topics touch our lives every day.
Janine, I completely agree with you this first story did in fact enlighten me with how much literature can influence us in the way we observe things and our own thoughts. This story is a great example of a mix between magic realism and personification to describe the elements. Adding on, this story gives out a theme of having faith because it allows inner growth.
The Story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia shows us why our perspective matters. I believe you have assigned this reading to show how people’s perception can change over time and with your own imagination. In the village once the drowned man washed up; the men treated it as a random nobody. The women almost immediately came together to admire the body, and named it Esteban. The women in the village used their imagination to make up a story for Esteban, and this made them even more sympathetic for him as he was already absurdly taller and bigger then all the men. With that shift of perception the women have come to care for Esteban while the men struggle to understand their connection to a washed up body. The women then tell the men about Esteban, and they become attached to the same dead corpse. This then led to the whole village making their houses taller and their clothes larger and naming the village Esteban’s Village. Overall the reading shows us how with time and imagination our own perspective, no matter how small, can make drastic changes to our future.
The short reading “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” is very interesting since it showed many different themes throughout the story. The reason for this reading being our first is because of the storytelling and its abilities to show the reader different perspectives on the real world. Although the story revolves around just one man there are many outcomes from him. This dead man allowed the village “made up of only twenty-odd wooden houses that had stone courtyards with no flowers” (2), to envision a better outcome for their future. The villagers were motivated by this man’s physical features to re-establish their way of life in order to accommodate anyone who might be or feel like him. In doing this there are many other descriptive distinctions that allow the villagers to come to a realization that they should prepare their village for the greatness a man like this can bring to their village and influence people around them as well. We can incorporate this into our classroom by allowing ourselves to be aspired such as the villagers in wanting to be like a person we see greater and bigger than ourselves.
After Reading the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” I Think that this story might have been assigned first to put certain things into perspective. The story is about a drowned man that washes upon a shore in a small village and how it changes the people, meaning to say in my opinion that it is possible for one person to a group of people. The people of the village have never seen a man like the drowned man so it causes them to go on a trip of emotions and expand their imagination. This story is inspiring because if one dead man has the power to change a whole village imagine what a live human can do for the world. Another idea could be that as the Women of the village were removing all of the dirt and sea plants from the man that it revealed a beautiful one which for me could translate to and have me thinking the importance of seeing the beauty in everything and person. They were able to appreciate the beauty in this man covered in all kinds of sea debris and from that sparked a light in the people to do things that were never done before and change tradition that had been for many years before. So I think the story was first to sort of break the ice and remind us the importance of seeing the beauty and everything and imagination is needed.
“Another idea could be that as the Women of the village were removing all of the dirt and sea plants from the man that it revealed a beautiful one which for me could translate to and have me thinking the importance of seeing the beauty in everything and person.” I agree with you on that what a beautiful way to interpret the story.
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I think you assigned this as the first story of the course because you wanted to get us into the habit of looking out for different themes in the stories we read. Its a great way to get our minds working to prepare us for the rest of the semester. The story was almost mystical yet ironic showing how the dead man brought life to the villagers around him.
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The reason for giving us this first reading story I believe is to inspire change. In the story, the dead man was seen as someone magnificent and someone that was alien to them because he arrived from the outside world. The dead man Esteban was an outsider but he began to be seen as a symbol of hope and emotional attachment in the village. The people of the village prepared his body and cried for him. And although the dead man was gone, he inspired the people to change their lives by renovating their village and making it suitable for outsiders that could have the features that Esteban had. Esteban was a symbol for change, understanding, and accepting things that may be odd, scary, or even out of the ordinary but never disregarding because there is always something to learn. I believe this story was assigned to expand our understanding of literature although it may be new to our usual understanding.
I believe that the professor Conway has assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as the first story because it shows the power of our imagination. When us as an audience can see first hand how much of an impact the washed up body and the minds of the women and how far their minds were able to run and pretty much tell the whole story of Estaban. The story that the women of the village told forever changed the village because they understood that there are very different people out in the world and you have to be accommodating for all sorts of people. As they did in the story they made the doors wider, ceilings higher and stronger floors forever changing the village that’s the power of our imaginations through storytelling.
All in all if we can bring a little bit of imagination and understanding into our lives we can see a major change in the way we impact the lives of others and ourselves.
I think you assigned us “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as our first story of this course because it shares a sense of magical realism that truly transforms the genre of fiction into fantastical that is well blended with realistic ones in order to reveal about human nature and their existence. This particular story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his story The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World, gives out points and opinions that are disguised in the elements of fantasy throughout respective storylines. The villagers were capable to find in their own community a brighter future for themselves. Storytelllng is very important because it holds so much power on the influence of people it allows our perspective to change with just imagining things.
I think that we were assigned this story because of the meaning behind it. I truly enjoyed the reading. Gabriel Garcia Marquez illuminates human identity and the power of words in the short story “The Most Handsomest Man”. We are all unique people with different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, and sexualities. Yet in this modern time we struggle to stand out and be our unique selves. We fear to be judged, persecuted, isolated. The world moves before our eyes as we struggle not to be invisible in a world of fixed ideologies. Sometimes the silent find their voice in writing. While reading the short story such similarities were noted.
The setting was in a small village of twenty houses in a dry dusty land. Off the cliffs was a vast sea where the dead are laid to rest. It seemed so solemn, uneventful. Everyone in the village was doing the same thing everyday. That is until the drowned man washed up along the coastline. The children were the first to appear and were playing with the corpse. It appeared macabre to see children playing with a dead body. Understanding the innocence of the children, perhaps they did not know any better, the difference. Children do not view these controversial dualities rather they entertain them and allow their curious minds to learn.
As the story goes on, we see the whole village involved with the new visitor. We see the imaginations of the villagers blossom as they try to figure out who the mysterious stranger could be. The man was a large, tall, handsome individual which later donned the name Esteban. I feel at this point that this man represents everything magnificent different to who they were and different to what they know as their clothes could not fit him and he was too heavy to carry. It is also interesting to note the differences between the land and the sea. The land was viewed as a small dusty speck in relation to the hidden beauty beneath the waves where Esteban came from.
At one point in this story the villagers had negative views. Imagining how difficult it must be to be this hulking giant and what a hindrance he is even after death, the relief it brought to others now that he is gone. After seeing him dragged on the floor they regretted such thoughts, and the men envious only to see his face and recognize it was their Esteban. It is important to note that although human beings are different in many ways we are flawed and opinionated and sometimes react unfavorably to things that we do not understand or relate to.
In the end the body was unclaimed and he was adopted into the village. After Esteban’s funeral the village changed. It was colorful, with flowers everywhere and high ceilings. Every home had wide doorways so that all who saw would know that this was the home of Esteban. At this point we see what one man’s story did to the entire village one thing that stood out was the captain who spoke in 14 languages. The captain represented the people and the different cultures that came to read this story. This assignment was given to understand the power of words. To understand how words affect us and give us our unique identity as individuals and how sometimes a great story can bring us closer together in understanding, especially in these times that we are in.