Sophia Morales Discussion 2

I believe this story is a beautiful introduction to this course and I believe you chose to assign this story first to introduce us to rich language and imagination; maybe even to see what we gain from reading it. To study literature is to study the value of wording, poetry and perspective in writing and Gabriel Garcia Marquez captures your attention immediately. While he paints a vivid story that we know could never be true, the story also teaches the reader something about community and perspective. For example, he starts with the children, “They had been playing with him all afternoon, burying him in the sand and digging him up again…,” who have no perception of the seriousness they’re dealing with, to show the innocence children possess. Then the women, “Fascinated by his huge size and his beauty, the women then decided to make him some pants from a large piece of sail and a shirt from some bridal linen so that he could continue through his death with dignity.” This line, even with no context, is beautiful. It shows how caring and supportive humanity can be if we all put aside any outside worries or problems, and simply cared for one another. “…men and women became aware for the first time of the desolation of their streets, the dryness of their courtyards, the narrowness of their dreams as they faced the splendor and beauty of their drowned man.” This one stranger’s death brought everyone together and forced them to view their lives differently.