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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?
Please try not to repeat what others have already said.
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75 thoughts on “Week 2 Discussion”
As our professor I believe that you had assigned this story as our first reading in this course because you wanted us to get the message that we as human beings always have the power to change and inspire people to be better. To inform us that we can always be extraordinary and leave an impact on one another lives. That no matter how we look or how people will judge us at first sight we still remain as the best individual we can possibly be because purity will bring us along way. Esteban was able to have an affect on the entire village just by his appearance and masculinity but by him just remaining as the lifeless body he was, he was still able to leave an impact on others. How I can relate that to myself is that if I remain who I truly am and always give the best version of myself to others I will be placed in a category that’s praised upon because I always remained myself. Which can give the affect that I have the ability to change, inspire, and make ones self be who they could possibly want to be in their own lives.
Samijah, thanks for starting us off this week! Your post is beautifully written and contains good ideas. All the things you mention are true, especially your comments about change. I like your self-reflections too. I hope everyone will ask what it is exactly that causes the change in the village. Yes, the man is beautiful and large, but he is also dead. What is it that the villagers do to bring him a kind of life? And how does this activity relate to what we are doing in a literature class?
Well the perspective I obtained from it was they was able to give him a funeral they felt he well deserved and though he was sent back out unto the still waters his soul was able to rest because of the kind gesture that was made from the village, now his soul is able to rest. This goes back to the importance of kindness and compassion. But the story is assigned because through the course we will also create identities for ourselves but work together as a whole learning the importance of what will shape and mold us.
I hope I summed it up to a better understanding
I believe that this reading was assigned to let us know with the effort, taking time, dedication we can change for the better of progression and such things don’t go unnoticed and hit a point where we may even become influential in some way to others. That each and everyone of us in this classroom have the potential to reach a new point and leave that lasting impression on others.This story in a way remind me of a quote “Never judge a book by its cover even though they don’t know who he truly was and haven’t showed how he lived his truth from everyone created his identity. Also no matter how you look or who you know you are people are still going judge you from there perspective but solid work and effort is something that can’t be assumed it’s something is created and the world will see who you are. That yes the dead body who name was Esteban on the outside can be said to be a handsome and really masculine was seen in multiple different lights and many people helped and gave him a new identity. I think that the villagers bring him to life when assigning him a name, giving him valuable items, crying for him, giving him a proper funeral so much more.i
I believe that this reading was assigned to let us know with the effort, taking time, dedication we can change for the better of progression and such things don’t go unnoticed and hit a point where we may even become influential in some way to others. That each and everyone of us in this classroom have the potential to reach a new point and leave that lasting impression on others.This story in a way remind me of a quote “Never judge a book by its cover even though they don’t know who he truly was and haven’t showed how he lived his truth from everyone created his identity. Also no matter how you look or who you know you are people are still going judge you from there perspective but solid work and effort is something that can’t be assumed it’s something is created and the world will see who you are. That yes the dead body who name was Esteban on the outside can be said to be a handsome and really masculine was seen in multiple different lights and many people helped and gave him a new identity. I think that the villagers bring him to life when assigning him a name, giving him valuable items, crying for him, giving him a proper funeral so much more.
Hi:) Samijah I hope all fantastic with you. I just wanted to say how compelling your statement was. Your stance on empowering others to be a better version of themselves inspiring of my reaction to as to why the story was assigned. I believe that everyone can be united by a common goal, unity brings out the best in us whether we choose to accept it or not. Unity is in our DNA, look at our society look at how far we came since the dark ages. Look how we came together and built towering structures of metal that touch the sky, look at how we’ve created order as a result of struggles we’ve all endured together. Unity goes hand in hand with purity because all humans are burn pure of heart, we are all born worthy of love and care but as we get older, we may grow out of these ways, but something always chooses to pull us back. The villagers needed Esteban to relapse back into that space of love, care, and compassion. They needed Esteban to again become the best version of themselves. Thank you for your response Samijah, it was beautiful.
Hey, Samijah and Giovanni. I wanted to addon to your words as this was the thread I enjoyed the most reading. Esteban’s alien like grandness in such a dull village may parallel how ideal nature of dreams clashes with the harshness of reality. The women’s ideal fantasies like dreams are broken when the women start to think about the burden Esteban would have had to suffer in reality. However, the story does end on a hopeful note: the villagers vow to change their home, wanting to fill it flowers. Even though we don’t see this happen we know like a flower ready to blossom, the villagers now see their own flaws. Marquez tells us that even dust of broken hearts can begin again as new dreams.
Thanks again for the thread.
This is a story of unity, change, and hope. Marquez wrote about a man who was larger than most and “the handsomest”. His body washed up on a coastal town with very little aesthetic quality. His unclaimed, lifeless body is eventually welcomed by the townspeople who decide to throw a beautiful funeral for him. Because of his unknown origins, the villagers come to the conclusion that he is now theres. The women are especially protective of this man and want to honor his place in the world. Their efforts to provide a proper burial evokes compassion and empathy, even to strangers. His presence provides purpose and inspiration. A town that once had no flowers is now enlisting the help of others to gather flowers of all colors. A now united town can begin the process to heal and improve their community for the future to come.
This story was chosen to inspire us all to be kinder, because we are stronger together. We can do better and be better.
Iliana, I love what you write about the importance of kindness. Compassion and kindness are definitely in play in this story. The villagers all work together to give dignity and a proper burial to the drowned stranger. As they engage in these compassionate activities, their imaginations also take flight. What do they do to bring an identity to the dead man as they care for his body?
Hello ilana, I for one completely agree with you on the version of Kindness and with the way his body was discovered and let back out unto the seas it showed a very important act of kindness because of the villagers that did that gesture for him. I also completely agree with what you said “His presence provides purpose and inspiration.” I strongly believe purpose and inspiration is amazing because he was placed there at the right time and moment for a change within the village and villagers.
Hello Ilana, we definitely should note how people welcomed unknown person as if he was one of their villagers. These people know how to honor and respect someone who passed away. We can say that it shows the unity of these people (they united to take care of the stranger) as well as kindness (they did not have to take such care of him). Story also tells us that we can be better and live more productive and cheerful lives and the villagers are good example for that. I think it also shows how one usual thing can turn into magical event and inspire us all.
“The Most Handsome Drowned Man” was quite the captivating read. I found it utterly fascinating how these villagers were able to create an identity for a lifeless man solely based on his other worldly appearance. Even naming him “Esteban.” The folks of the town go on to imagine Esteban as the epitome of a true man and decide to remodel their town so that it may be worthy of Esteban’s spirit.
I think this story was assigned to us because it empathizes the importance of perception. The lives of the folks of the town are drastically changed by the arrival of this corpse ironically. This is because of their imagination and ability to see what they desire in the lifeless body of Esteban. In this way he is a mirror for the perceptions of the villagers. The women adore him and the men would like to be him. The beauty in this story is in the way the villagers interpret what Esteban means to them.
Charran, thanks for the good post. I’m especially struck by your first paragraph here. While everything you write is quite true, that first section in your post gets close to my central reason for choosing this story as the first. In this paragraph, you describe what the people in the village do “to create an identity for a lifeless man.” It is what they do as a group, in addition to their compassionate caretaking, that is tied to my choice for the first story of the course.
Charren, I think you are right because the professor wants to make it practical in the real world and how people are designed, and they can quickly adapt and manipulate anything through their own knowledge and make that real. Which are the real meaning of human life, and I also appreciate the professor choosing this story as the first story.
Hello Charran, my response is similar to yours. Even though, there are so many details to catch and focus on, I think the fact that perception and imagination played enormous role is worthy of mentioning in the first place. Drown man could just have been a drown man but he suddenly became the reason for a big change and it is all because of the way villagers perceived the situation and welcomed unknown man to their lives. Therefore, the way we perceive the circumstances may change our lives in a positive or negative ways.
Hi Charran, I also found that perception was likely one of the most important themes of this story. I agree with your statement: “The lives of the folks of the town are drastically changed by the arrival of this corpse ironically. This is because of their imagination and ability to see what they desire in the lifeless body of Esteban.” I thought that this was similar to the literature we will likely read, and that in a way, Esteban himself personified literature for the villagers after death. Just as it was in this story, perception will be a key element of our time in this class.
This story was an interesting read because it showed how people live their lives based on their own capabilities, and never think about changing their lives for anyone else. The villagers have a certain amount of men in the village and could easily see if one of them was missing because of the limitations that they put on themselves in their everyday life. The villagers come to a realization after naming Esteban, that he must have had a hard life because of how big and handsome he was. They then proceed to give him family members including aunts, uncles, and cousins making everyone in the village kinsmen. while they fought for the privilege to carry him to the cliffs, is when they noticed how dry and insignificant their lives had been before meeting the drowned man. The villagers saw Esteban as this handsome strong man that they couldn’t compare to and then they chose to later change their lives in order to someday be able to. I believe this was assigned as the first story of the course because we as individuals have the power to change ourselves for the better if we are able to look past how we perceive ourselves.
Rances, I’m struck here by what you write because you come sooooo close to my central reason for assigning this story first in your discussion of the way the villagers imagine a life for Esteban. Again, nothing you write here is incorrect, and these are all good reasons for assigning this story.
The story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a very intriguing piece as it follows the story of a lifeless man who washed up on an island with his mind filled with stories from his grandmother. This man was claimed to be the most “Handsomest” from the first sight. As the villagers seen him, the women admired his beauty and the men desired his masculinity. The villagers were very kind to this stranger by giving him a family, name and a proper funeral that the entire village put effort into. This story gave me the idea that it was assigned to tell a story from kindness and change.
I believe this story was assigned first for this course because it sets a positive mindset. There is a man who was once ” the most handsomest man ” in the world and washed up dead on shore in near a village. The villagers who lived there treated him with respect and took care of his body. The ladies cleaned him up and groomed him. The men asked around different towns and villages to figure out who he is and where he is from. Eventually they gave him a name and family and called him ours. The villagers threw him a beautiful funeral out of the kindness of their hearts.
Alexsander, yes, we’ve had a lot of discussion about the element of kindness that is seen in the story. It is one of the things that makes this story so endearing. And while I hope we’ll all be kind to each other in these discussions, I have a reason for assigning the story that relates more to the function of literature. What activity do the villagers engage in together than helps lead to the positive attitude you mention?
Hello Alexsander, I agree and believe that it does set a positive mindset because of how the nature of the story does play out. It also touches upon other things such as kindness, compassion, respect, and so forth. To add onto what you are saying it also could go back to the course of this class of shaping and molding because if you look at it from the villagers perspective it helped them to want to become better individuals because of Esteban.
In this story, we can see how the perspective of everyone can differ; old and young, men and women. Although the villagers did not know the drown man when he was alive, they were mesmerized by this appearance that they created an identity for him and even gave him a name. Those who did not know or seen him before travelled far to send Esteban back to the sea. Esteban became alive through the words of the villagers in the small, simple, fishing village.
Because of Esteban, the people began to notice the dullness of their village: the streets, the courtyard, and their dreams (7). This makes them want to become a better person. Moreover, even to transform their simple village into a place so wonderful that it will attract many people from faraway land. They were proud to be the village that Esteban came, and they wanted to spread his name.
Similar to the villagers in this story, we are not aware of the changes needed in our lives until someone or something came into our lives. When this change come to us, we must not be hesitant to improve ourselves. I believe that the professor assigned us with this interesting story to understand the importance of changes in our lives, and the power of human perception on one another.
Thin, your comments are very well taken. I especially appreciate what you write about the different perceptions of the people in the village as they consider the drowned man. We see that the women are struck in a different way than the men are. They imagine different scenarios. The men also imagine scenarios for the dead man that come from the male perspective. This comes very close to my main reason for choosing this as our first story.
Hi Thin, I really enjoyed reading your post and found your interpretation and summary of the short story very interesting and well written. I thought it was great when you mentioned how everyone can have different perspectives, which proves to be true with the many different interpretations in the comments. I thought your statement “…we are not aware of the changes needed in our lives until someone or something comes into our lives” was very well said and resonated deeply with me-and i’m sure many others. I wholeheartedly agree with change being important and how we must embrace it and not avoid it(change).
In what is likely a Latin-American coastal village, the corpse of a stranger washes up to shore. Women take to caring for the body. In the process of washing it, they are struck by the dead man’s impressive frame and exceptional beauty. One woman declares that he looks like an “Esteban,” and the consensus builds among that this is his name. They imagine him to have had all sorts of heroic qualities, much to the disdain of the men, who the women find to pale in comparison to their romanticized image of the deceased. No clothes they have will fit him, so they turn to sewing some from whatever they have. Despite their best efforts, the body is still larger than what they can wrap him in (a metaphor for how this man conjures things beyond their previously limited imaginations). Upon seeing his face clearly, the dismissive men are eventually also seduced by his allure and join the efforts to give Esteban a suitable funeral ceremony. In the end, they vow to honor his memory by making their village, with their bleak houses and deserted soil, worthy of the great man they have made Esteban to be.
This short story reads like a fable. From the mere appearance of an anonymous dead man, the villagers’ collective imagination creates a foundational, aspirational myth on which to base their new group identity. I believe Professor Conway assigned us this text at the beginning of this semester as an allegory for this class. The works of literature we will encounter in this course are like Esteban’s body, and we, the students, are the villagers – here to interpret and dissect its content and purpose. This story was chosen to give us a preview of the transformation we shall undergo during this class. Most of these texts were written by long-deceased authors yet still carry the power to stir the mind. It is up to us to collectively assign meaning to them.
Anastasiia, yes! your second paragraph is a very good expression of why I assign this story first. This is very much a story about how literature can transform us. It is a story about the power of stories because ultimately, it is not the beauty of the man that transforms the village but the story or myth they have created as a group. They really know nothing about this dead man, yet they are able to bring him to life by making a story about an imagined life. In their story, he is heroic and noble. And they set out to live up to their self-created myth. Isn’t that how myths function in human culture? They inspire us to be better and more like the heroes of our myths. Thanks for a great post!
Hi Anastasiia,
I enjoyed your analysis on why the assignment was given to all of us. You provided a very thought-provoking message. Connecting us to the villagers makes sense! We are in this together. Esteban is a symbol of more to come, harder to come, better to come. We are here for the same reasons. To learn, coexist, and share. We will be challenged but must look forward. In doing so, find the meanings in our stories.
Hi, Anastasiia Espinoza
I wanted to say how intriguing your response was, you were able to make me want to know more about your thought process. You challenged me to think deeper into the story of the drowned man, and the theory of myths being connected to this story. I never thought about how the villagers were creating a myth of the man they knew nothing about enabling them to create a life for him based on his appearance. I liked how you said by using their imaginations they were able to create an aspirational myth in which they based their new identity. These people used the arrival of this man to transform their lives to fit the myth they created for him.
I believe that the purpose of our weekly reading was to raise reflection. I dare to add that it might have a motivational sense as well. To explore these talking points, I would like you to analyze the text with me thinking that the arrival and the departure of Estevan can be interpreted as a metaphor for the pursuit of higher education through college.
After reading the article from the scholar Dean Rader, I started focusing on two elements in the plot: the change in identity in the transformation that occurred in the village.
The life of the villagers changed at the exact moment Steven arrived. With a direct look at my analogy, think about how your own identity will pass through changes in the period before and after college, in the same way, that the village passed through the same process before and after Estevan. Our lives also were altered with college. Our priority priorities changed, our personal and work-related schedules had changed.
From my perspective based on my culture, going to college change the perception of identity. Once you graduate and become a professional, you will be inserted differently in the world. In the same way, the villagers were before Estevan. “They were a nameless, faceless, undistinguished village in need of something magical to transform their mere existence into life” (Paragraph 4). “According to Korb, this transformation gives their lives a sense of purpose as well as a sense of reputation” (Paragraph 4). Conclusively, the contact with Estevan was impactful enough to change the village’s identity permanently and its people, in the same way the college will do to us.
As Daren further describes, “The moral of this story might be to expect the magical or to take advantage of the miraculous when it arrives on your doorstep” (Paragraph 7). The motivational message could be to believe that we can get through college and graduate if we keep our hearts open to unexpected changes and challenges like the villagers did.
I apologize if I have not been able to express my ideas clearly. Having English as a second language brings some obstacles. Writing is one of them for me.
Deanne, you expressed this interpretation beautifully. And I think it rings true. College requires students to open their minds to new ideas and perspectives. For me, that is the most important element in learning. It also requires you to tap into your imagination and creative thinking abilities. In this sense, college is truly transformative. We are in a literature course, so I am most interested in the transformative power of literature. There will undoubtedly be at least one reading in the course that will affect you deeply and change the way you think or feel about something. In this story, the villagers create a story. And the creation of this myth is what ultimately allows them to change, grow, and become better. You mention “magic” in your post. I see the “magic” in this story as something created by the villagers as they use their imaginations to create a life for a dead man. For me, the magic is that they bring the dead man to life, while the dead man at the same time brings them to life.
Hi Thin, I really enjoyed reading your post and found your interpretation and summary of the short story very interesting and well written. I thought it was great when you mentioned how everyone can have different perspectives, which proves to be true with the many different interpretations in the comments. I thought your statement “…we are not aware of the changes needed in our lives until someone or something comes into our lives” was very well said and resonated deeply with me-and i’m sure many others. I wholeheartedly agree with change being important and how we must embrace it and not avoid it(change).
“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells a story about a drowned man named Esteban washes ashore in a small village near a beach. As the people in the village try to figure out who he is they prepare his body for a burial, they start to realize he is much taller, stronger and handsome than any other man they have ever seen. At the end, his full presence has inspired all of the villagers to construct a better life by painting their houses in brilliant colors, growing flower beds throughout the village and to broaden all of their gates. I thought it was a remarkable story on how all of the villagers were able to work together to make their life way more meaningful from a handsome drowned man. Professor, I believe that you assigning this story as our first reading is teaching us on how we are all capable of finding a way or a reason to be better in all that we do.
Angel, thanks for the good words. You’re right that the story is about a village that becomes better. And yes, the dead man is a source of inspiration. But let’s remember—he is dead. What do the villagers do to bring him to life? There are a few interesting interpretations of the story by others in the group that I think you might enjoy reading.
The “Handsomest Drowned Man” was a tale that filled with compassion, love, and empathy. These are all qualities the world could use a vast amount of right now, as our professor I think you assigned this as our first reading because you wanted to show us such a ordinary village came together out of concern, compassion, and hopefulness to create and identity and a background for a stranger. The story showcases the endless amount of compassion all human beings are worthy of. Most importantly it showcases the ability of human beings being able to come together in order to strive towards a common goal much like our class. In our class we are one, all our differences, our pride, our beliefs, and our values become one as we embark on a new journey together. Much like how the villagers are united by a common act of kindness, we as a class are united by a common act of initiative and kindness of our future selves to become something that is beyond ordinary.
Hello Giovanni,
I love your interpretation. I agree that the story shows the qualities humans are capable of. This story beautifully captures what coming together as humans rather than what we look like or what walk of life you led can do to create change. Compassion is definitely a vital quality needed in this world. I like the theme you presented of unity and how it correlates to our class. I hope we all unite as a class, and support each other in the process of becoming better readers and writers.
“Handsomest Drowned Man” was a tale that filled with compassion, love, and empathy. These are all qualities the world could use a vast amount of right now, as our professor I think you assigned this as our first reading because you wanted to show us such a ordinary village came together out of concern, compassion, and hopefulness to create and identity and a background for a stranger. The story showcases the endless amount of compassion all human beings are worthy of. Most importantly it showcases the ability of human beings being able to come together in order to strive towards a common goal much like our class. In our class we are one, all our differences, our pride, our beliefs, and our values become one as we embark on a new journey together. Much like how the villagers are united by a common act of kindness, we as a class are united by a common act of initiative and kindness of our future selves to become something that is beyond ordinary.
Hi Giovanni, I agree. The people of the village show much compassion and support of a man they had no connection to. The women of the village went as far as to scraping the mud off his face and creating an outfit that he could fit into, then to give him a lovely ceremony. I think this story reminds us of the importance of supporting others and honoring them, even if we don’t personally know them or are very close to them. As shown in the story by the way the villagers were touched by Esteban, the impact of our support and love towards others not only affects them, but also changes us.
The reason you assign this story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of this course. It is Because you want us to know about human life. You want to teach us about the reality of this world where everyone is mortal, and there is nothing to be hated from each other. Everyone should be loved, And there shouldn’t have to be any discrimination between their faces, skin color, and race. Because at the end everyone is going to die. And be a part of the earth, and there is nothing that we have our own. Everything is the property of this universe, so we can understand reality. And it will be easy to understand us about our future. Thats why you choose this story to introduce first in this course. In conclusion, you want to introduce the reality of human life to us throughout the writing.
Saroj, thank you for your good words. You are actually giving me credit for a large motivation than I have for this class. Of course, I want you to learn about human life, but I don’t think I know more about this than any of you do. My reason is more tied to literature and what I hope you will all take from it as we go through the semester together.
This story was so helpful and interesting to read. I think that you gave this story as a first assignment because the story is so unique and have a good message to us because something we judge a people only because how they look and how they talk and we as a person have to know that everybody are different and unique. The story inspired us to be strong and to be unique as a person.
Kemeli, I love your response, but please be sure that your comments meet the length requirement so you can get full credit. See “Information about Discussion Boards” in COURSE INFORMATION.
In “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” showing the human nature to create a subjective story about people and events, both in stories and in their own lives, they begin to a personhood upon this stranger, finally coming to regard him as someone beloved and fabulous. This story can creates compassion among readers and regard the drowned man with awe. The arrival of the drowning man changed the unhappiness of the citizens before, but it also symbolizes that they will improve their lives, and then everyone prepared a grand funeral for the drowning man. The author through this article to inform us that when some kind of change comes, we must persist with not giving up in order to improve better.
Shihao, I appreciate your mention of the importance of change in a community of people. I certainly hope that we will all change, at least a little bit, in this course—or that our thinking or perceptions will grow and change. My central reason for assigning this story first is a connection it makes with literature and the creation of stories. Note: This is not an article. This is a story. Articles are nonfiction. Stories are fiction.
I think that this was the first reading assigned in the course because it is a message of how we can support and honor others. For example, in the story, Esteban is lifeless, as “he had the smell of the sea about him… because [his] skin was covered with a crust of mud and scales” (Marquez). As a dead man in a foreign village, Esteban was likely not going to receive the funeral he deserved. However, the people of the village saw his beauty and chose to uplift him, not knowing who he was or where he came from. They even went so far as to hold the most splendid funeral” (Marquez) in his honor. I take this as an example of how we can support those who are in need of it, and give to them even if we don’t know them. In my own life, I can work on being there for others and honoring them by complimenting them, paying attention to them, and letting them know that I am there for them.
I believe the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was assigned as the first story because it pushes interpretation onto the reader rather than just by the author. When reading any type of literature, interpretation of stories/ text is what creates essays and keeps conversations going, so having a writing that focuses so heavily on imagery and pushes the reader to draw meaning without interpreting it for you, it is an easy conversation starter with plenty of different perspectives. This story also revolves around the change and growth that occurred when looking through a different lens and gaining perspective of others’ situations. The best way to learn and grow is not to always agree and surround yourself with people of the same perspective, but to enrich yourself with people in different walks of life. This occurred when the people of the island started to look beneath the surface of Esteban’s beauty, and started to sympathize with the struggles that came with being so large compared to others. The people of the island started to improve their home to comfort the spirit of Esteban by making the doorways wide and tall and planting beautiful flowers. Instead of praising him as a God they recognized him as a human with his own feelings and issues. Esteban’s struggles gave the people a drive and purpose to take better care of their home and people. In literature class, we will begin to grow as people, readers, and writers when we pay attention to different perspectives.
This is good
Caroline, you come very close to my central reason for assigning this story first in your discussion of how the villagers begin to look beneath the surface of Esteban and find compassion for him. But we have to remember that they are inventing all these stories about him. He is dead. They really know nothing about his life. Isn’t it the creation of this story what brings life and identity to Esteban? And in giving life to the dead man, doesn’t he bring life to the village?
While reading the story, we can clearly see how people built a personality of Esteban without even knowing any details about his real life. Using their imagination, women came up with the name and characteristics of the drown man. Perhaps, he was not at all brave, strong and powerful and what are the chances that his name was Esteban. No one can doubt that people created this greatly impressive individual by themselves. Of course, it was based on his beautiful face and strong body but it is important how we interpret what we see. What is more impressive in this story is that people were affected by their own creation. They transformed their lives into the one that is worthy of Esteban. We can say that he became the role model of every individual in the village.
Based on all these, I think that the reason we were given this particular story at the beginning was to let us see how we posses the power to interpret situations in a way that it can positively affect us. It is our choice, either we can build strong Esteban and identify ourselves with him or we can create worthless, nameless person and take nothing out of experience. Villagers paid this much attention to a drown man because they saw magical creature instead of another drown body. We can take our usual life opportunities and turn them into a magic too, we just need positive interpretation and a will to change ourselves for better.
Hello Mariam, your take on this story resonated with me. It bothered me to see the villagers assigning all sorts of human virtues to the body of Esteban purely based on his appearance, even though this isn’t the main point of the story. We could draw a parallel between the way they identify with this mythified creation of theirs and how people tend to develop a sense of national identity based solely on imagined virtues that often don’t match historical events. I do believe, however, that there is something aspirational in identifying yourself with values and in trying to make your life worthy of this self-image, the way the villagers did by remodeling their village in the image of Esteban.
Hi, Mariam. You are right and I think the villagers will change their mind it all because the drowned man. Before the drowned man washed up on the beach, I believe that the villagers don’t have anything can inspire them. That is one of the reasons why the villagers in there so poor. It is necessary to have a role model in our heart. It can motivate us to persue our goal when we are down.
‘The handsomest drowned man’ looks like is a story about a village where people easily believe in religious stuff. Its about a man found by the villagers who is unusually tall and so shockingly handsome that the villagers give him religious reverence and also calls him Esteban.
I believe professor gave us this story as our first because of how amazingly the story was built and explained.It also shows us how welcoming one should be to new people and our professor wanted to build such an atmosphere for us.The story also shows how new things can chaneg our perspectives and give us new values.
I think you assigned this as the first story of the course because it showcases the topic we discussed about poetry/literature being a higher form of history because it allows it self to be exaggerated and played around with, unlike history where it has to be formal and realistic. In the story, Esteban is repeatedly seen as this larger then life person that by merely existing inspires the people in the village to recreate their village in his image. At some point, even people from other villages start coming in to pay their respect with flowers and to witness this wonder of the world. In fact, you could argue the sea even protected his body with crust to preserve his body since it should had been a rotting mess, yet it was in such a condition that everyone was shocked and awed by him. And since the villagers had to remove the crust with a tool that would descale fish, it was almost like they were sculpting him to be this person they’ve imagined.
Hi Daniel,
I really liked your observation about the condition of the body. I had not thought about that before. I find it interesting to imagine that it was also a metaphor. While the women were untangling Esteban’s hair and cleaning his body, they were discovering his face. Later in the story, they discovered the embarrassment he may have endured for being big, which led them to see him as part of their community. Both discoveries happened through a progressive process.
Daniel, you use a very important phrase here when you write that the villagers are sculpting Esteban to be the person they imagine. This story is so much about the exertion of imagination. The villagers know nothing about this dead man. They create a story for his life, and in this way they create a hero and a myth for their community, something they can all aspire to.
I believe that “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” was assigned as our first reading as it exemplifies our ability to make our own interpretations of the literature we will read in this class in future weeks, which “Esteban” personifies. Although he is but a dead, drowned man, the women of the village see him as a once strong and heroic figure in life and imagine the adventures he had. His corpse tells a story and paints a picture in the heads of those who see him, which brings life to a once quiet village, much as literature is able to for those who read it.
In short, this story was assigned to us as our first reading because it demonstrates the positive effects literature and stories can have on us, and how we are able to make our own interpretations of these stories.
Emily, yes! Literature—stories, which is what the people in the village create—can change our lives. This is a story about the power of stories to change lives and perspectives. There are other themes at play, as well, as many have mentioned in this wonderful discussion, but this is my real reason for assigning this story first.
Hi Emily, this is actually very unique. I like how you took the actual story and said that Esteban “personifies” literature. It shows that you were definitely thinking outside the box because you didn’t simply summarize the text. The different pieces of literature works we’ll be reading will most likely require a lot of discussion, which means many different opinions will be approached, so I agree that this reading was to maybe get us started and show us how we will be seeing different perspectives throughout this course.
Hello Emily,
I like the way you interpreted the story and why this is our first assignment. From reading the discussion posts, we can see that each of us have a different understanding of the story. Likewise, I believe there will be times when we have similar conception about a story. But there will also be times when our understanding varies.
I also agree with you about how literature and stories can have a strong impact on us, just like how the appearance of “Esteban” on the small fishing village not only changed the lives of the villagers, but also the appearance of the village itself.
On the surface, “Esteban” is the only one with an actual name – perhaps that intentional. The man and women of the village are simple, fisherman with not much going on. Even Esteban is only characterized by superlatives, both good and bad showing he’s clearly a stranger compared to the rest. Their nameless quality emphasizes their plainness and insignificance in the presence of so grand; almost mythological. The setting described at the beginning of the story informs us of the characters to come as well. The villagers live on a small island (isolation) in all wooden houses (indifference) with no flowers around. This melancholic atmosphere parallels the villagers own uneventful lives.
I did some digging on the name Esteban, but the most I could find on that was who was Estevanico – who was the first African to reach the shores of America. However, I believe any reference or significance of the corpse’s name is just to emphasizes the otherworldly quality of it and how the corpse is “out of the realm of the village’s imagination.”
I want to discuss the idea of emotional projection that occurs throughout the story. From the very first scene where the children imagine the corpse to be a boat and a sperm whale, Esteban is a vessel for the villagers own emotions and thoughts. The women’s fantasies about reveal their own deep seeded desires and discontent. Their shift towards sympathy and compassion doesn’t come until after they name the corpse and essentially give him an identity, which causes the women to change their narrative for him. The men go through a similar shift but in reverse. Their initial disdain for Esteban reflects their own insecurities about their manhood – their shift, however, comes out of reverence for Esteban. This relationship illustrates an interesting perspective on masculinity.
The final projection shows that Esteban’s grandness and size helps the villagers realize their own indifference and they are now motivated to make the village worthy of someone like Esteban. I believe these shifts along with Marquez’s style of Magical Realism present the relationship between dreams and reality. Esteban is nothing but a dead corpse, but that hardly stops the village from their infatuation with him. Instead of smelling like death and decay, he only smells of the sea and it seems like his body keeps on growing after death.
Gamby, this is an interesting look at the story, full of good reflections and information. However, the question for this week was why you think I assigned this story as the first reading of the semester.
The haunting story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” was assigned as the first story of the course. It is because the theme of transformation. In the story, before the drowned man washed up on the beach, the villagers did not realize how bad the situation they were in. They lived in a village surrounding by ocean. Sadly, they did not know how to use these bountiful resources. However, the drowned man has the power to change them to be better. As a student, we don’t know everything. When we have problems, we should know how to take advantage of resources around us. It teaches us a lesson that only we find out what our weaknesses are. Then, we can change to be better. Also, I believe that the professor gives us time to adapt the shift from short story to long story.
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This was my first time reading “The Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and my initial reaction of the village seemed, for lack of a better word, narcissistic and shallow. It seemed to really imply that they(the village) only cared about his(Esteban’s) life and struggles because of his looks and how attractive he was. Would the village women care for Esteban if he was not their type? Would the men take back their words and their initial thoughts of him if they hadn’t seen the drowned mans face? I then read the story for a second time and I was able to understand how the village had never seen a man of his size before and instead appreciated it immediately and wanted to prepare for any people in the future similar to him; which is both wholesome and sweet. I was instantly hooked from the first line and I believe this was an amazing short story and a great beginning to a new semester. I think you might have assigned this as the first story of the course because it can be interpreted in many different ways and the story is very thought-provoking yet simple and entertaining.
Hi Shadai,
I also got hooked up on the reading right from the start. But I had a different perspective from the village. As you said, I did not think that they were all attracted to Estevan’s beauty and size. I believe that what brought them all together to preserve the drought man passage was pity, because also the men attending the funeral felt it. When the women are cleaning his body, the story describes some embarrassing situations he could have lived through when he was alive. Therefore I did not think they were narcissists.
Shadai, I am so glad that you re-read the story and were open-minded enough to move away from your first interpretation. For me, this is what learning is all about, and I love to hear from students who take the steps to go through this process of rethinking and re-evaluating. Brava for you. However, the question for this week was why you think I assigned this story as the first reading of the semester.
I stated, ” I think you might have assigned this as the first story of the course because it can be interpreted in many different ways and the story is very thought-provoking yet simple and entertaining.” for my reasoning as to why.
I believe you might’ve assigned this as the first story in our course to mostly portray the teamwork within the village. I say this because the entire story consist of villagers that were trying to come together and make sense out of the outrageous size of the man. One side of the villagers (the women) were more intrigued in the man, and how distinct he was from the rest; It led to strong admiration. The men on the other hand, were disappointed about the attention that their women was giving to the drowned man. In my opinion, this represented disagreement between a team, which will almost always happen, but it’s about how you come together in the end with a resolution. In reality, you wouldn’t necessarily hear of anyone trying to care for a deceased body; so reading this personally gave me a different outlook on being genuinely kind. From this story, I retrieved extra knowledge on how being warm-hearted can potentially change your life. It seemed to me that the drowned man was getting more credit for his presence, but you can see that the villagers changed their own lives by just acting as a union. Moreover, the story consisted of the most humane characters, which leaves me to believe that you’re trying to emphasize the symbolism of unity, and of course, sympathy.
I believe that you assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as our first reading so that we can dive in to working topics related to the development of a character and superstitions. I feel as if there’s hidden messages within the story as the villagers find the drowned body of Esteban. Giving him the proper burial and observing his size for his corpse revealed how important it was to the villagers. Something I can is from reading this story is that curiosity sprouts into so motivation and motivation can lead to life changing encounters. For instance finding Esteban’s body was the life changing encounter because it sprouted a new way of life after finding his drowned body.
I believe that you assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as our first reading so that we can dive in to working topics related to the development of a character and superstitions. I feel as if there’s hidden messages within the story as the villagers find the drowned body of Esteban. Giving him the proper burial and observing his size for his corpse revealed how important it was to the villagers, which can show how their morals might have changed. Sometimes in life the experiences we least expect to impact us, are the ones that leave the biggest impact. Something I can say that I gained from reading this story is that curiosity sprouts into motivation and motivation can lead to life changing encounters. For instance finding Esteban’s body was the life changing encounter because it sprouted a new way of life after finding his drowned body.
believe that this reading was assigned to let us know how people can change and also based and about when people have humanity everything its better
I believe to think that the professor had us read this story to show us that no matter what civilization you are apart of, people will always judge you for how you look. in the story plot the body of a man is washed up to the shore. the people of this town tried to discover the identity this man based on his physical attributes. the discovery has influenced the village to change their lives and create it into a better society. you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover because judging doesn’t give you the necessary important information. what counts is the interior not the exterior, you never know the story of someone. within a society, appearance can have a impact because of the social advantages. in certain people’s beliefs they have different views of physical appearance and its not only influenced by their perception of beauty but their subsequent attitudes toward equality plays a huge role as well. regardless of such beauty you have to always stay true to yourself and others. I have also many times before judged someone based on looks and looks is not always the important factor that someone have. you have to want to better yourself without no guidance or leader but to what it for yourself.
As our teacher, I think he assigned this story as our first reading in this course because we wanted us to receive the message that human beings, that is, have the power to inspire others to be better and to make them want to be extraordinary. I also think it was so that we can see what this country lacks and what it needs. Respect and acceptance for others who are different from you or what you consider “Normal”.
“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” is a story about through imagination and myth, the people of the village turned a macabre situation into something that would be inspiring to the village for lifetimes to come. The author writes the story in a mystery type of way, to make you wonder and interpret the magical effects of Esteban and how he effects the world around him. I think that this was assigned so we can detach ourselves away from the literal readings that we are used to outside of literature and get us used to the insightful nature of literature readings. At first it was hard to grasp my mind to what was going on really and only after a second reading I started reading between the lines deeper and read on a level that was beyond my literal interpretation.
I think it was assigned to make us believe more in ourselves and in what we can positively change in our lives, we are all different and that is what makes us unique because everyone has their own potential that can be physical or mental. Just as this drowned man caused such a great impact on the people because of his appearance, we can also cause impacts either by how we see ourselves or by how we think, speak or act. We should not get carried away by an appearance because as the story says, first they thought it was a boat then it was a whale, but it was not until they knew him well, until they cleaned it that they realized that he was the most handsome man in the world; It is the same thing that happens in real life and that is why we must not judge or give up, we always have a chance to be better and to prove it to others. The people of the town gave this man called Esteban a life since they gave him a name, gave him a dignified funeral and even cried for him, as he does the reading with us since it gives us new knowledge, new understandings, it allows us to have a better education. literature allows us to flee from reality, from concerns; It disconnects us from the real world to take us to the stories, that with reading it we can imagine it and even want to live it.