In the short story “The Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez an entire village is impacted by the arrival of a stranger. At first sight, a floating being is nothing new or out of the ordinary, it is just another day for this town. Once discovered this being is a beautiful and sincere man who lost his life, the townsman are influenced and left with a new view on life.
From the first introduction to the last moment, there is growth from both the women and the men of this community. The women did not see him as an actual person who lost their life until he was given a name, Esteban. They decided to fantasize and dream of what this man could’ve been for them opposed to the life lost and how he got to where he was. The men immediately grew a dislike due to the adoration of the townswomen and simply did not care enough about the man to even notice his sincerity and uniqueness. In the end, Esteban had his own town, a man with no words, just a face with mystery helped change the hearts of everyone.
I believe the story was chosen to encourage and enlighten students to broaden their horizons. Help us learn not to judge a book by its cover too soon and try to understand the background of others before coming to conclusions. This short story demonstrates how one person can change and impact the lives of others simply with a face of sincerity and kindness.
2 thoughts on “Julia Longboat Week 2 Discussion”
Julia, I love what you write about broadening horizons. I definitely hope this will happen in our class as we read a collection of stories, plays, and poems. In many ways, this is a story about the power of stories to broaden horizons and change lives.
Julia, I love what you said that “the story was chosen to encourage and enlighten students to broaden their horizons. Help us learn not to judge a book by its cover too soon and try to understand the background of others before coming to conclusions.”
Here we are students from all different backgrounds, coming together to understand and know the ideas we have based on our discussions, conversations, readings and studying. We will all have our own inputs to share and communicate with our professor. Here we can then see the growth we have made.