Week 2 Discussion

The story “The most Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a story about how the discovery of Handsome drowned man changed the atmosphere of a group of people in a small community of 20 wooden houses who helped the drowned man. In the story it mentions “They noticed too that he bore his death with pride, for he did not have the lonely look of other drowned men who came out of the sea or that haggard, needy look of men who drowned in rivers. But only when they fnished cleaning him of did they become aware of the kind of man he was and it lef them breathless. Not only was he the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen, but even though they were looking at him there was no room for him in their imagination”. This quote shows that the village in where the drowned man appeared, the people were more than happy to help him but their village was not going to fit the drowned man because of his size and his appearance.

After I read the short story “The Most Handsomest Drown Man” I think that you assigned this reading as the first story in this course to establish the tone of this course. I feel like now that we have been exposed to this new type of literature known as magical realism, there will be more readings that have a very similar feel to this one. While reading the short story, I noticed the sudden impact on the village made by the appearance of the drowned man. This impact was even more prevalent among the women of the village, as to the men of the village, the women seemed to be making the entire ordeal much more than it actually was. They even went as far as to tell them to move to the side as they prepared his body to be put back into the ocean. However, in the end, the men of the village also succumb to the impact of the drowned man as they were suddenly also overcome with a wave of compassion for him.

After reading the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man”  I believe the reason why you assigned this as the first story in our course is probably because  to set the tone for the rest of the stories that we will be reading in class which will most likely have some type of mystic feel to them. I thought it was interesting how the most interesting to happen in that village was a dead drowned man showing up out of the blue which means that town is one of those peaceful towns where nothing really happens. The mystic aura of some dead man showing up and yet cannot be identified adds to the mystery which is what I think the women were mostly attracted to. The women were mostly the ones imagining things up about him and were mostly why the town was influenced to be and do better, well that and the obvious fear of dying and being unidentified and forgotten. People mostly never talk ill of the dead and especially not when they are “handsome.”

While there was nothing specific about the story, that made me pause and wonder why the reading was assigned, nonetheless I’m glad it was. It was a very nice and easy, dreamy read and that could be reason enough, it’s just a pleasant story. but maybe if i had to chose a concrete idea, I noticed that the people of the village seemed a bit isolated and when they finally came across ‘someone’ new they were excited. Which is also a bit similar to today’s social interactions. Many of us have been isolated for over a year and are finally interacting with people outside of our “pods or villages”. Which I believe has made us more curious and empathetic towards one another. I think that’s also why in the story, the people of the village were so kind and doting, when it came to this unknown person. The villagers cleaned him, dressed and named him which humanized him more.

After reading the story “The handsomest Drowned Man in the world.” I noticed that he made a big change for these vilagers after they seen him get washed up to shore. When the people realized what kind of person he was they decided to make a big change for themselves. They noticed that the man was different he had different features from the vilagers they noticed how tall he was they noticed how attractive he was and also his strength. Esteban brung positive energy to the village. I feel like the professor chose this story for the class to read is because one it is a very interesting story, and two I feel like she showing us how having power and being a great person can make a dramatic change in the world. Esteban was on of those people. he was able to make the community change their lives for the better.

I believe Professor Conway assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story for a few different reasons. One of the reasons would be due to the enthralling setting revolving around a dead man. This story was able to bring about a lot of discussion between the different analogies each student was able to come up with. Another reason would be the fact that this story was able to not only bring about imaginations to the villagers in the story, it also riled the entire class up with our own imaginations and stories. These are the reasons why I believed that Professor Conway assigned “The Most Handsome Drowned Man,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story of our semester together.

In the story, the body of a drowning man turns up in a remote town by the sea. When the townspeople try to discover his identity and prepare to bury his body, they find that he is taller, stronger, and more handsome than any man they have ever met. At the end of the story, his presence influences them to make people and their own lives better than they ever imagined. I think Professor Conway chose it as something motivational since as the story tries to explain, a person has the great power to change others and give them extra inspiration. When the people of the town saw the body, at first they came to think that something so perfect, something so magnificent could not be real and they related it as something mythical, they realize that such magnificence can exist in the real world, the body drowned is proof of that. And, therefore, they aspire to that greatness themselves, and, at the same time, remain in reality.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” narrates the story of a drowned stranger who sweeps up on the shore of a tiny coastland society. The community members take good care of the dead man, with women washing mud from his hair while men embark on a journey to trace the stranger’s whereabouts. Even though the man did not deserve a ceremonial burial,  he ended up receiving a proper burial and transformed the community a great deal. The villagers decided to change their village’s name to honor the stranger. The story signifies a major theme: inspiration can come from the most unexpected sources. The primary reason the instructor assigned the story is to boost students’ morale. Regardless of the challenges they might be experiencing, they should not give up their efforts since anything and the most unexpected can make a difference in their lives. Even though  Estaban was a stranger, his unique beauty won him the villager’s attention. Likewise, the student should aim at having a distinct trait.

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s exquisite and disturbing story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man,” a significant transformation occurs in an isolated community on a seashore cape following the discovery of a beautiful drowned body. Professor Conway, I believe, chose this story as the course’s first reading because it is both inspirational and motivating. As students, we can learn to collaborate in order to improve our performance in school and on any given task. This story says that a great person possesses the ability to transform oneself and others, to inspire people to be better, and to motivate them to strive for excellence. Additionally, it demonstrates the influence such a person can have on those who admire him or her, manifesting as a drive for self-improvement. The Drowned Man, Esteban, serves as a metaphor for the villagers’ overwhelming experience. With his body washed up on the strand, the people gathered, and they collectively took on the obligation to effect change.

After reading “The Handsomemest Drownested Man in the World”, I came to the conclusion that the drowned man was a godlike figure, in size and beauty, that changed a small, mundane village to an open and rich world after the villagers gave the drowned man their own story and identity. The man arrived at the island dead, and by the end of the story, Esteban’s legends grew and had an effect on the people as well. The people vowed to transform their village someplace worthy of him, they would have to build “wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors”. Esteban inspired the villagers to become better people. I think this reading was assigned to us because the class can be seen as the village in the story. And by the end of the semester, we would have grown and will have a better understanding of things we read. I enjoyed this story. In the beginning, I was immediately hooked, I wanted to know more about the drowned man and felt like I was giving more than a satisfying answer.

I believe that Marquez’s novel ”Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” is a truly captivating and curious story, which makes it easy to imagine and to build our own critiques about the magic event of Esteban, the giant drowned man. With that being said, this could be our first reading assignment because of the novel’s facility to engage and to provoke feelings on the readers. Personally, I have felt very touched by this novel and it has made me wonder a lot about how people perceive me, or why do we have the tendency to judge everything around us. It brought me to a place where I could almost feel the hurt from the women on the village, whom imagined Esteban’s whole life and emphasized with his sufferings. Moreover, it has made question so much that I started to create my own narratives to explain his life too: “What if he wasn’t handsome, would they have cared for him?”, “And if he wasn’t so big, would it still make sense? And if he was happy on the way he was?”. Well, I guess I will not have the answers and an end for my own narratives, but it was good while it lasted.

In the beautiful and haunting story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a profound change takes place in a remote village on a seaside cape after a beautiful, drowned body washes to shore. I think Professor Conway has assigned this as the first story of the course because its inspiring and motivating. As students we can learn to work together to become better for ourselves and for any task at hand individually. This story argues that a great person has the power to change themselves and to change others, to inspire those to be better and to make them want to be exceptional. It also shows the effect such a person can have on those who admires him or her and manifests as a desire for self-betterment. In the story, the Drowned Man, Esteban, symbolizes an overwhelming experience for the villagers. With his body being washed away to shore, it brought the villagers to gather, and they took on the responsibility to make changes as a team.

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” was a great first story as introduces the idea that one singular object can change the entirety of a group of people. It also was somewhat more direct with its themes and ideas of the story, so it was easier to understand as a whole. The descriptive writing of the author really allows the reader tom take in the scenery of the village. However, the description of the body itself is in a whole league of its own. The author took his time with each individual line describing the man as to draw in the reader and actually help them visualize what the man could have looked like. I think this was chosen as a first story in order to help us as a class get a better feel for really focusing on the individual details of our work while not straying too far from the overall theme.

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.

I think professor assigned us this story “The Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story because the story it seems to be a novel, and I believe this story will be similar to other assignments we will have. This story was like an imagination. When I first started to read from the beginning, I imagined a drowned man and seems to take on the shape. The children started to think that the drowned man was the enemy ship because they never have seen him. As the people of the town attempted to discover his identity and prepare his body for burial, they discover he taller, strong and more handsome than any man they ever have seen. When they thought he might be a whale, after they realize he is a drowned man, they treated him like he was from there and belongs there. By the end of the story, his presence has influenced them make their own village and their own lives better than they had previously imagined possible.

I think the professor assigned the story “The Most Handsomest Dead Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story to show the students that this course will teach a good lesson and a good read at the same time. This may also set the tone for the semester. During the first few paragraphs the story put an image in my mind of a dead guy that arrived on the beach shore with better features than all the men in their village. This story is big on imagination which is what I like. I liked how the story turned out because Esteban was just a good looking dead guy that arrived up on the shore of the beach and inspired the rest of the village to do and be better. When the village saw Esteban and his amazing features it put an idea in the men and women, and they wanted to make him Rest In Peace by changing the village in which they imagined he would like. They decide to create a life for the dead man in return the dead man gives life to the village.

The reason why I think this story(“The Handsomest Drowned Man”)  was chosen for us to read is that this is a very interesting short story, and with a lot of questions to ask about, it is also a nice way to start the course with a fantasy story because the drowned man seems like imagination or illusion for me in a way. Esteban The Handsomest Drowned Man changes to villages in a way people rethinking of themselves “They secretly compared him to their own…most useless creatures on earth”. Also, the details from the dead body, women in the village can imagine what kind of person Esteban is and the things he has been through, which is very incredible because the dead body can’t talk about what happened to him, but women in the village can from the smallest details to a story. Personally, for me, the story seems like the dead body entering a place where it is an isolated land.

While reading “The Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel García Márquez it really makes me attracted to the story as it gives it truly makes you wonder how others see and contemplate you, all things considered like how the people in this story give life to death man and how it treated their village and also In the story, the body of a suffocated man cleans up in a little, distant town by the sea Before the finish of the story, his essence has impacted them to make their own town and their own lives better compared to what they had recently envisioned conceivable. The suffocated man appears to assume the state of anything the villagers have ever seen. Maybe this story was given to make us understand that it contends a genuinely incredible individual has the ability to transform others, to motivate them to be better, to make them need to be remarkable.

I think the professor assigned the story “The Most Handsomest Dead Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the first story to show the students that this course will teach a good lesson and a good read at the same time. This may also set the tone for the semester. During the first few paragraphs the story put an image in my mind of a dead guy that arrived on the beach shore with better features than all the men in their village. This story is big on imagination which is what I like. I liked how the story turned out because Esteban was just a good looking dead guy that arrived up on the shore of the beach and inspired the rest of the village to do and be better. When the village saw Esteban and his amazing features it put an idea in the men and women, and they wanted to make him Rest In Peace by changing the village in which they imagined he would like. They decide to create a life for the dead man in return the dead man gives life to the village.

While reading this story I believe that the reason we were assigned to read this is because you want us all to participate and to come together and work as one. This idea came to me because as it states in the second paragraph they say that they found a whale along the sea which came out the water but when they cleaned it a little better it instead was a man who drowned so the first thing they did with his body was take it to someone reliable to find out a little more about it and how it could have ended up on the sand. They then were trying to come to solutions that it could’ve been some one apart of the village so they wanted to go around and make sure it was not. This to me shows that they are working as a team to find out what really happened to the guy and who he really is.

After reading “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I’ve concluded that there are many similarities in how the villagers encounter the most handsome drowned man and how we students are encountering this story. The reading shows us the state of the villager’s pre and post-meeting of the drowned man and how they interpret and react to the new experience. By having this as the first story of the course, it forces us into a similar situation in which we reflect on the nature of the story and what our reactions are to it. In the story, the author makes a point of having both the villagers and the body have no identity. We are not given the name of the village nor is the body someone the villagers know. Through interacting with it, the villagers name it Estaban. Pre-Estaban we find the villagers as just some nameless village, lacking any distinctness to call their own. Afterward, the villagers decide to change their village to be as welcoming to Estaban as possible, enlarging doors, heightening roofs, and strengthening floors. Their whole village becomes devoted to Estaban and it gains the identity of Estaban’s village. We, students, are in a similar situation where before we start this assignment we are just names on a roster. After the story, we create an identity based on what we post on the discussion board and we decide how to react to this story and how this helps us grow as students. In conclusion, I think the reason why this was chosen as the first story for this class is because of the similarities of the story and our situation as students and what conclusions we draw from it.

The story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” was assigned to set the tone for the rest of the stories that we will be reading in class which will most likely have some type of mystic feel to them. I thought it was interesting how the most interesting to happen in that village was a dead drowned man showing up out of the blue which means that town is one of those peaceful towns where nothing really happens. The mystic aura of some dead man showing up and yet cannot be identified adds to the mystery which is what I think the women were mostly attracted to. The women were mostly the ones imagining things up about him and were mostly why the town was influenced to be and do better, well that and the obvious fear of dying and being unidentified and forgotten. People mostly never talk ill of the dead and especially not when they are “handsome.”

“The Most Handsome Drowned Man” is a story based off of perceptions. The villagers perceive this larger than life, elegant looking man and immediately make all manner of assumptions about his poise and demeanor, even though they had absolutely nothing to go off of besides the actual dead body in front of them. They had nothing going for them before this man washed up on their shores, and so the sense of wonder that they felt was amplified. I feel that this sets up the atmosphere for the course ahead of us: we are to take the unmoving, lifeless words in front of us on our screens and build worlds and context around them. With each new reading we are to be the village Before and After Esteban, coming out with a new understanding and view of the world. This piece serves as an appetizer for the works to come, which will likely be even more intriguing.

In this story, the author used an overstatement to create a magical, mythical to capture our attention. He described the dead man as the main character in the story. By reading this story I can see that the small village was poor, before the dead man arrived the houses had stone courtyards with no flowers. Very little space on the island. When they found Esteban, his presence transformed them to think bigger and different. The beauty and the splendor of the dead man inspired them to change the village’s view. I do not personally think a dead could bring anything that could benefit a village, but the story makes me rethink, it ends with a great vision of the transformation of good looks. While I was reading this story, I thought they were going to keep his body or do a great burial ritual since they loved him so much. But no, they dropped him off like any dead body. However, in memory of Esteban, their houses would have wider doors higher ceilings, and stronger floors. This symbolizes the town rebuilding itself and starting new opportunities.

I think The Handsomest Drowned Man by Gabriel García Márquez was assigned as the first reading of the semester to serve as an encouragement for the participants of the course to tap into, explore and express our imagination. The short story introduces a realm where the environment and the people are realistic, except for Esteban’s character. By bringing a small piece of wonder into a world of normalcy, García Márquez prompts his readers to have an open mind for the occurrence of such miracles and to look for them in their lives and, perhaps, even their minds. Therefore, I believe that the objective of this assignment was to let us feel safe in freely expressing our truth in our writing during this course, even if it leads to the establishment of a world that might seem odd at first. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone’s imagination has in store for us.

I think this story was assigned as the first in this course because it is a story that invokes a sense of wonder and emotion which draws the reader in and can make the student excited about the class ahead. The story causes the reader to visualize everything in detail, from the characters to the scenery, as well as to reflect on the feelings and reactions of the villagers. I, myself, really enjoyed reading this story and I am eager to read more in the coming months. Also, being a short story, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” provides the opportunity to briefly introduce the class to some of the topics we will potentially be discussing this semester, without be too overwhelming at the start. For instance, we are able to start considering how to write a thesis statement on a piece of literature without having to read an entire novel first.

While reading this story, it really caught my attention. I feel like this was assigned as the first story because it shows us that the stories we will be reading from now on will be similar but different. Similar in the way that every story will be eye-catching and you’ll want to keep reading. For example, I was able to imagine a big blue sea and the village just being a little ahead. I wanted to watch Titanic after reading this because of the way it was described and this movie was the first to come to mind. It will be different by all the themes and settings that all the stories will be held at. I believe that the stories ahead will all have the similarity of being interesting and there will be a deeper explanation to it. Them seeing Esteban really changed the way they wanted to live and this shows how one person/thing can impact many people for the better.

I think you’ve assigned this interesting story because you want us to realize the importance of independent thinking. As we follow the plot of the story, we can detect there are generally three different categories of people having their own treatment for the drowned dead man. First group is the children who make him as their entertainment. “They have been playing with him all afternoon, burying him in the sand and digging him up again.”(Marquez 1) Obviously, we are not children anymore. We are supposed to have the ability to think and find out the cause of the man. When the drowned man is handed over to the adults, they diverge into two attitudes. Because finding no answers from outside, the men urgently wish the drowned man to disappear as soon as possible.(Marquez 5) On the contrary, the women have taken their time to imagine the drowned man’s life. Dead can’t tell, but the details can tell the truth. The women started to endow him a name, Esteban, to construct the image of how big his house is and his embarrassment as a guest for visiting other people’s houses.(Marquez 3,4) If we relate Esteban to our class, personally, he would be our readings and writings the professor has given us, and we, the readers and writers, are the villagers in this story. At the beginning of the class most of us might be the men who are incapable of retelling the stories and making the writings beautiful. As long as we would like to take our time in thinking patiently, we will gradually dig out the moral of stories and embellish it to our writings just as the women empower a new meaning of life to Esteban. 

“The Handsomest Drowned man” was probably one of the best short stories I have read in a while. It really does have a sense of magical realism and really got my mind working in all kinds of ways. It was filled with imagery and hope…?… and I feel spoke kind of on how, though in death Esteban  was a complete stranger. to the village/villagers, he helped them believe in something and he also became almost like a god? anyways, i think you chose this because it might be based on what we will be studying

The Most Handsome Drowned Man is a fascinating story and a story that really makes you think about how others see and think about you in real life. Because the man stood out from the crowd because of his height and overall look and feel, they chose to call him Esteban. The women who was taking care of him are so awestruck by this man, they began assuming things about him. They convince themselves stating “If that magnificent men had lived in the village… his wife would have been the happiest woman” and “He would had so much authority that he could have drawn fish out of the sea simply calling their names.” As a result, the villagers began to venerate him with religious veneration. They begin to perceive him as fragile and desire to protect him. This was probably our first reading since it highlights how enlightening individuals can be and how that might influence how we perceive the world.

I will start by saying I absolutely loved this story. The language in it, and the sentiment of it was beautiful. I think this was our first reading was because of what the appearance of Esteban does to the citizens of this village. He was a complete mystery to all of them, this large man that came from the ocean, yet they came up with his story, purely using their imaginations. And it inspired them to change their ways of thinking. That’s a lot of what writing and reading fiction and literature is about. This man’s appearance broadened their minds, and showed them something they had never thought about. “Oh this man is so tall, he can barely fit in my house when he’s laying down, imagine standing up? He would be so embarrassed to stand in my house, let me raise my ceilings.” That’s what reading can do to a person. Things are brought to our attention, and we change the way we think.

The story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” may have been assigned to us because it may set the tone for what other stories are to come. We may read other short stories/ books that have this mythical and scary tone to them. Or maybe this story will help us better understand the stories that we’re going to read. This was a very interesting story, a good first story I may add, it definitely gets you to start thinking. I thought it was cool that the village started to changes after their encounter with this man. It is crazy to think a dead guy could have a good impact on a small village and change their way of thinking. The women of the town started to think deep into Estabans life and even gave him that name. Now thanks to Estaban, they were seeing how dirty their town was and decided to change that. Maybe all of the stories we will read have something that is glorified and makes us snap back to reality?