The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World can be analysed as a parable for humankind’s need for meaning and the ability of ideas to transform the world. Written in 1968 by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the short story follows a small village’s reaction as a drowned man washed up on their shore, where they proceed to create meaning within the man, effectively also evoking meaning within themselves. The readers are immersed by vivid imagery which, through magical realism, describes the absurd through a matter-of-fact tone.
This dominant reading is enhanced through the presentation of the village, using conventions of point-of-view and setting, the attitude of the villagers towards the man, through pathetic fallacy and foreshadowing, the villager’s need to give the man purpose, utilising characterisation and symbolism, and finally how their village has transformed due to the man through graphic imagery and juxtaposition. Marquez’s short story can be read to present man’s reliance on meaning and their ability for transformation through their ideas.
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World uses the bleak description of the villagers to enhance the importance of the drowned man. In continuation, Marquez utilizes the conventions of point-of-view and the setting to reinforce this understanding. The village is introduced to readers as “twenty off wooden houses that had stone courtyards with no flowers,” where the dismal setting challenges the magical aspects of the drowned man. Readers are equally shocked by the start setting of the village, especially through the arrival of the man where the village is read as mundane in comparison.
The setting never specifies an exact location, leaving readers to create their own meaning in the small town, reflecting humankind’s need for meaning and understanding. Immediately, the villagers try to make understanding of the man by analyzing him. They notice smaller aspects of the man, such as how “he weighed more than any dead man they had ever known, almost as much as a horse,” in order to distinguish where he is placed within their small society; Through this, there is an apparent third person point-of-view.
Whilst the perspective is omniscient, it is restricted by the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the villagers as readers can only see the man as “the tallest. strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen”. It is through this perspective that a reader can visualize the villager’s constant need to give meaning to every variation in their lives represented through their attitude towards the man. By utilizing the mundane description of the setting and the importance of the point-of-view, readers are able to understand the importance of the man to the villagers.
A reader can see a direct link between the attitude of the villagers and the reshape of their society due to the man, especially through the use of pathetic fallacy and foreshadowing. It is with the arrival of the man that the environment shifts in correlation to the villager’s beliefs. “The wind had never been so steady nor the sea so restless” reflects the weather as a manifestation of the internal feelings of the villagers as they find their purpose by giving the man meaning.
The physical change in their surroundings becomes a symbol for the internal transformation they are experiencing. The man’s influence over the village is foreshadowed as “the ability to keep growing after death was part of the nature of certain drowned men. ” Whilst this can refer to the man’s stature, it is possible for a reader to interpret the sentence differently as the man’s story keeps growing with the villager’s creation of his persona.
The deceased man becomes sentient as the men and woman create tales that they feel are worthy of his stature. Through the passage, a reader is ensured of the man’s influence over the village as they give him the characteristics that they believe fit him accordingly. Readers become aware how the villagers are effected by their own idea’s involving the handsome man. The villagers reflect their need for meaning within the Handsomest Drowned Man in the World as they characterise the drowned man.
The villagers home to the conclusion that the man “has the face of someone called Esteban”, literally meaning ‘crowned in victory’. This characterisation sets him with a higher status than the villagers, uniting them under one person. Following magical realism, Esteban’s character becomes one of god-like portions to the villagers, whom allow his representation to re-shape their lives. Esteban’s man-made identity reflects on the villagers as they are shaped through their creation. This change is emphasised through the metaphor of the flowers throughout the story.
The recurring image is first mentioned with the lack of flowers within the village, but is again highlighted with Esteban’s believed actions where he would have put so much work into his land “that springs would have burst forth from among the rocks so that we would have been able to plant flowers on the cliffs”. The flowers become a symbol of love and productivity; the villagers are inspired by Esteban’s dedicated ‘work’to his land, and in turn are envious of his life. Readers notice the shift in the story, where the villagers go from analysing Esteban to instead evoking his values through their village.
A sense of purpose is ignited within the villagers as they imagine Esteban’s perfected life. Hence, through both Esteban’s characterisation and the metaphor flowers, the parable of creating meaning and its transformation on human kind is represented. At the story closes to an end, readers see a visible change in the characters through Esteban’s imprint on their society, specifically shown through graphic imagery and juxtaposition. As previously mentioned, the Handsomest drowned man in the world has a noticeable shift where the villagers go from being intrigued by Esteban to instead sympathising with him.
They are empathetic over his stature, envisioning a life of “cracking his head on crossbeams… his heals raw and his back roasted,” due to his indifference to the rest of the population. Through the cacophony of the sentence, Esteban becomes martyred by the villagers, who see his struggle in life as a lesson towards their selfishness. It is through this sympathy that the villagers vow to change their attitudes, knowing they would have “wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors” so that their village is welcoming to Esteban’s memory.
A reader sees the juxtaposition between the actions of the villagers compared to their actions at the end of the story, where they envision themselves “breaking their backs digging for springs among the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs… suffocated by the smell of gardens on the high seas”. The flower metaphor has recurred, where readers can now envision a colourful and bright village compared to the original “desert-cape” description from the start of the story.
The sun’s so bright that the sunflowers don’t know which way to turn” brings imagery of a compassionate village, where the creation of Esteban has changed their village completely. Finally the society has been labelled “Esteban’s village”, where readers understand that the drowned man’s true purpose was to inspire change in the villagers. In conclusion, a reader can understand that it is through sympathising with Esteban that the villagers are able to change their society. Overall, the Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is representative of humankinds need for meaning and the ability of their ideas to change the world.
Through using point of view, setting, pathetic fallacy, foreshadowing, characterisation, metaphors, graphic imagery, and juxtaposition, a reader is able to understand how the villagers of the short story unconsciously used Esteban, the drowned man, to ignite change and purpose into their bleak village. Both the theories of change through ideas and a constant need to find meaning are represented as parables within the Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
