Recently, I read a story called "The Handsomest
Drowned Man In The World" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. (link) It was actually
a quite intriguing story to read. I found the story to be rather silly, though.
But, despite these two facts, I think the story must have some important meaning
behind it. The story was a very interesting one to read and has piqued my
curiosity.
Some of
the things I read in this story I found to be quite interesting. To start with,
the size of this man is described to be giant. This made me began to wonder
whether he is a giant, or if these people are actually really small and Esteban
is a average-sized man. Another questionable factoid I found in this story is
that corpses wash upon this village's shore regularly. Why are so many people
dying out at sea? We may never know. A disturbing thing I noticed about this
story, though, was that the children played with Esteban's corpse. What adult
allows their children to go out to the beach, unaccompanied by an adult, and
play with a corpse? It all seems very strange to me. The longer I think about
it, the more things I find about the story that intrigue me.
Although
there are many things that strike my curiosity, I find most of it to be rather
silly. I mean, who just finds a man washed up on the shore that barely fits
into a house that occupies an entire family? I also do not understand why the
women become so attached to a corpse. The man is dead, and that cannot be
changed. The fact that they would spend so much time and money buying flowers
and preparing a funeral for a stranger seems rather strange, too. This entire
story seems rather silly, despite its interesting qualities.
I feel
as if there is some meaning behind this incredibly strange and silly story.
This stranger seems to be the perfect man to all the women in the village. They
become attached to this personality they give the handsome corpse, throwing
their trinkets onto it, perhaps hoping that if he somehow wakes up, he will
notice it and think of the kind woman who gave him it. The men all find this
ridiculous until they see his face, to which they are stunned by his beauty.
They are all so awestruck by this man's beauty that they do not want to anchor
the man, insisting that they free him to come and go as he pleases. All of this
may symbolize the perfect match we all imagine for ourselves or who we want to
be to others. Leaving it unanchored to let it come and go as it pleases might
represent you altering the way this image looks, or you forgetting about the
imaginary person for a while. This entire story could have a deeper meaning
that we just can't see.
This
story was actually quite fun to read, despite my ridicule on the silliness of
it. After considering what I read, I have chosen to believe that there is a
deeper meaning behind all of the absurdity in the story. "The Handsomest
Man In The World" will always be a choice favorite for me to read.
