The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“They let him go without an anchor so that he could come back if he wished and whenever he wished, and they all held their breath for the fraction of centuries the body took to fall into the abyss. They did not need to look at one another to realize that they were no longer all present, that they would never be. But they also knew that everything would be different from then on, that their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban's memory could go everywhere without bumping into beams and so that no one in the future would dare whisper the big boob finally died, too bad, the handsome fool has finally died, because they were going to paint their house fronts gay colors to make Esteban's memory eternal and they were going to break their backs digging for springs among the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs so that in future years at dawn the passengers on great liners would awaken, suffocated by the smell of gardens on the high seas, and the captain would have to come down from the bridge in his dress uniform, with his astrolabe, his pole star, and his row of war medals and, pointing to the promontory of roses on the horizon, he would say in fourteen languages, look there, where the wind is so peaceful now that it's gone to sleep beneath the beds, over there, where the sun's so bright that the sunflowers don't know which way to turn, yes, over there, that's Esteban's village”

           

These last two sentences of the story are essential to the setting of the story. Before this drowned man arrived at this village, it was insignificant. The narrator neglected to describe where this village was, they type of people that lived in it, when this story takes place, what dialect or language they speak, et cetera. Most of the distinguishing factors about the physical setting of the story are left out. The only distinguishing factors about this village are that it is a fishing village that rests on a cliff and the people uphold the traditional binary of male and female roles.

            In order to get a more accurate representation of the physical setting, it is necessary for the reader to explore the people’s communal values. The strong communal values are first displayed when the people immediately establish that the drowned man did not come from their village. There is a sense of intimate understanding in this scene because they only have to look around to see that nobody is missing. The men immediately venture to the neighboring villages to identify this man while the women work to prepare a proper burial for him. Even before discovering his beauty, the people are determined to give this man a proper burial. The men and women dissolve into their binary roles as participants of the community to bury the man they name Esteban.

            At the burial, they mourn his loss because he is the only connection that these people have to the foreign world. They hope that Esteban returns to them again to bring back glory and recognition. Because of Esteban’s loss, the villagers begin to change little things in their community. They build houses with wider dimensions and different paint colors. They dig springs as he would have and plant flowers even though the narrator had indicated that there was not enough land before. They hope that Esteban’s legacy will return some glory and recognition to their otherwise insignificant village.

It isn’t until both the women and the men establish Esteban as the handsomest man in the world that they develop high expectations for him. After their discovery, the women invite new people into the village to witness his beauty. The men hope that future generations from around the world will acknowledge their village as Esteban’s Village because of his beauty.

What does this say about traditional beauty ideals? Beauty ideals are difficult to define because they are subjective to the individual. However, the entire community believes that Esteban is the most beautiful man in the world. Although this community is dependent on high standards of communal living, I think they are one of the most shallow communities because of the value they place on beauty. Is this supposed to be our society?

This may be a reach, but are we living on a cliff? This metaphor could refer to the edge that we like to live on. We don’t have room to build flowers and dig for springs because of the overwhelming housing developments and skyscrapers in the cities. This story could be a direct reflection on society in 1968.

"Saboteur"

“Saboteur”

Ha Jin

           

            “’Hooligan!’ she said in a low voice.

            Mr. Chiu got to his feet and said out loud, ‘Comrade policeman, why did you do this?’ He stretched out his right foot to show the wet sandal.

            ‘Do what?’ the stout man asked huskily, glaring at Mr. Chiu while the young fellow was whistling.

            ‘See, you dumped water on our feet.’

            ‘You’re lying. You wet your shoes yourself.’

            ‘Comrade policeman, your duty is to keep order, but you purposely tortured us common citizens. Why violate the law you are supposed to enforce?’ As Mr. Chiu was speaking, dozens of people began gathering around.” (272).

            My interpretation of this story is that the author is exploring the consequences of speaking out against injustice. Before explaining my interpretation, it is necessary to describe the historical and political context of the setting. This story takes place in a fictional city in China following the Cultural Revolution. This revolution was a movement to restore Communist ideals and Maoist thoughts and to destroy all remnants of capitalist and traditional ideals. As a result of this setting, the police force discriminate against Mr. Chiu for valuing Communist ideals.

            This poster is an advertisement for the Maoist government. Mao Zedong is in the center standing above soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army. The caption reads, “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is the great school of Mao Zedong thought.”

 (Wikipedia)

            In this first exchange between Mr. Chiu and the policeman, the policeman abuses his authority and tosses tea on Mr. Chiu and his wife. In this situation the police represent those who spoke out against communism—the capitalists. Communist values threaten the police force because under communist reign, they would not have any authority. If the police force were seen as comrades—equal citizens to everybody else—they would have no authority to keep order. The policeman abuses his authority to exert his power over the rest of the citizens when he tosses the tea and blames Mr. Chiu. He knows that it is his word against Mr. Chiu’s and politically, his word has higher value because nobody will speak out against him. At the police station after his arrest, the police neglect his request for medical attention and refuse to listen to his story. Throughout the rest of the story, the rest of the police force shows some prejudice towards Mr. Chiu because of his elevated social status and because of his political status.

            Mr. Chiu is a highly regarded in both social and political spheres. His education and occupation as a philosopher and an educator elevates him above a lot of the population. However, he is a communist. The word ‘comrade’ in this scene is very important. Mr. Chiu uses this word when speaking to the policeman to show that they are equals and that this situation can be easily resolved. Instead, the policeman is only further enraged because he does not see himself as an equal to a scholar from the countryside.

            I’m not sure what to make of the dozen or so people that gather around these two men in the scene. They seem to be curious about the situation and what is happening, yet they do nothing in favor or in contempt of either of the characters. They seem to have a choral element about them but their opinions are never expressed. Which side are they on?

Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain

Annie Proulx

         “Ennis didn’t know about the accident for months until his postcard to Jack saying that November still looked like the first chance came back stamped DECEASED. He called Jack’s number in Childress, something he had only done once before when Alma divorced him and Jack had misunderstood the reason for the call, had driven twelve hundred miles north for nothing. This would be all right, Jack would answer, had to answer. But he did not. It was Lureen and she said who? Who is this? And when he told her again she said in a level voice yes, Jack was pumping up a flat on the truck out on a back road when the tire blew up. The bead was damaged somehow and the force of the explosion slammed the rim into his face, broke his nose and jaw and knocked him unconscious on his back. By the time someone came along he had drowned in his own blood” (Proulx 277).

         This passage is one of the most important passages in the story because it is tragically ironic. Ennis forced Jack to live a life of complacency and sadness because he did not want to be together. Ennis feared that if he came out as gay, he would be mutilated with a tire iron like the ranch farmer was when he was younger. His father had brought him to see the mutilated man when he was younger to make him afraid of homosexuality. Ennis refused to accept who he was and whom he loved. However in the end, all of the precautionary measures that Ennis took to prevent this tragic fate proved to be unsuccessful. Jack had married a girl from Texas and raised a family with her. He only get to spend the occasional get-away with Ennis but his fate remained the same. Ennis suspected that he was murdered with a tire iron but homophobic individuals in their community.

         I find it interesting that it was Jack who was murdered and not Ennis. Jack was the one who was more-openly gay and had affairs both with men and women while Ennis did everything he could to conceal his identity. There are so many questions that I have about the nature of his death.

         First of all, what does it mean to die such a violent death? To me, it means that the murderers truly hated Jack for being homosexual, even if he hadn’t come out openly in public. They took their rage out on an innocent man because his car broke down. Second, to have the author say that Jack drowned in his own blood is rare. Normally, people with that kind of injury bleed out but instead, the imagery suggests his blood consumes him. It doesn’t really make sense.

         The mountain setting in Wyoming is also crucial to the story. The first time that Jack and Ennis were together was in the privacy of the mountains. Even still, their boss caught them when he was spying on them with his binoculars but he didn’t seem to mind. When they returned home to a more urbanized setting, they had to hide their identity from the rest of the world because of the conservative nature of their communities. This seems ironic because people in cities and urban areas are generally categorized as more liberal than the people that reside in the mountains and boonies. Yet, it is the people in the urbanized areas that take their rage and hatred out on Jack. This story is filled with tragic examples of irony.

"Everything That Rises Must Converge"

“Everything That Rises Must Converge”

Mary Flannery O’Connor

    “For answer she kept going. Julian followed along, his hands behind him. He saw no reason to let the lesson she had had go without backing it up with an explanation of its meaning. She might as well be made to understand what had happened to her. “Don’t think that was just an uppity Negro woman,” he said. “That was the whole colored race which will no longer take your condescending pennies. That was your black double. She can wear the same hat as you, and to be sure,” he added gratuitously (because he thought it was funny), “it looked better on her than it did on you. What all this means,” he said, “is that the old world is gone. The old manners are obsolete and your graciousness is not worth a damn.” He thought bitterly of the house that had been lost for him. “You aren’t who you think you are,” he said” (7).

            This passage emphasizes a theme of role reversal that is seen throughout Flannery O’Connor’s short story. When Julian and his mother are on the bus, his mother is constantly telling him that he needs to know who he is. She is extremely concerned with appearances and impressing other people. She goes so far as to brag to a stranger on the bus about her son’s success even though he isn’t successful at all. She is constantly trying to get him to better himself and make him look better. For example, she concocts the story about him selling and typewriters and chastising him for looking like a thug when he removes his tie. She pleads with him to create an identity for himself that she would approve of.

            Julian, in a large way, antagonizes his mother for defining herself and never changing her views. Throughout the whole story, he devises ways to get her to change her views. He wants her to adapt to the changing culture one hundred years after the abolition of slavery. His mother grew up in post Civil War America with potentially racist parents. She makes references to her grandfather who owned a plantation with two hundred slaves. She is proud of her heritage and upbringing. Therefore, she sees no reason to change her views. In this passage, Julian is criticizing his mother for her condescending behavior towards the young boy and his mother on the bus. He jokes that the hat looked better on the other woman just to spite her.

Julian is reluctant to define himself because society and culture are always changing. He fears that if he were to define himself, as his mother wanted him to, he would be just as stubborn as her in keeping up appearances. He resents his mother for being stuck in her ways and unwilling to change and he fears the same would happen to him. He fears committing to anything such as moving out or getting a job.  This fear paralyzes him and prevents him from doing anything successful because it might conform his beliefs or values in a negative way.

Instead of reflecting internally on his issues, he takes his frustrations out on his mother. He condones her inappropriate behavior and lectures her as if she were a child. He tries to get her to understand that she has to change her beliefs and values. This role reversal is a coping mechanism so he does not have to look at his beliefs and define his identity.