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.