The Handsomest Drowned Man Close Reading Essay
Sha-Dasha Poe
November 12, 2012
2nd Period
Close Reading Essay
Digging deep within The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
Gabriel Garcia Marquez intoduction of “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” already questions the story just from the thought of the title. How can a drowned man be handsome is the main question. The title of the story itself portrays imagery, allegory and imagery. This handsome drowned man is the main character of this whole story. To start with, this story is full of sea imagery. The story starts off with children playing on a beach and notices something floating about in the sea. When the object eventually floats upun the shore, the children immediately starts to play with it. The object is described as a whale, a ship, and then a nasty sea monster. When Estebans body floated upon shore they removed the seaweed, jelly fish tentacles, and the remains of fish. We were told that he had the smell of the sea about him. The women of the town used a sail to make him a shirt. The women also stated that if he were alive “he would have had so much authority that he could have drawn fish out of the sea by simply calling their names”. Later within the story, the women imagine “his soft pink sea lion hands” as he “stretched out like a sprem whale”. This drowned man is clearly known as an object of the sea. He comes from the sea in the beginning and eventually ends up back in the sea. The relationship of the drowned man to the sea initiates his role as a supernatural mythical creature that didn’t belong on earth as a human being.
Furthermore, the author then goes to use allegory to represent the drowned man in comparison to something or someone else. The drowned man represents numerous mythical creatures and historical figures. First, the women of the village name him Esteban. At this very moment, Marquez has grabbed the readers attention as to who Esteban is and how did the villagers come about with this name. Esteban is another name
November 12, 2012
2nd Period
Close Reading Essay
Digging deep within The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
Gabriel Garcia Marquez intoduction of “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” already questions the story just from the thought of the title. How can a drowned man be handsome is the main question. The title of the story itself portrays imagery, allegory and imagery. This handsome drowned man is the main character of this whole story. To start with, this story is full of sea imagery. The story starts off with children playing on a beach and notices something floating about in the sea. When the object eventually floats upun the shore, the children immediately starts to play with it. The object is described as a whale, a ship, and then a nasty sea monster. When Estebans body floated upon shore they removed the seaweed, jelly fish tentacles, and the remains of fish. We were told that he had the smell of the sea about him. The women of the town used a sail to make him a shirt. The women also stated that if he were alive “he would have had so much authority that he could have drawn fish out of the sea by simply calling their names”. Later within the story, the women imagine “his soft pink sea lion hands” as he “stretched out like a sprem whale”. This drowned man is clearly known as an object of the sea. He comes from the sea in the beginning and eventually ends up back in the sea. The relationship of the drowned man to the sea initiates his role as a supernatural mythical creature that didn’t belong on earth as a human being.
Furthermore, the author then goes to use allegory to represent the drowned man in comparison to something or someone else. The drowned man represents numerous mythical creatures and historical figures. First, the women of the village name him Esteban. At this very moment, Marquez has grabbed the readers attention as to who Esteban is and how did the villagers come about with this name. Esteban is another name