The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”

"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 the 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 bright that the sunflowers don't know which way to turn, yes, over there, that's Esteban's Village (Handsomest)"

"The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World Summary" is a short story written by Gabriel Marquez based in a small fishing village somewhere in Latin America. This is a mystical, mythological story that pulls you into the fact of how one man could change a whole village. In this village you had your dull women and you had the sailors who main objective was just fishing. For a while they were content in the monotony of their lives until a mystical larger than life man floated on shore, who throughout the story transforms this village from a dull gray simple village, to a vibrant and bright village that ships of the sea can see from far away this village be known as "Esteban's Village". Initially it seems that Esteban is the cause of the transformation, but in actuality the villagers are responsible themselves for the changes they made.

From the beginning of the story the village is described in a dull and bland manner. The village was described to be made up of only twen...

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...y sirens represent half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. When Odysseus was sailing by the siren's island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and ties him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voice without being driven to suicide. In this story the women weeping over Lautaro were compared to the sirens, and some sailors going to tie themselves to the mainmast in an attempt to mimic Odysseus. There is a contrast of these stories with the quotes from the villagers.

The magnificent image of Esteban changed the life of this village. No one could imagine on that Sunday morning while the children were playing that what they would discover would change the lives of everyone forever.

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The handsomest Drowned Man in the World