THE HANDSOMEST DROWNED MAN IN

THE WORLD

Garbriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel García Márquez

加布里尔 ·加西亚 ·马尔克斯

GARCIA MARQUEZ’S LIFE

born in 1928 in the small town of Aracataca,

situated in a tropical region of northern Colombia,

between the mountains and the Caribbean Sea.

In 1954 he was sent to Rome on an assignment for

his newspaper, and since then he has mostly lived

abroad - in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Mexico.

GARCIA MARQUEZ’S LIFE

a Colombian novelist, short-story writer,

screenwriter and journalist

Was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1982

best known for his novels, such as One Hundred

Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of

Cholera (1985)

Aracataca, Colombia – Garcia Marquez’s hometown

One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)

百年孤独

Love in the Time of Cholera (1985)

霍乱时期的爱情

QUIZ QUESTIONS

1.What do the children do to the drowned man’s

body on the beach?

2.What is unusual about the drowned man’s body?

3.What fascinates the village women about the body?

4.Why do the women weep so much for a stranger’s

body?

5.Who attends the drowned man’s funeral?

REVIEW OF MORE DETAILS

A desertlike cape with no flowers 荒芜的海角

He’d been taller than all other men because there was barely enough room for him in the house …

The most splendid funeral

What do the children think when they

first notice the drowned man’s body?

- They first thought it was an enemy ship

secretly approaching. Then seeing it had

not flags or masts, they thought it was a

whale.

What is unusual about the

drowned man’s body?

- It is extremely heavy, tall and

big.

What fascinates the village women

about the body?

- The women are fascinated by its huge

size and beauty. They think the drowned

man is the tallest, strongest, most virile,

and best built man they have ever seen.

Why do the women weep so much for a

stranger’s body?

- They imagine the drowned man must have

been very unhappy for his huge body and feel

sympathetic for him, thinking of him the most

destitute, most peaceful and most obliging

man on earth.

Who attends the drowned

man’s funeral?

- The whole village and many

people from the neighboring

villages attended the funeral.

What do the children think when they first notice Esteban’s body?They first think it is an enemy ship secretly approaching. Then seeing it has not flags or masts, they think it is a whale.

How do the men feel about Esteban before the handkerchief is removed from his face?The men feel Esteban is a stranger of no relation, that he is just a corpse and a piece of meat to be eaten by the sharks, and a bother to be got rid of.

What changes do the villagers want to make in honor of Esteban?They want to build wider doors, higher ceilings and stronger floors for their houses and to paint their house fronts gay colors. They are going to work hard to dig deep into the stones for springs and plant flowers on the cliffs to build fragrant gardens.

INTERPRETATION

1. How is the children’s reaction to Esteban similar to and different from the reaction of the adults?- They all feel good about him. 有种亲近感- The children take him as a toy / an object to be played with. The adults take him more seriously or respectfully as a person or even a kinsman to be taken care of.

2. Is the description of Esteban’s face and body realistic or magical?- The description of Esteban’s face and body is half realistic and half magical. It may be true that the body grows fat and heavy after being immersed in the water for a long time. But it cannot be too heavy or big for a floor to bear it or for a house to barely contain it. Besides, a swollen face or bloated face can hardly look pleasant or even handsome.

The men who carried him to the nearest house noticed that he weighed more than any dead man they had ever known, almost as much as a horse, and they said to each other that maybe he'd been floating too long and the water had got into his bones. (para.2, p.205)

Not only was he the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen, but even though they were looking at him there was no room for him in their imagination. (para.1, p.206)

They thought that if that magnificent man had lived in the village, his house would have had the widest doors, the highest ceiling, and the strongest floor, his bedstead would have been made from a midship frame held together by iron bolts, and his wife would have been the happiest woman. (para.2, p.206)

3. What do the fantasies of the women suggest about them?- The women hold a great imagination,

hope and enthusiasm for their family and life, wanting to build a beautiful and happy life for their family and their village. In addition, they are kind and compassionate.

- In these women’s mind, ideal men should be tall, strong, handsome, and obliging and that the ideal life should include beautiful gardens..

4. Why do the men change their opinion of Esteban after the handkerchief is removed?- Firstly, like the women, they are taken by the handsome but humble look in his face. Secondly, the men recognize in the drowned man the face of Esteban, whom they and other people in Latin America admire so much. (The men and women share the same belief in the mythology of Esteban.)

5. What theme is implied in the description of changes that will be made in the village?- Great Imagination and

enthusiasm are important to motivating people to build a better life.

- Admiration can inspire people to a self-betterment.

6. What is the point of view of this story?- This story employs the omniscient narration, shifting the point of view from one person to another person, from the children, to the women, and the men.

7. Identify an allusion in the story and explain what it suggests to you.- Allusions: Esteban, Lautaro, the sirens.

Allusion 1Esteban is another name for Estevanico, a slave from the early 1500s who was supposedly the first man born in Africa to set foot in the Americas. Estevanico (or Esteban) became a legendary figure in Latin America, and was later given a set of incredible skills – he mastered dozens of languages, knew everything about medicine, was even considered by some to be a deity, or so the story goes.

Allusion 2In the mid 1500s a war occurred in what today is Chile between the colonizing Spaniards and the native Mapuche people. In this conflict, Lautaro was a military leader of the natives. The drowned man's handsomeness and sheer masculinity inspires the young women to fantasize that he is this famed leader.

Allusion 3The sirens were half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. The sailors would head towards the voices and then crash their ships on the jagged rocks, which pretty much meant death. When Odysseus was sailing by the siren's island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and tie him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voices without being driven to suicide.

8. Why might Garcia Marquez have decided not to name the village and its inhabitants?- Unnamed village and inhabitants indicate the universal quality of the characters and their reactions in the story.

9. In what ways are the villagers similar to people you know?- The villagers are similar to people I know in that they are kind and compassionate and hope to build a better and more beautiful home.

HYPERBOLE夸张

EXAMPLES OF HYPERBOLE

The drowned man looks like a ship or a whale.The drowned man weighs as much as a horse.The drowned man has the ability to grow after death.The fact that the wind has never been so steady and the sea has never been so restless has something to do with the dead man.

EXAMPLES OF HYPERBOLE

A body immersed in the water for a long time must be have been rotten. It shouldn’t be possible for the women to shave him.The hidden strength of his heart popped the buttons on his shirt.The dead body stretches out like a sperm whale.The drowned man looks splendid and beautiful.

EFFECT OF HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole highlights the magical

effect the drowned man brings to the

villagers.

The whole story is lyrical, expressing

strong enthusiasm for beauty and better

life.

MAGIC REALISM魔幻现实主义

PROSE FICTION OF

Jorge Luis Borges in Argentina 博尔赫斯

Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Colombia 马尔克斯

Isabel Allende in Chile阿连德

Gunter Grass in Germany 格拉斯《铁皮鼓》 1999年诺贝尔奖

Italo Calvino in Italy 卡尔维诺

John Fowles in England 福尔斯《法国中尉的女人》

CHARACTERISTICS

Interweaves a sharply etched

realism in representing ordinary

events and descriptive details

together with fantastic and

dreamlike elements, as well as

with materials derived from myth

and fairy tales.