“The Handsomest Drowned
Man in the World”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Objectives



For what literary style is Gabriel Garcia
Marquez famous?
What does the title character in the story
represent?
How does Esteban transform the village?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez





Considered one of Columbia’s foremost writers
Began his writing career as a journalist and
published his first two novels in 1961
He was friends with Fidel Castro and founded
the Colombian branch of Castro’s new agency
He was known for writing works that angered
his government
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982
Magic Realismrealism




A literary movement in which strange things exist in an
otherwise normal world- and no one treats them as
strange.
A literary style in which unusual or magical happenings
are related to the reader as though they were ordinary.
It is NOT science fiction or fantasy
Pat Murphy states, “In science fiction, if everyone is
walking around with a talking monkey on his head, you
need an explanation for it. In magic realism, everyone
acts as if the monkeys have always been there.”
Plot






Children find a dead body of a drowned man washed up
on the beach of their isolated, tiny seaside community.
The corpse begins to change the world of the villagers.
They name the corpse Esteban after the first Christian
martyr.
The villagers prepare an elaborate funeral for him and
then put him back in the water.
Before they put him back, they choose the best villagers
to serve as family- his mother, father, and other relatives
The village learns important lessons from Esteban
Irony



Marquez narrates the story in a matter-of-fact
way- it encourages us to take it seriously
The strange is treated as normal, but there is
also a strong undertone of irony- a sense that
the story’s events are a bit absurd
Even though he is an ordinary dead man, the
villagers treat him as extraordinary.
Themes



The irony of the unidentified corpse becoming
something like a god draws our attention to the
story’s main themesMankind’s deep desire to believe in something
greater, and our impressive capacity for faith.
Humans are so eager to believe in and to make
sense of things that they can find meaning in
the nameless corpse.
Symbolism




Esteban- a symbol of the god or gods of
any religion
He has the power to transform the lives of
the people in the village
He unites the village
He gives them meaning and a sense of
purpose
Allusion




The religious allusion that a drowned man is like
a god or saint
Sir Walter Raleigh- would have been exotic to
the villagers
Homer’s Odyssey- a rumored sailor “has himself
tied to the mainmast, remembering ancient
fables about sirens”
Heightens the irony- he is merely an unknown
dead person, yet the villagers worship him
Setting


Not a definite time- although hints at the
16th or 17th century, possibly on the coast
of Chile
It is also possible, especially given the
story’s magic realism, that the setting is
actually more modern- a backwater village
lost in time and in no particular place
Parable



This story is meant to be a parable- a
short instructive story that illustrates a
lesson
Parables often teach simple morals
This story expresses more complicated
truths about our world
Truth is Subjective





Truth is in the mind of the believer
Esteban is dead, so the people are free to
decide who he was
They decide he was saintly
Since he is unknown, the villagers get to decide
who he was- it unites them and gives the
purpose
At the end, Esteban’s story becomes and
accepted truth
Meaning Can Transform the World





People need meaning in their lives as much as
plants need water
The villagers live on the edge of a desert, which
is a symbol for the lack of meaning in their lives
They live a life of simple survival, without
ambition
During Esteban’s funeral, they realize how empty
their lives have been
The people beautify their village so much so that
it becomes famous
Conclusion

Gabriel García Marquez is a Nobel Prize-winning
Colombian novel and short story writer who is
considered a leading writer of magical realism.
“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” is a parable
about humankind’s need for meaning and belief, and the
ability of ideas to transform the world.

One of the story’s major themes is that truth is
subjective. It does not matter if Esteban really was a
sincere and noble man as the people believe—or even if
he is actually beautiful—because their faith in him, their
truth, is what matters.



Esteban is a symbol of the god or gods of
any religion, and also of any compelling
belief that
has the power to transform society.
The transformation in the story is caused
by a coincidence—the body washing up on
the shore—a reminder that the world
changes in unpredictable ways.