Gabriel García Márquez's The Handsomest Drowned Man

Relationships with people around us define the people who we are going to become. “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel García Márquez, is a unique story that conveys a relationship of a dead man with certain villagers. As stated in the story, the drowned man was found by children. This is his long journey with the villagers even though he is a dead man. The villagers were very welcoming and kind to the drowned man. One thing they have noticed however, was the fact that the drowned man has distinct facial features than the rest of the villagers which in a way can have both a negative and positive impact. A negative impact is as humans, we don’t like change. Different things scare us so we tend to look for something that we all

The protagonist, George, has a weak personality even if the protagonist is a fully-grown man. The lack of parental love and relationship deprives the protagonist from doing certain things. This is evident through the descriptions and word choice of tone used to create the imagery of the story. When the father finally brings up the topic of the “friend” he was mailing, George tries to cover it up. However, one thing George did that had a negative impact on him was listen to his father yelling at him. Because he is his dad, we expect support from him however, this ended up killing him when in the end, he was told by his father to go kill himselef. This is an example of a negative relationship and how it can impact someone’s life. The story conveys it very well and as for theme, the story basically speaks about what we take into consideration from others and what we should not. What the father did was wring however, George had the chance not to commit suicide and work harder to proof his father wrong instead of doing whatever his father told him to do. Not everyone close to us gives us great advice so be peculiar to what someone really considers doing from others. “Where are you going, where have you been” by Oates in a way is similar to this story because it a story of self-discovery. Although George didn’t give himself the chance to

To begin with, it is important to note the relationship the narrator has with her grandmother as well as her siblings in the “Mericans” story. The way the children act with each other and play is the American way of doing things. However, when it comes to the relationship with their grandmother, the siblings don’t seem to be very fond of her. They even call her “the awful grandmother.” They are not allowed to enter the church which is considered the old world and can’t go to buy goods at the plaza which is considered the new world. This shows the cultural shock and difference there is between the circumstances the three siblings and the grandmother have. It’s not that they hate each other but more of cultural change and generation gaps. They are stuck between two cultures and cannot choose. The ending of this story was very satisfying to me when the younger sibling answers “yea we’re Mericans.” Many people assume things especially when they are in a foreign country and the tourist thought she was taking pictures of local children playing but when he answered her in English, it was shocking to her. One of the themes of this story can be making assumptions can be detrimental and cultural differences can be shocking and put children in a situation where they will have two choose one unless they have someone to guide them through. On the other hand,