The two short stories, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children” and “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” both by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, have many clear similarities between them. The two tales incorporate supernatural beings who arrive in a foreign village, and the reactions the villagers have upon the creature's arrival. In the tale “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children,” the descriptions about the supernatural character portray an odd and powerless creature, which results in the villagers treating the creature with significant neglect. While in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” the creature's description characterizes him as the village’s ideal human, which results in the villagers admiring
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The tale opens with children playing by the sea, then noticing a bulge in the water. Upon removing the seaweed, jellyfish and remains from the ocean, the children notice it is a dead man. After the men carried the dead man to the village, the women stayed behind to care for the dead man, while the men investigate who this odd man was. While caring for the man, the woman reveal the majestic features of the man’s appearance. “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” (Garcia Marquez 178). By characterizing the man with these supernatural qualities, the entire village stood in awe, as the man’s appearance astounded them. The women “then decided to make him some pants from a large piece of sail and a shirt from some bridal brabant linen so that he could continue through his death with dignity” (Garcia Marquez 178). The villagers’ response to treat an outsider— an unknown dead man with such respect and acceptance because he is beautiful, conveys Garcia Marquez’s way of symbolizing the supernatural …show more content…
With using direct and indirect characterization, the reader receives the descriptions of how the other character's see the creature. In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” the villagers treat the angel with significant neglect and abused by them, not for being a mystical creature, but for not meeting society’s standards on how the angel should have looked. Because the angel did not have beautiful, magnificent wings, stand tall and defy physical limits, the villagers threw him with the animals and used for his odd features. While in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” the creature was first seen as disgusting, but upon further evaluation, the villagers undercover his true beauty. Although he was no angel, just a man, the villagers celebrated him by creating his entire existence. They gave this unidentified dead man a personality, a name and most important of all, they changed their entire way of living. After the funeral, the villagers wanted the entire world to know who once occupied their village, they were proud of this dead man, now named “Esteban” (Garcia Marquez 180). Tremendous attention is placed on each of these creatures that their actual existence in each village is ignored. The actual character itself is symbolic,
The tale opens with children playing by the sea, then noticing a bulge in the water. Upon removing the seaweed, jellyfish and remains from the ocean, the children notice it is a dead man. After the men carried the dead man to the village, the women stayed behind to care for the dead man, while the men investigate who this odd man was. While caring for the man, the woman reveal the majestic features of the man’s appearance. “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” (Garcia Marquez 178). By characterizing the man with these supernatural qualities, the entire village stood in awe, as the man’s appearance astounded them. The women “then decided to make him some pants from a large piece of sail and a shirt from some bridal brabant linen so that he could continue through his death with dignity” (Garcia Marquez 178). The villagers’ response to treat an outsider— an unknown dead man with such respect and acceptance because he is beautiful, conveys Garcia Marquez’s way of symbolizing the supernatural …show more content…
With using direct and indirect characterization, the reader receives the descriptions of how the other character's see the creature. In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” the villagers treat the angel with significant neglect and abused by them, not for being a mystical creature, but for not meeting society’s standards on how the angel should have looked. Because the angel did not have beautiful, magnificent wings, stand tall and defy physical limits, the villagers threw him with the animals and used for his odd features. While in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” the creature was first seen as disgusting, but upon further evaluation, the villagers undercover his true beauty. Although he was no angel, just a man, the villagers celebrated him by creating his entire existence. They gave this unidentified dead man a personality, a name and most important of all, they changed their entire way of living. After the funeral, the villagers wanted the entire world to know who once occupied their village, they were proud of this dead man, now named “Esteban” (Garcia Marquez 180). Tremendous attention is placed on each of these creatures that their actual existence in each village is ignored. The actual character itself is symbolic,