REACTION PAPER

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I was especially moved by the title of the story “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the
World,” in which the author emphasizes the physical attributes of a person and how it greatly
affects other people. In the story, this drowned person who the villagers recognized as
Esteban, was the most handsome man they have ever seen in their village. At first sight, the
women are left breathless because Esteban protrudes perfection. It is inevitable for them not
to compare Esteban from their husbands because their husbands are incapable of doing what
Esteban, a good-looking guy could do. They adored and worshipped him like the most
precious thing they have ever seen in their entire life. Esteban, a stranger who was led astray
in their village and was found dead, brought inspiration in this village to make their place
bigger, stronger and better in remembrance of Esteban’s strong-built character. I think that
this kind of mindset, still exists today. A kind of thinking in our society where there is a gap
between good-looking people and the average ones. Sometimes we are discriminated if we
have low self-esteem and if we don’t have the courage to face crowds and just choose to have
alone time with ourselves.

In the story, it implies that Esteban a good-looking man, was treated well even if he is already
a dead person. Because of his gorgeous physical appearance people in the village worshipped
him, even made a dressed for him and idolized him. In fact, in the story it was mentioned that
other dead bodies was thrown over into cliffs and into the ocean rather than buried. But why
is that only the body of Esteban was found and buried? “The villagers even hold a splendid,
elaborate funeral for the drowned man”, stated in the story. It is for the reason that, Esteban
was more attractive and for them he deserves a decent funeral. Based on my opinion, the
main gist of the story is that, in reality our physical appearance can sometimes be used
against us of people who will criticize and manipulate us. It may lead to wrong judgement,
some people will bring us down and try to destroy us because of how we look, but not in the
case of Esteban. Apparently, physical appearance is also an important aspect in a society we
live in, as what Jonathan Adler said “People will make judgments before you even speak
based on the way you look. Most definitely your physical appearance matters”.