Comparison Between The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World and The Drowned Giant Essay

Comparison between The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World and The Drowned Giant.

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel Marquez and The Drowned Giant by J.G. Ballard are both short stories that explore the ways in which societies react to the external and exotic world. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is about a man who was washed ashore near a small village and the impact of the mans presence, which helped the villagers to revive their dreary and barren village into a beautiful and lively place. In The Drowned Giant a giant was washed ashore on the beach near a city; naturally this caused attention from city dwellers and the media. The narrator is a researcher who provided critical commentary on the giants presence and the crowds behaviour towards him. This essay is a comparison of both stories that will include commentary on the ways in which the authors use language to convey their respective themes.

Characterization plays a significant role in both stories which helps to enhance their respective themes. Throughout The Drowned Giant we see through the eyes of the narrator, who visits the giants body frequently and provides a very vivid and precise report, how he describes the crowds, clambering all over the giant, bruising his face and even jostling each other in and out of the orbits. Despite this amazing incident their actions prove that they have no respect for the giant or even care about his origins. Ballard portrays them as abusive and insensitive. At times the narrator refers to them as spectators, which relates them to people who watch games, or shows and dont get emotionally involved. Through this, the reader realizes that theyre more interested in exploiting the giant for their personal gain than trying to learn about him as a human being.

On the other hand, the narrator feelings contrast with the crowd; he is fascinated with the giants Grecian features, the enormous breadth of the shoulders, and his magnificent Homeric stature, unlike the crowd who are uninspired. In addition, the narrator recognizes the similarities and humanity apparent in the giants features. The author intentionally contrasts the narrators views of the giant to that of the crowds, because his role in the story is to bring out the rude and often narrow-minded behaviour of the crowds. Halfway through the story, the narrator describes the dead giant decaying and comments that he spent a few days in the library: reluctant to visit the shore, aware that I had probably witnessed the approaching end of a magnificent illusion. The phrase suggests the narrator is becoming unwilling and fearful to accept the giants declining state so he stays in the library to avoid this reality as he considers the giant a beautiful, impressive, and splendid object.

Marquezs use of characterization is quite unusual compared to Ballards. In The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, Marquezs unconventional writing techniques become apparent as he places a twist on the main character. Esteban is lifeless yet Marquez describes him with the qualities of a typical hero. The townspeople believe that he bore his death with pride. While the women are cleaning the dead man they realize the kind of man he was and it left them breathless. This evokes strong emotions, especially excitement, awe and shock at the giants appearance. Marquez chooses to mention that the villagers decide to give Esteban a mother and father because this creates shock in the reader as it becomes clear just how in love they are with this man. In fact they even give him uncles and aunts and cousins, and therefore, through him, everyone is related, which actually provides total integration within the people and their lives.

In The Drowned Giant, setting is a crucial element in portraying how the crowds reaction to the giants presence changes as the story progresses. Ballard deliberately sets the story by a city, so the readers can understand that the crowds, who are from the city, are educated but lack faith and imagination. Since their lives are rushed, they only worry about their own lives and rely on social institutions. This is made evident when a, party of scientific experts authorities on gross anatomy and marine biology-from the university, come to visit the giant. When the narrator visits the giant; he mentions how the crowd has become considerably smaller compared to previous days. Ballard highlights this feature to convey that the crowds, who are from civilized societies, tend to easily lose interest and reject the unfamiliar and unique events in life. Over time the corpse of the giant is brought closer to the shore and the city. Near the end of the story the people of the city began to desecrate the giants body to use the flesh and bones for various products as well as for decoration around the city.

However, the setting of The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World has a clear contrast to that of The Drowned Giant. Marquez has the story take place in an isolated village by the sea. The reader understands the people of the village are uneducated, unsophisticated, with simple lives, but kind and imaginative. In the beginning of the story Marquez describes that the village was made up of only twenty-odd wooden houses that had stone courtyards with no flowers, and were spread about on the end of a desertlike cape. This illustrates an underdeveloped, poor and lifeless village. As the story progresses Marquez describes the drowned man with unique characteristics, which evoked a reason for change and acceptance among the villagers. His body is noticeably large and as the women dream about him they know that if he had a house in the village it would have the widest doors, the highest ceilings and the strongest floor. Also the women dreamed of him being so hard working that he would be able to plant flowers on cliffs. As they buried him they: "became aware for the first time of the desolation in their streets, the dryness in their courtyards, the narrowness of their dreams. The villagers realize how isolated their village was, yet Esteban became a mythical figure that inspired them to embrace change in their village.

To conclude, I personally felt that both stories were effectively written. Ballard wrote The Drowned Giant in first person narrative which gave an effect of immediacy; contrasting the views of the narrator to the crowds to bring out how society can be prejudice, destructive and unwilling to face reality. Whereas, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is written in third person narrative, which actually makes the story biased since we can only see the thoughts of the villagers. However, he was able to construct a tale which brought out a hundred percent change, as Esteban gave the once simple and poor society the power to have faith and hope.