How does Esteban transform into a larger-than-life figure in "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"?
Esteban of "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" (Spanish: el ahogado mas hermoso del mundo) is transformed in several ways in Marquez' famous short story. When he first arrives on the shores of a small, unnamed town, he immediately captivates his audience. The irony is that the dead are ostensibly as immutable as humans can be; however, this drowned man's dynamic power lies in the emotions he elicits from the townspeople. He is first transformed when he is assigned a name; one of the older women declares (with unanimous approval), "He has the face of someone called Esteban."
Even the men (whose wives are preoccupied with attending to funeral preparations for this anonymous new arrival to the town), when they see his face with the handkerchief removed, are awed by his beauty. While the man himself in this instance is transformed only by having his handkerchief...
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removed, it becomes clear that he is still capable of asserting a transformative power over his beholders.
The final transformative moment occurs when Esteban is adopted by members of the town in order that he not be buried anonymously:
They chose a father and mother from among the best people, and aunts and uncles and cousins, so that through him all the inhabitants of the village became kinsmen.
In this way, Esteban becomes related to each member of the town and is buried as a different person.
Esteban becomes something other than a dead body on the beach. The villagers create a persona for him, and he becomes almost other-worldly. As time progresses, more attributes are given to him, that inspire and motivate the villagers to lead better lives.
His size alone sets him apart, and it gives him greatness. The villagers attribute super powers to him, such as their belief that he could coerce the fish to jump into the boat. He is no longer thought of as a dead body as the story progresses, he becomes a voice that causes the villagers to want to better their own lives, and strengthen their community. Clearly, he is really just a dead body, but the villagers needed this man to realize their inner voice.
Where and why does the villagers' wonder and admiration for Esteban's size shift in "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"?
The realization of Esteban's status as an uncanny marvel is one that occurs quite slowly and in stages. At first, the men are convinced that he is the largest and heaviest man that they have ever seen, and hand him over to the women to begin washing him off. The women soon realize, however, that Esteban is not only enormous, but he is also incredibly beautiful. The are enamored by him and think only of him leading a glorious life. This begins to change when they attempt to fit him with clothes and fabric from their village, which do not fit him at all and make him look ridiculous.
It is at this point that the tone of the women shifts from one of admiration to one of pity. They begin to imagine his life as one of terrible hardship where he never quite fits into the world. In this imagined reality he is always breaking chairs and having to adjust himself miserably to fit through doors. Furthermore, those who seem kindest to him disparage him behind his back. At the funeral, everyone seems to sense an expression of shame on Esteban's face, as if he were sorry that they were forced to bury him.