Sunday, January 23, 2011
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Gabriel Garcia Marquez enlightens the audience with stories that are breath taking. “The Handsomest drowned Man in the World” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” are stories that mock fantasy with reality and prove that if an ideal does not fit, then it does not exist. I fell in love with “The Handsomest drowned Man in the World” because I agree with the meaning of the story and what the author is trying to prove. I think it is hilarious that people create these fantasies that do not exist and the outcome results in nothing. That is exactly what Playboy does, which is why this story is so hilarious. Nothing ever changes; the man was only the woman’s imagination and no one was living a reality. Today, technology has led us to the idea that imaginary fantasy can be reality. People will sit in front of their video games all day long and get sucked into that world. My boyfriend is one of those gamers and he tells me he finds it irresistible to play because it temporarily alleviates himself of paying bills, worrying about work, and dealing with the regular stresses of life. The key word in that last sentence was temporarily because no matter how much he plays, the game world is not the reality. After reading the story, I did feel like I developed a very strong relationship with the author. I understood the meaning and I created my own story. Before our class discussion, I thought that the author was over exaggerating the women’s perspective of this huge man to show how our standards have developed. For example, girls want to be thin and guys want to be buff and people will go to the extreme to create what is not real. Although I was a little off track, I reacted to the story in a different way and it changed my way of thinking. My changed thinking process was exactly what Marquez wanted. I found it very interesting when the author kept switching I and his. After reading the last page, the meaning started to make sense and I understood that this really did not exist. I would quote what was written, but I would be quoting almost six lines (hint). The punctuation goes on forever showing that this was a continuous stream of thought. I loved that Marquez gave that hint because when I finally figured out what was going on I could not believe he was fooling me the whole time! I definitely gave myself a pat on the back for understanding this story. I was so intrigued by this story because it really hurt my brain. “A very Old Man with Enormous wings” was a story that also hurt my brain, but I enjoyed reading. I had a hard time relating the story to the institution of the church and I think it is because I was not familiar with how strict the catholic faith was or the bizarre situations Columbia went through. Once we discussed these issues in class, Gabriel’s form of writing made sense. He uses bizarre situations. For example, he introduces this ugly man that is an angel, but the people treat him as if he is an animal. This story proves that image confuses what is real and what is not. If the angel would have been beautiful, then the people would have treated him better. In the story the ideal of an angel did not fit their criteria; therefore, that ideal did not fit. It is amazing how Gabriel used strong words and changed the punctuation to give the hint away. For example, he describes the brand getting placed on the angel and the food getting thrown in so much detail that I actually felt like I was that angel. It was a very emotional story and by the end my mood had changed several times. That just proved to me how much magical realism makes a difference in a story and I can honestly say Gabriel Garcia Marquez transformed my mind.
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You've got a good thing going on with the graphics: well done. I like how specific your discussion of the stories is and how you go beyond to the literal to deal with the larger ideas of the stories.
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