Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lives a young hero who changes the lives of others through unique chain of events. There are thousands of stories with similar beginnings being whispered into sleepy little ears every night. Many of these tales contain an extremely powerful message underneath simplistic language and melodic rhyming. The fables, inspired by timeless lessons learned, often reflect experiences of those who tell the stories first. The themes, within Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children," portrays the influence of those nearest to him and his experiences dealing with death, ambition and heroes. .
Experiencing death, for many people, can be an emotionally unstable and fearful experience. However, Marquez takes a different approach to the morbid theme in the story. The main character and drowned man, Esteban, moves the townspeople to a more gladdened atmosphere. Marquez portrays the children "playing with him all afternoon, burying him in the sand, and digging him up again."The women "with compassion," prepare Esteban's body, a complete stranger, for burial at sea. The funeral is the "most splendid they could conceive." Marquez offers a new approach to death, one of eternal beauty and peace. His imagery of sunflowers and brightly painted buildings melts away the cold, fearful emotions most commonly portraying death in literature. Marquez learns this lack of morbidity from his grandfather Colonel Nicolas Ricardo Marquez Mejia, a veteran of the War of a Thousand Years. During his most influential young years, Marquez listens to his grandfather speak of war experiences as "almost pleasant experiences sort of youthful adventures with guns." Growing up in a time Marquez often refers to as "the time of la violencia," provokes him to offer a happier outlook about death through his writings.
Along with Marquez's unique description of death, he also emphasizes the importance of heroes in society.