Marquez

Just as I enjoyed Cortazar’s stories, I thoroughly enjoyed the readings of Marquez; I love the metaphorical aspect of him. My major is Pre-Middle Childhood Education, so I was really able to appreciate that both of his stories were labeled as “A Tale for Children”. I also thought it added a nice layer of sarcasm to Marquez’s overall demeanor.

While reading “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, my empathy meter went sky-high. The way they treated the poor angel almost brought me to tears. However, I can relate to Pelayo and Elisenda in the sense of their believing the angel to be a hindrance rather than a miracle. At the beginning of the story they are incredibly stressed; their infant was very ill due to a deceased-crab-infested home. My particular favorite description of their life, “The world had been sad since Tuesday”(“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings 1885). Sometimes, when I am that stressed and loved ones come to my rescue, I see them as annoyances. I mistreat them and take advantage of their help. When it comes to school, for example, my parents have always asked me how I was doing and if they could help me in anyway. I’d always brush them away and continue my nonsensical way of battling college courses. After a few quarters of futzing around, I was hit with academic probation from UC. Before I knew it, my financial aid was gone. My parents came to the rescue and worked very hard to pay off massive fines (all while I continued being a teenage brat). There I was again, a gifted, full time student at the University of Cincinnati. I didn’t take advantage of this second chance, and before I knew it, I was living my “dream” as a full-time waitress. Well, I quickly realized that being a full-time waitress isn’t my calling, and begged my parents for mercy.

Naturally, my parents weren’t so quick to help this time, so I worked and worked until I had the means to be a full-time student here at Raymond Walters. I liken my full-time waitressing gig to the unfortunate looking angel- a miracle that didn’t fit my “normative”. It was a brutal way to bring me to reality. College is great fun, especially when you stay on top of things, so the idea of “life itself being the miracle and to want more is greed” that Marquez is stressing is something I am personally living by. I was hoping a college degree would just fall into my lap, but I needed to learn that life without a degree is no fun, and it does take effort to get one. Luckily, learning is great fun and I now know the more you put in to things, the more you’ll get out of them.

As for “The Handsomest Downed Man in the World”, I thought this bash on society was hilarious. Humans can be so ridiculous when it comes to appearances. I found it funny that all of the women assumed that “…his house would have had the widest doors, the highest ceiling, and the strongest floor, his bedstead would have been made from a midship frame held together by iron bolts, and his wife would have been the happiest woman”. They assume that because he’s so handsome, everything else in his life would be perfect. I’ve found myself making that assumption before as well. I used to work with this girl named Kelly. Kelly was from a very, very wealthy family. She could have anything she wanted! She only worked as a waitress because she hadn’t currently been enrolled in school and needed a way to pass the time. She was also incredibly beautiful. She had golden highlights, perfectly manicured nails, and pearly white teeth; but despite this, natural beauty shone through her like rays of sunshine. I liked Kelly at first; she came off as smart and friendly. I imagined what it would be like to be her: living in a beautiful mansion with a closet full of clothes. A backyard with the most gorgeous swimming pool/hot tub combination I had ever seen. A brand new car where every gadget worked! Long story short, Kelly seemed have it all, but unfortunately she had some skeletons in her closet. Her life as a rich girl wasn’t perfect at all. In fact, it was far worse than my impoverished childhood. Her mother had been an alcoholic since Kelly was seven. Everyday, Kelly would get off the school bus to a dangerously intoxicated mother. Her father cheats on her mother multiple times a year, and Kelly was battling alcoholism herself at the time I knew her. I was sadly mistaken; just because you are rich and beautiful doesn’t mean you have a better life. I quickly realized how lucky I am to have such a great family and great parents.

It’s also incredibly sad that the men in the story say, “since when has there ever been such a fuss over a drifting corpse, a drowned nobody, a piece of cold Wednesday meat”, only to later realize he’s handsome and treat him like gold. So, because his face is proportioned a certain way, he is no longer regarded as a ‘piece of cold Wednesday meat’, whereas someone they behold as unattractive, is?
Which brings me to my conclusion. I loved reading Marquez because it is an interesting memo to follow the golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated. It is also a friendly reminder not to judge a book by its cover. I think people sometimes need to read stories like this to get reacquainted with reality and their kindergarten selves.