big surprise
...y through the story you see the men wandering through near by villages looking for his family. While in the midst of cleaning the body, the women started growing attached to him. In there eyes “not only was he the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen, but even though they were looking at him there was no room for him in their imagination” (Marquez 1466). The women cherished every moment they spent cleaning the corpus. For them it was like love at first sight. The more they cleaned him the more admired he became. The village women noticed that the sea had tore up the dead man’s clothes, so they looked for new ones. Finding out quickly no ones would fit, they had to make new ones. Using a large sail for the pants and bridal linen for his shirt, the ladies of the town dressed the corpse. They felt a man like him needs an honorable funeral. From the beginning of the story the women gathered curiousily wondering about this stranger. Suddenly one of them shouted, “he has the face of someone called Esteban”(Marquez 1467). They wanted to give this stranger a name and identity. Who knows what is real name was, it didn’t matter to them. The women dreamed of him being an “Esteban”. They all wondered what a wonderful life he lived, fantasizing about how big his house was, and how beautiful his garden could have been. They thought his wife must have been the luckiest woman, to have a man like Esteban as her husband. Doing the work of ten men around the abode and then satisfying her sexual needs. Slowly as the women continued to groom “Esteban” they began feeling sorry for him. He was so big and tall; “they could see him in life, condemned to going through doors sideways, cracking his head on crossbeams, remaining on his feet during visits [not to break any furniture while sitting on it]”(Marquez 1467). Every lady at first wishing her husband or sons were his size. They just had a glimpse at what a hard life he may have lived. Being an awkward man, everyone always looking at you, not being able to fit in any closed space, must have taken a toll on Esteban. The women sat around and cried for him. As the men returned from their journey, they had news that Esteban was not from any of the other villages. Their tears suddenly felt like tears of joy as they “felt an opening of jubilation”(Marquez 1468). This goes on to prove how love struck the women were about this corpse they were willing to call their own. Meantime, the men were just a little fed up with the women’s behavior. They...