The description of the poor and rich and how the author views each.
La Prodigiosa Tarde De Baltazar Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez, in his narrative “The Prodigious Afternoon of Baltazar” presents the conflicts society, both political and social. Márquez wrote this story in 1962. Márquez is a Colombian. In the initial half of the twentieth century, many cities of Colombia shared the same characteristics. These cities had sharp distinctions between the rich and the poor. Márquez’s “The prodigious afternoon of Baltazar” is an allegory of these distinctions in the society.
Márquez uses the protagonist Baltazar, a thirty-year-old local carpenter, to demonstrate the strong character of the lower class. He finally finishes making one of the most beautiful and complex cages in the world. His wife knows that the cage has taken him long duration to complete and even comments that he needs to take a shave. His wife also wants Baltazar to sell the cage for six pesos because of the long duration of time that he has spent in making it. Dr. Giraldo intends to buy the cage for his sick wife, but Baltazar only wants to give the cage to Pepe. Taking the cage to Pepe in Montiel’s house, Don Montiel gets angry at Baltazar because he did not request him for permission to make the cage for his son. Don Montiel chases away Baltazar from his house, but Baltazar keeps on insisting that he wanted to make the cage for Pepe with no charges at all.
The author uses the characters, Ursula and Baltazar, to represent the poor. They do not have a lot of money, but Ursula insists on the need for making more money. The rich in this society are Pepe, Adelaide and Don Montiel. They live a lavish life, and Don Montiel is a very proud man. Pepe, on the other hand, is a spoilt boy who gets what he wants. The author uses Dr. Octavio Giraldo to represent the middle class because he intends to buy the cage but lacks enough money as compared to the Motels (Mora, 21).
Márquez characterizes Baltazar in an allegorical of Jesus Christ. He shows humility in the way he carefully prepares the cage, Pepe. He also demonstrates humility when informing the doctor that he cannot sell the majestic cage because he intends to give it to Pepe for free. For the case of Montiel, he is a mean man who has no intention of buying the cage. He gets infuriated because Baltazar who is a low-class man gives a cage to his rebellious son. The rage that Montiel shows is a sign of his pride, and he wants nothing to do with the low class. Thus the author uses these two different personalities in the characters to show the differences in class. Also as a poor individual, Baltazar believes that he does not need money to be happy. He gets out of Montiel’s house happily and behaves as though he had been paid a large sum of money. He joins other people who want to celebrate his achievement, and for the first time in life, he gets very drunk. Mr. Montiel, on the other hand, is very powerful and wealthy, but he is very cruel who uses his position in the society to cause harm to others and engage in criminal activities. He does not show compassion to his wives as the doctor and Baltazar.
The author uses the cage to represent the prison that individual of various social classes is in. A cage shows the situation that cannot be escaped. Baltazar making the most beautiful cage is a representation of salvation (Leech, 203). It can be sold at a fortune that will finally free Baltazar and his wife from the bondage of poverty. Most importantly the cage can save the Motels like the case of Pepe from the arrogance that accompany wealth. Pepe would appreciate the beauty of this cage as the most important aspect more than its value. Therefore the author uses Baltazar to pass the message that Just in the same way Jesus sacrificed his life for human’s sins, so does Baltazar sacrifices the cage’s value for Pepe’s salvation.
La Santa Gabriel García
Gabriel García Márquez in “The Saint” provides a second account of his twelve stories compendium that makes up the Twelve Pilgrims stories. La Santa is a story about a Colombian man called Margarito Duarte. He is a silent and simple man who has no much-advanced studies, but he is highly cultured. He had a fortunate life and his habit of being a good individual as well as his culture he has self-taught himself. In his 18 years, he became a clerk at the city council of his town. Also at that age, he married a very beautiful woman who died shortly after during childbirth. She left behind a beautiful daughter who turned out to be even more beautiful than her mother. At the age of seven years, she succumbed to fever and died. Margarito’s life from that point onwards became very difficult especially after eleven years after his daughter’s death. The authority informs him that the body of his daughter and wife will be exhumed as a result of a construction activity of building a dam in the place. Thus the construction required the transferring of the Township’s cemetery. This exhumation activity of his daughter’s incorrupt body that appeared just like she is asleep like a living person forever changes Margarito’s life. He is forced to travel to Rome to see the Pope in recognizing the Holiness of his beloved daughter with the hope to beatify her. As a poor man, he undergoes several successive futile attempts and hears nothing from the Vatican authorities. He waits until he is an old man with no success but what keeps him going is that his daughter will be canonized one day.
In this story, Duarte represents the poor and desperate people whose voices are never heard. He is one of those who lacks the power and means to fulfill his wishes and has to ask for permission from that in charge and authority. Duarte is assisted by his compatriots who had gathered to witness what they considered as “the unmistakable symptom of sanctity.” They collect money for him to travel to Rome so that he can make his daughter by recognized by the Vatican. However, at the time the Vatican is celebrating its decade of the sixties and the Pope- Pius XII was suffering from a terrible hiccup crisis. Therefore he could not attend to Duarte’s demands (González, Grbac, Maldonado and Venzano, 1).
Duarte also had to send a sixty-page manuscript to the secretariat of state, but he did not also obtain an answer. Being a desperate person in need of his voice to be heard by those in power, he forced to learn and speak Italian. He also had to live in a lawless house with a woman called Bella Maria that had individuals who pitied and supported him. Twenty-two years later after making his case known to the Vatican, there has been no response. As he loads the wooden box of his daughter, he says, “I have waited for too long that I cannot miss anymore. The Saint unrecognized yet the Vatican is not interested in its cause.” Therefore as readers, we are left feeling pity for Duarte who lacks the power, means, and ability to make his voice heard and wished fulfilled. The Vatican which is in charge fails to recognize his claim. Thus in this narration, García demonstrates the misuse of power by the Vatican and how it injures the less fortunate in the society.
Work Cited
Mora Gabriela. The prodigious afternoon Baltazar: problems of meaning. 2014 Rutgers University
Leech Mary. Cracking the Advanced Placement Spanish, 2004-2005, p 203. The Princeton Review. Print
Constanza González, Jadranka Grbac, Josefina Maldonado and Rafaella Venzano. The Corner of Garcia Marquez. Analysis of La Santa.
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