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In general terms, how do the townspeople in "The Handsomest Drowned Man In The

World" react to the body which washes up on their shore at the beginning of the story -
give a quote to support and explain. Please someone help!!

User GregL
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1 Answer

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18 votes

Answer and Explanation:

In "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World," a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, the townspeople react to the body with acceptance. He is first found by children when he washes up on their shore. Instead of being afraid of him, the children play with the body. When the adults of the village finally realize he is there, they take him into one of their homes, and the women take care of him. They will do for him what do for every body that washes up on their shore: they will mourn him with a brief wake, and then bury him in the ocean.

"They had been playing with him all afternoon, burying him in the sand and digging him up again . . .

While the men went to find out if anyone was missing in the neighboring villages, the women stayed behind to care for the drowned man. They took the mud off with grass swabs, they removed the underwater stones entangled in his hair, and they scraped the crust off with tools used for scaling fish."

User Yeroon
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