Transformation, Myth, and Connection Theme Analysis

In “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” a tiny remote seaside village experiences a profound transformation as a result of its encounter with a huge and handsome drowned man, whom they name Esteban. The villagers are so moved by the splendor of the man’s appearance and humility of his expression that they decide to radically remake their village. They aim to honor his memory with wider doors, taller ceilings, colorful walls, and extensive flowerbeds.

Yet while the most obvious consequence of the village’s experience of the drowned man is this planned physical change, the story suggests that the village’s transformation is more consequential than a mere renovation of appearances. The final lines of the story imagine, from the perspective of the village, a captain and passengers observing the now beautiful, flower-filled village and identifying it as Esteban’s village. A village that through the story was unknown, tiny, and nameless, in the future will be noteworthy and named.

The villagers who imagine this future clearly anticipate that their experience with Esteban will come to define their community. The physical renewal of their village is, understood in this light, just a physical manifestation of the closer ties the villagers have formed through their experience of the central events of the story. While initially in the story the villagers quarrel over small issues (such as the name of the drowned man, the speed at which they should prepare the body for sea burial), by the end of the story they are in clear and unanimous agreement—they all recognize Esteban’s miraculous beauty and sincerity and plan to commemorate him by changing their own lives and village. The changes that the village undergoes are a clear testament to the transformative power of the villagers’ shared experience. By illustrating this, the story suggests that strong, shared cultural experience and stories—what might be described as a communal founding myth—can transform group identity by creating connection and a shared vision.