Community
The story is interested, as many of Marquez's works are, in the concept of community and how people live among one another. In the story, the drowned man brings everyone in the small village together – from the children playing with his corpse on the beach to the women who clean him for burial, and eventually the men who carry him to the cliff. The appearance of the corpse on the beach becomes in many ways a respite from the mundanity of the life the community has cultivated – one in which days are predictable and every face is familiar. With the introduction of Esteban, the community is shaken and forced to reckon not only with death but also with the way they are collectively spending their shared life. As such, the community is transformed by the process of caring for and burying the drowned man, even though he is a stranger to them.
Latent Desire
As the title of the story indicates, the drowned man is attractive, strong, and virile. All of the women in the village are immediately taken by his appearance once they clean his body, and they all imagine the kind of wonderful life he would have lived had he occupied their own village. The men, too, are eventually absorbed by the drowned man as they recognize his superior form and splendor. In this way, the drowned man – whom they decide cannot be named anything other than Esteban – becomes a vessel through which the people of the village can express their latent desires and aspirations. His intriguing appearance leads the village community to idealize his character and strive for the same, vowing to raise their village to a standard worthy of Esteban's presence.
Death and Narrative
The story showcases the villagers' response to the drowned man's corpse. Though they do not know anything about him, and though they confirm he is a veritable stranger to their village and the other surrounding villages, the community nonetheless imagines an entire life for Esteban, so sure are they of his character after standing in awe of his physique. The story therefore presents the idea that death itself can create narrative, and that it is a distinctly human impulse to create stories and idealized versions of people after they have died. This habit, the story suggests, is what gives other people comfort in the face of loss, and hope in the face of uncertainty regarding life after death. That the villages work to increase the splendor of their town shows how crafting these posthumous stories serves a purpose for those still living.
