The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World - Free Essay Example

Sea Imagery The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is full of sea imagery, from the title on forward. When the dead body first approaches the shore, the kids playing think he is a whale; then, a ship. He even looks like some sort of funky sea monster: when [his body] washed up on the beach, they removed the clumps of seaweed, the jellyfish tentacles, and the remains of fish and flotsam, and only then did they see that it was a drowned man (1). And shortly after, were told that he had the smell of the sea about him and only his shape gave one to suppose that it was the corpse of a human being, because the skin was covered with a crust of mud and scales (2). The women use a sail to make him a shirt. They suppose that, if he were alive, he would have had so much authority that he could have drawn fish out of the sea simply by calling their names (4). And later they imagine his soft, pink, sea lion hands as hes stretched out like a sperm whale (7, 11). What we see is that the drowned man is an object of the sea. He comes from it at the start of the story, and he is returned at the end to the sea, where the fish are blind and the divers die of nostalgia (9). The connection between the drowned man and the sea highlights his role as an almost supernatural figure of mythology. He doesnt quite belong in this world, our world. Mythology The drowned man represents any number of mythological or epic historical figures, and well go through them one by one. First off is the name the villagers assign him: Esteban. Who is this Esteban? As it turns out, Esteban is another name for Estevanico, a slave from the early 1500s who was supposedly the first man born in Africa to set foot in the Americas. Estevanico (or Esteban) became a legendary figure in Latin America, and was later given a set of incredible skills – he mastered dozens of languages, knew everything about medicine, was even considered by some to be a deity, or so the story goes. When the women of the village call the drowned man Esteban, they might very well be referring to this Estevanico. (At the end of the story, the women magine a captain speaking of Estebans village in fourteen languages (12). This may be a reference to the myth that Estevanico spoke so many languages fluently. ) When the oldest women calls the drowned man Esteban, Marquez writes that some of the younger women hoped it might be Lautaro. In the mid 1500s a war occurred in what today is Chile between the colonizing Spaniards and the native Mapuche people. In this conflict, Lautaro was a military leader of the natives. The drowned mans handsomeness and sheer masculinity inspires the young women to fantasize that he is this famed leader. There are some interesting questions to consider here: why is it that the older womens thoughts turn to the Esteban, while the younger women think of Lautaro? And why is it that, once they get a better look at the drowned man, everyone agrees that it is Esteban, rather than Lautaro? Many scholars have also pointed out that the drowned man is a shade of Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god. The drowned man in many ways takes on the role of a deity for the villagers. He arrives from some other world (the sea), is essentially worshipped by the villagers, and permanently changes their lives. Mythology in this story isnt limited just to the drowned man. The entire tale is rooted in mythological history; even the villagers take on mythological roles themselves by the end of the narrative. When the women weep for the drowned man at his funeral, Marquez writes, Some sailors who heard weeping from a distance went off course and people heard of one who had himself tied to the mainmast, remembering ancient fables about sirens (12). This comment is an allusion to Greek mythology. Some background on the sirens. The sirens were half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. The sailors would head towards the voices and then crash their ships on the jagged rocks, which pretty much meant death. When Odysseus was sailing by the sirens island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and tie him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voices without being driven to suicide. Here in The Handsomest Drowned Man, the women weeping over Lautaro are compared to the sirens, and some sailor going by ties himself to the main mast in an attempt to mimic Odysseus. The point is that through the drowned man, the villagers enter the realm of the mythological themselves. The allusions to Esteban, Lautaro, Quetzalcoatl, and Odysseuss sirens illustrates the magical realism weve been mentioning. (If you havent read Genre yet, go ahead and take a look. ) The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is exploring this mingling of the real (a little fishing village) with the mythological (a magnificent dead man). Flowers The first thing we hear about the village is that its made up of twenty-odd wooden houses that had stone courtyards with no flowers [†¦] on the end of a desertlike cape (3). Now jump to the womens speculations about the drowned mans abilities: He would have put so much work into his land that springs would have burst forth from among the rocks so that he would have been able to plant flowers on the cliffs (4). Immediately weve got contrast between the world of the villagers and that of the drowned man. His arrival is like a splash of color against their grey landscape. If the village is dry and colorless, the drowned man brings with him the possibility of lively springs and bright flowers. And sure enough, this possibility is soon realized. As the women prepare for the drowned mans funeral, they go to get flowers from neighboring villages. They return with other women who could not believe what they had been told, and those women went back for more flowers when they saw the dead man, and they brought more and more until there were so many flowers and so many people that it was hard to walk about (12). At the end of the story, notice the specific details of the villagers dream for a better future: They were going to paint their house fronts gay colors to make Estebans memory eternal and they were going to break their backs digging for springs mong the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs so that in future years at dawn the passengers on great liners would awaken, suffocated by the smell of gardens on the high seas. (12) This is a far cry from the desertlike cape we first met at the beginning of the story. The flowers touch on one of the major themes of Marquezs story: the ability of the truly great to inspire others to greatness. What does this have to do with flowers? Check out Whats Up with the Ending? Well pull it all together

Graduation and Beyond

Comparing and Contrasting Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural...

Nelson Mandela’s inaugural address was delivered outdoors in an amphitheatre on 10th May 1994 at the Union Buildings, South Africa. The Union Buildings housed the first democratically elected, first black and first equal president of South Africa. This historic event was attended by politicians and dignitaries from over 140 countries all over the world, such as Bill Clinton, the President of the United States at the time, and John Mayor, British PM at the time. This address was to show that after years of oppression, blacks and coloureds were no longer separated from whites and the country was starting to become united as one. Fourteen years after this celebrated address, new Labor Prime Minister of Australia after ten years of Liberal†¦show more content†¦Yet both politicians lower their inflection or speed up dring talking about the negatives to acknowledge them yet not dwell on the past. Nelson Mandela pauses on the light and dark aspects of the speech to accentua te the importance of each and to let the audience reflect on each. e.g. poverty (p) deprivation (p) suffering (p). Both speakers and speeches impact the audience in much the same ways. In Mandela’s speech it is trying to unite the whole country as equals instead of segregated groups. Mandela makes the audience remember the troubles of the past yet at the same time look forward to the future. In Rudd’s address he does the same by apologizing from the ancestors actions of the non-indigenous population of Australia but at the same time he looks towards the future, to a more peaceful future. Yet both audiences receive the information act differently. In South Africa there were jubilant scenes throughout the nation and when President Mandela was actually delivering his speech he is interrupted by cheering admirers. But in Rudd’s audience he was never interrupted and there were was less reaction around the country than South Africa In conclusion, these speeches inspire me as it reminds me tha while there will always be antagonist and make trouble, there are still people who can even after all the hardships and tragedies of the past, they can look past it in pride and forgive and also look forward to

Video Report for Journal of Hospital Infection - MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theVideo Report for Journal of Hospital Infection. Answer: IV Priming is required in replacing the fluids, preventing nutritional imbalances and in providing IV medication theory (Van Der Eijk et al. 2014). The video explains the process of Priming IV line and IV therapy but neglects the privacy concerns. Maintaining privacy is an essential part of making videos. The videos must hide the identity of the patients in order to ensure privacy. However, the video did not maintain privacy that might lead to discomfort or conflicts. Another mistake in the video was that the five moments for hand hygiene was not maintained. The five moments for hand hygiene includes washing hands before touching the patients, before the cleaning procedure, after touching patients body fluid, after touching the patient and after touching the surroundings of the patient. These approaches were not taken into consideration in the entire video. These five moments of hand hygiene are an essential part of the work of the health care workers (Gould et al. 2017). Ignorance of any one aspect of the hand hygiene might lead to unwanted consequences for both the patient and the health worker. Maintaining hand hygiene is an essential practice that relates to the administration of medical care that helps in preventing or minimizing the spreading of diseases. The major purpose of maintaining hand hygiene is to remove pathogens and chemicals from the hands that might harm the patient as well as the health worker (Rai et al. 2017). Another major mistake in the video was that it did not mention air embolism although it was ensured that the line is free from air. Air embolism refers to the situation when air bubbles enter the blood vessels that block the supply of blood in the veins (McCarthy et al. 2017). Air embolism often leads to death of the patients as it can cause heart attacks, respiratory failures and stroke. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent air embolism while inserting the syringe or IV. Proper training is required to be given to the health workers and doctors in order to avoid the entrance of air bubbles in the veins of the patients during medical procedures (Alisantoso et al. 2015). Ignoring this aspect might risk the health of the patients. However, the video neglects the critical aspect of air embolism that might provide wrong knowledge to the viewers regarding Priming IV line and IV therapy. Lastly, the information regarding heart diseases and kidney failures were not asked in the video. It is necessary to ask the patients regarding any heart or kidney problems they have suffered from in the past. In order to ensure safety of the patients, it becomes necessary to know their medical background. Improper medication might further deteriorate the medical condition of the patients (Sherwin et al. 2014). Therefore, the health workers must obtain proper knowledge of the medical background of the patients in order to ensure that they provide proper medication to the patients. However, the video neglects this concern that might provide wrong information to the viewers. Any wrong information provided to the users might risk the health of the patients. References: Alisantoso, D., Cheng, K.J. and Neo, K., Becton, Dickinson, 2015.IV drip chamber with filter and bottom reservoir. U.S. Patent 8,974,414. Gould, D.J., Creedon, S., Jeanes, A., Drey, N.S., Chudleigh, J. and Moralejo, D., 2017. Impact of observing hand hygiene in practice and research: a methodological reconsideration.Journal of Hospital Infection,95(2), pp.169-174. McCarthy, C.J., Behravesh, S., Naidu, S.G. and Oklu, R., 2017. Air embolism: diagnosis, clinical management and outcomes.Diagnostics,7(1), p.5. Rai, H., Knighton, S., Zabarsky, T.F. and Donskey, C.J., 2017. A randomized trial to determine the impact of a 5 moments for patient hand hygiene educational intervention on patient hand hygiene.American journal of infection control,45(5), pp.551-553. Sherwin, C.M., Medlicott, N.J., Reith, D.M. and Broadbent, R.S., 2014. Intravenous drug delivery in neonates: lessons learnt.Archives of disease in childhood, pp.archdischild-2013. Van Der Eijk, A.C., Van Der Plas, A.J., Van Der Palen, C.J.N.M., Dankelman, J. and Smit, B.J., 2014. In vitro measurement of flow rate variability in neonatal IV therapy with and without the use of check valves.Journal of neonatal-perinatal medicine,7(1), pp.55-64.