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Balthazar's Marvellous Afternoon, by, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Objectives, This part of the study material aims to provide a background to Marquez's short story `Balthazar's, Marvellous Afternoon.' It is a story that has a clear moral message, which may not be obvious to, you when you read it for the first time. I have attempted to explain the author's critique of a society, where human values and artistic expression have both been buried under materialistic, considerations., Introduction, Originally written in Spanish, this short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is set in a small town in, Colombia. Colombia was under Spanish rule from 1499 to 1819 and has a mixed cultural heritage,, with Spanish and African elements. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech Marquez describes the, region vividly. Marquez was born in 1928 in Aracataca, a small town near the coast of the Atlantic, Ocean. The eldest of sixteen children, his parents left him to be brought up by his maternal, grandparents, who told him stories full of supernatural elements, gossip and folktales. Read the, story `Balthazar's Marvellous Afternoon' carefully before proceeding with this study material., Some unfamiliar words are explained in the glossary, Glossary, Balthazar : the name is of Greek origin, meaning `God save the King.' He was one of the three, wise men who travelled to Judea to pay homage to the infant Jesus. The Biblical source of the, name is significant., Capuchin : refers to male priests of the Franciscan order who wore long capes with long hoods., Could also refer to monkeys native to South America: so named by early 15th century explorers, who were struck by their resemblance to the Friars. cicadas : a transparent winged, long insect., five `o' clock mass : early morning service in the Church, plover : a wading bird with long wings and short beak, found in coastal areas., siesta : afternoon nap, sleep., troupial : fairly large colourful bird, found in Venezuela., Introduction, `Balthazar's Marvellous Afternoon' has a fairly simple plot. Balthazar is requested by Pepe, the, son of Chepe Montiel, the richest man in town, to make a cage for birds. After spending two weeks, creating a beautiful cage he takes it to Chepe Montiel, where he is stunned to learn that Pepe, ordered the cage without his father's permission. The mean and stingy Montiel refuses to pay, Balthazar for the cage, the child creates a scene and he is asked to take it back. Moved by the

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child's agony Balthazar leaves the cage there, saying it was made as a gift for the child. He lies to, the crowd outside Montiel's house that he managed to get a good price for the cage. The story ends, with Balthazar lying drunk on the street after a night of celebration with the townsfolk., Though `Balthazar's Marvellous Afternoon' is simple it has many other dimensions to it. It is when, the story is read as a parable, a narrative of imaginary events with a moral lesson, that the story, acquires depth. It is a criticism of wealth and its corrupting influence on familial and social, relations. Not only does money dehumanize people, it also interferes with artistic expression., Balthazar's occupation is a humble one but his passion and devotion to his craft make him a true, artist. Balthazar, the wise one, is alone in his total disregard for money. With one generous gesture, Balthazar exposes the calculations and the meanness of spirit that underlie all kinds of transactions, in society. The next part of the study material discusses these themes in detail., Discussion, The name Balthazar has unmistakable Biblical allusions. It is the name of one of three magi or, wise men who travelled to Judea to pay homage to the newborn Jesus. His appearance too, as, Ursula remarks, resembles that of a Capuchin, a male priest. Like Christ, Balthazar too is a, carpenter by calling and his gifting of the cage to Pepe raises him to the status of a prophet., Balthazar's cage has been completed after two weeks of intense labour, during which he has not, even shaved his beard. It indicates the extent of his passion for his craft. Moreover he has not fixed, the price of the cage., In this small provincial town gossip is the main source of information and no sooner has Balthazar, completed the cage the news spreads that it is the most beautiful cage in the world. Everyone who, comes to see the cage which Balthazar has hung on the window feels that it is a work of art but, Balthazar felt that it had been a routine job :, He did not even know that for some, people the cage he had just made was, the most beautiful one in the world., For him accustomed to making cages, since childhood, it had hardly been, more difficult than the others., (p. 117), Balthazar's partner Ursula is annoyed that he has spent so much time making the cage and urges, him to charge a decent amount for it. She is practical and calculative. Unlike everyone else she, does not notice or admire the beauty of the cage. What she notices is its size and the price that it, can fetch them :, I think it is the biggest cage I've seen in my life.

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The townsfolk start thronging Balthazar's house to see his cage. Among them is Dr. Octavio, Giraldo who wishes to buy it for his wife who remains unwell but is fond of keeping birds in cages., Read the Doctor's response to the cage:, `This is a flight of the imagination', he said :, `You wouldn't even need to put birds in it', he, said, making the cage turn in front of the, audience's eyes as if he were auctioning it off., `It would be enough to hang it in the trees, so it could sing by itself.', Doctor Giraldo's almost poetic description is in sharp contrast to the function of the cage, meant, to keep birds locked up. He offers to buy it but Balthazar declines. Rejecting a chance to earn extra, money Balthazar proves that he is not a good businessman. He is an artist who creates for the love, of his craft, not to earn money. Balthazar is puzzled when Dr. Giraldo suggests that the cage has, been made according to specifications. It is unthinkable for him to try and, replicate it., Balthazar gets ready to deliver the cage to Jose Chepe Montiel. The description of Montiel's house, is suggestive. The house reflects the character of its owner. It is crammed with all types of things, and Jose Montiel is so stingy that he sleeps with the fan switched off so that he can watch over his, house. His suspicious nature does not allow him to rest peacefully. Chepe Montiel's wife is unable, to sleep because she suffers from anxiety. Like the others, she too is impressed with the beautiful, cage that Balthazar brings to their house. She calls out to her husband who appears and soon, Balthazar realizes that Pepe has ordered the cage without obtaining his father's permission. In a, powerful simile Marquez expresses the despair that Balthazar feels : `he felt as if someone had just, opened the bathroom door on him.' (p. 123), Note that Montiel, all this while, does not even look at the cage. In an official manner he simply, reminds Balthazar that Pepe is a minor, absolving himself of any liability to pay for the cage. The, young boy starts screaming and banging his head on the floor. Balthazar is upset and disturbed. In, direct contrast the boy's father remains unmoved by the outburst and tells his wife to let him break, his head. Moved by the child's anguish Balthazar, in a kind gesture, steps forward and gives the, child the cage. He dismisses Montiel's protest:, `It doesn't matter', said Balthazar `I, made it expressly as a gift for Pepe., I didn't expect to charge anything, for it.' (p. 124), Montiel is angry and abuses Balthazar. Note the words used by Montiel to describe the cage: it is, a `piece of furniture' and a `trinket.' He is the only one who is blind to the beautiful cage and does

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not notice the craftsmanship. As he leaves the house Balthazar is not upset by what has happened., Nor is there any regret for having given away his most beautiful creation as a gift because `none, of these things was particularly important.' (p. 125), Though innocent when it concerns his own self-interest Balthazar understands that for others, money holds a lot of importance. Feeling happy and carefree he comes out and informs the crowd, that he has sold it to Chepe Montiel for sixty pesos. Why does he lie to everyone?, Balthazar buys beer for everyone. In his drunk state he talks about a project :, ...by dusk he was completely drunk,, and he was talking about a fabulous, project of a thousand cages, at sixty pesos, each, and then a million cages, till he, had sixty million pesos. (p. 125), Balthazar's plan is an ironic comment on the nature of mass production, as opposed to the, uniqueness of an artist. You will recall that when Doctor Giraldo requests Balthazar to make a, cage similar to the one he has made for Montiel he does not agree. After all his friends have left, he is lying alone on the street. His shoes are stolen and he is lying there, lost in a fantasy of pleasure, and self-indulgence. Two women going to Church in the early morning, thinking that he is dead,, ignore him and walk pass., The last sentence is not as much a criticism of Christianity as it as of the hypocrisy of people who,, while observing its outward practices, ignore its basic humanity, its message of universal love and, brotherhood., Balthazar, the wise one, is the only person who, through his single spontaneous act of generosity, subverts the place of money in social transactions. Balthazar is contemptuous of the rich and their, inability to feel. Compare his gift to Montiel's son to Montiel's own insensitivity towards his child., Balthazar retains those human values that are the mark of a good human. He has not let, commercialization affect his craft., At this point I would like to draw your attention to the significance of the cage. Recall Dr. Octavio, Giraldo's visit to Balthazar's house to see the cage displayed on the dining table., The cage was on display on the table, with, its enormous dome of wire, three stories, wide, with passageways and compartments, especially for eating and sleeping and, swings in the space set aside for the, birds recreation, it seemed like a small

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scale model of a gigantic ice factory. (p. 119), Don't miss the irony in the comparison with a gigantic ice factory. The cage is a thing of beauty, but the function it serves of keeping the free birds imprisoned, is not. The cage represents or is a, symbol of the materialistic element in society. Money imprisons the soul just as the cage imprisons, the bird's freedom., Do you think that it was necessary for Balthazar to create an elaborate cage with so many, compartments in it? Balthazar, innocent and unaware of the significance of his creation, puts his, soul into his craft and creates the most beautiful cage. He does not realize that the piece of art he, has created is an ironic reminder of what money does to the soul., Magical Realism, You must surely be aware of what `real' or `realistic' means. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's fiction has, been characterized as belonging to a style of literature classified as `magical realism', where the, fiction has a component of the magical to it., The German art critic Franz Roh first introduced this term in 1925 to describe a form of literature, and painting where the conscious and sub-conscious elements are joined together. The world of, dreams and fantasy are joined to the everyday world in an absolute reality, `a surreal reality'. Most, of the ideas emerging at that time were laid out in Andre Breton's `Surrealist Manifesto' in 1924., The general feeling was that European thought had been guided for too long by rational elements., They advocated an aesthetic that favoured the representation of the sub conscious. Surrealism, as, a movement, fascinated. Latin American writers. As a journalist, Marquez joined a group of young, writers and intellectuals who, called themselves the `Group of Baranquilla.' They met regularly to discuss the literary techniques, of, among others, writers like Franz Kafka and William Faulkner. Other writers who were, fascinated by the stylistic techniques and innovations of the surrealists were Octavio Paz and Pablo, Neruda, who is the most widely read poet of surrealism. In 1949 the Cuban winter Alejo Carpentier, wrote his famous prologue to his novel `The Kingdom of this World' in which he counters the, European brand of Surrealism with a culturally different maravilloso which is not dependent on, `conjurer's tricks'. In 1955 the Guatemalan novelist Miguel Angel Asturias applied the term, magical realism to Spanish American writing that has used a language with `imponderable magical, value and profound human projection.' Anglo American academics quickly appropriated the term, and applied it loosely to non-Anglo American fiction or Third World Writing. Gabriel Garcia, Marquez is considered its most representative novelist and his novel `One Hundred Years of, Solitude' its most significant work., Marquez himself resisted attempts to label his writing in this way. In his 1982 Novel Prize, acceptance speech Marquez begins with an overview of the political turmoil, ethnocide, civil wars,, and military coups that have marked the troubled history of South America. He comments that it, is the representation of this `outsized reality' that has led to the focus on the exotic elements of his, fiction. Marquez felt that the real magic elements in his fiction lay in the documentation of a social, milieu that needed to be represented with honesty and compassion. Using a tradition of story telling

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that was inspired by oral folklore Marquez succeeds in documenting the life in a small Colombian, town and yet retain a universal message., `Balthazar's marvelous Afternoon' does not contain the element of the supernatural but it is a tale, with a powerful moral message; it asserts the dignity of the human as opposed to the material., Balthazar is the Christ-like figure through whose character Marquez conveys the moral in the story., His physical appearance is similar to a priest's, as Ursula remarks. Compare it with the gross and, fat Chepe Montiel. This short story, in addition to its moral of humanity also asserts the superiority, of the handcrafted over mass production. Balthazar is not only a good human but a true craftsman, is well. While creating he has neither sense of time nor does he let the commercial value of his, work come in the way of his craft. That is why it is so easy for him to gift the cage to Pepe. The, joy that he must have felt on creating a thing of beauty is immeasurable. But Balthazar is alone in, this joy. No one understands or can appreciate his decision- that is why he lies to people outside, Montiel's house that he has got a good price for the cage. It is in the structure of the story as a, fable, set in a small town that we must appreciate Marquez's literary achievement., , Surrealism in The Blue Bonquet, The narrative style in The Blue Bouquet is highly surrealistic. Everything that happens to the, narrator between the exit from and entry back to the hotel has an outlandish quality. There is a, dream like aspect to the surroundings, where the sounds and fragrances of the night combine with, the moon and the stars to create a night in all its perfection. The narrator seems to be in a state of, heightened sensibility where his senses are receptive to every nuance of his surroundings. The, events that follow however are not in consonance with this perfection and have a nightmerish, quality. The narrative seems to hover between these two highly surreal extremes. The narrator's, romance with the night is almost too perfect and in stark contrast to the encounter with the man, which is highly bizarre to say the least. The juxtaposition of the dream like and nightmarish, sequences, is a surrealist technique. Surrealists tried to explore "material of dreams, of states of, mind between sleep and waking, and of natural or artificially induced hallucinations. The, influence, direct or indirect, of surrealist innovations can be found in many modern writers in prose, and verse, who have broken with conventional modes of artistic organization to experiment with, free associations, violated syntax, non-logical and non-chronological order, dream-like and, nightmarish sequences, and the juxtaposition of bizarre, images". (M.H. Abrams, glossary of, literary terms; 1994) There is no logic or explanation offered for the sweet-hearts' desire for blue, eyes. By downplaying the intention, the "why" the focus is directed towards the moment, the, experience of fear in the deepest recesses of the mind and this is only possible because the moment, is unexpected and unmotivated.

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The Blue Bouquet, Octavio Paz, Octavio Paz:1914-1998, , Biographical sketch: Octavio Paz was born in Mexico city. His grandfather was a prominent, liberal intellectual and had an extensive library. Thus Paz from an early age became familiar with, the literary world. His father was an active political journalist and was associated with the agrarian, uprisings led by Emiliano Zapata. Paz started writing at an early age. In 1938 he became one of, the founders of the Journal "Taller." In 1943 he went to the U.S.A on Guggenheim fellowship and, became deeply interested in Anglo-American Modernist poetry. In 1945 he joined Mexican, diplomatic service and his first assignment was in France. Here he was an active participant in, various activities of the Surrealists notably Andre Breton and Benjamin Peret. He was appointed, Mexican ambassador to India in 1962. In 1968 he resigned from diplomatic service in protest, against the massacre of student demonstrators in Tlatelolco, by the Mexican government., Although Paz is known for his poetry, he has also published extensively, essays and book length, studies on a variety of topics which include Mexican history, politics, culture and literary and art, criticism. Paz was deeply influenced by surrealism and eastern philosophy especially Buddhism, and Hinduism and this is evident in his works. In the "Labyrinth of Solitude" Paz writes "we are, condemned to live alone..... self discovery is above all the realization that we are alone; it is the, opening of an impalpable, transparent wall- that of our consciousness-between the world and, ourselves." Paz believed that solitude is inevitable and this can be transcended only in creation of, poems and its re-creation everytime a poem is read and understood., On the political and cultural front, Paz believed that the Mexican dilemma and the resultant tension, is because of the fact that it draws its roots from both - the spanish colonial and native Indian, traditions. On the one hand the dominant Mestizo Mexican culture is deeply rooted in nonEuropean Indian culture indigenous to the land, but on the other it is also strongly bound to the, counter-Reformation Catholic Spanish culture. Paz was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in, 1990. The present story The Blue Bouquet was written forty years before he received the Nobel, Prize., Detailed Summary:, The narrator on an ordinary night like any other is woken up from sleep sometime during the night, due to excessive heat. He is drenched in sweat and there is a "warm vapour rising from the red, tiles" of his room. This is a room in a hotel and from the description it is obvious that it is probably, a basic kind of accomodation in some remote part. There is a moth going around a "naked bulb", and the narrator is careful about not stepping on a "scorpion" as he is barefoot, and when he is, getting dressed he makes sure that there are no "bugs"lurking in his clothes. Standing at the, window of the room the narrator is enticed by air from the fields and the "feminine breathing of, the night" and so decides to take a walk outside. He is warned by the hotel keeper, blind in one eye

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not to venture out as there are no street lights at that place. Ignoring this advice the narrator steps, out, and into complete darkeness and initially gropes his way along the street., The sudden appearance of the moon from behind a black cloud blinds him momentarily, and he is, dazzled much in the same fashion as the moth by the sudden light of the naked bulb in the hotel, room. The moonlight, the fragrance of Tamarind trees, the night sounds of leaves and insects lull, the narrator into a feeling of well-being, safety and freedom. The bright moonlight and the, twinkling stars against the dark sky bring about a transformation in the mood of the narrator from, the sweaty uneasiness of the hotel room. Here in the vast outside he feels at one with the universe., He becomes contemplative and thinks of the universe as a grand system of signals where actions, of all beings whether living or non-living seem like merely "pauses and syllables, odd fragments, of that dialogue". He ponders about his place in this vast universe. If he is a mere syllable of only, one word just like the cricket or the moth, then what would that word be? In the vast dialogue of, the universe where would that word fit in? The narrator feels safe and free because the great lips, of the universe are pronouncing him clearly and joyously. The night he says was a " garden of, eyes", meaning perhaps that each being of the universe was seeing the other, and acknowledging, its presence and place in the grand design of the universe. The communion between man, beast,, trees and the celestial bodies is complete here., The narrator senses that he is being followed but is unable to run. He is overpowered by a short, and slight man wearing a palm sombrero at knife point. This man the narrator tells us has a soft, voice, strangely gentle almost embarassed. Fearing that he is being mugged, the narrator offers, him money in exchange for his life. But the man does not want money, he wants the narrator's eyes, provided they are blue. The man's demand seems unreal and grotesque. He wishes to gouge the, narrator's eyes, provided they are blue, to please his sweetheart who would like to have a bouquet, of blue eyes as a present. When the narrator to save himself says that they are both Christians, implying that killing is a sin, the man asks him not to be squamish as he does not intend taking his, life just his eyes. The man checks the narrator's eyes under the light of a match stick and upon, finding them brown, suddenly disappears into the night after a polite "excuse me"., The narrator is thoroughly traumatized by the incident and leaves the village the next day., Critical Commentary:, The Blue Bouquet has a simple narrative but the issues at work in this narrative are not so simple., Let us now examine them. The narrator and the man in the sombrero do not have names. The, village where this incident takes place has no name either. Suffice it to say that the village is in, some remote part of Mexico where there are no street lights, and the narrator is a traveller, a, stranger and the man with the machete a local person. The omission of names is deliberate and, hence significant as this distances the narrative from the individuals to the incident or the, occurence. The focus then is entirely on the chain of events and more importantly, on the rupture, in an otherwise ordinary chain of events. This rupture occurs when the narrator is suddenly, catapulted from a harmonious world into a world of violence and terror. It is this rupture which, constitutes the center on which the entire narrative rests. That the violence does not ultimately, happen does not take away the intensity of terror of the moment. Underlying all this is of course

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the absurdity of the situation. It is so pointedly meaningless. A man willing to gouge the eyes of a, perfect stranger who bears him no ill-will and vice-versa, just to satisfy the irrational whims of his, sweet-heart ! The sweetheart here can be replaced with any other object of desire with the same, result. Human beings in order to obtain their object of desire, do resort to means whereby, unsuspecting innocent people become victims of violence and terror. The narrative begins with the, narrator in physical discomfort in a hotel room and by a deft move necessitated by circumstances,, positions the narrator from "within" i.e a private space to "without" in the vast space outside. The, description of the outside is something akin to the primordial night with no evidence of another, human being. Just when the narrator feels that he is part of the universe "safe and free, because, those great lips were pronouncing me so clearly, so joyously" the narrative introduces the element, of danger. The earlier peace is suddenly shattered. The feeling of safety and freedom is short lived., The danger is real and comes in the form of another human being. The narrative shifts from the, idyllic to the real, and seems to be introducing us to the Janus face of the universe that it is both, good and evil, and that they exist side by side., The imagery in the narrative is skillfully woven to enhance the impact of the central event in the, story. There is a constant play between images of darkness and light throughout the narrative, symbolizing the existence of evil and good. The darkness of the hotel room banished by the light, of the naked bulb, the darkness outside suddenly illuminated by the bright moon and stars point to, the evil or darkness lurking beneath the apparently peaceful night. The peace and tranquility of the, moonlit night is real but the evil intention of the man is equally real. The alternating images of, darkness and light in this context seem to suggest that the coming on of light is a reckoning with,, and an acknowledgement of the darkness and the unknown., A second image which is prominent in the narrative is that of "Eyes". The one eyed hotel keeper,, occupies the space between the darkness which lies outside and the hotel. He sits at the hotel, entrance and does not cut a pretty picture. He is glum and reticent and has a hoarse voice but does, seem to understand that the outside could pose danger. His advice to the narrator not to venture, outside could be simple common sense of a local person who knows the place better than the, narrator, who is a stranger. Just before the turn of events there is another reference to "eyes" when, the narrator says that "The night was a garden of eyes." By night he is implying not just the, twinkling stars and the luminous moon but also the trees, the insects and everything else that is, contributing to the grand system of signals which is the universe. Almost immediately the focus, shifts to the narrator's "eyes" as the man in the sombrero wants them provided they are blue, to, make a bouquet. One particular set of eyes from the "garden of eyes" as it were, is being sought, by the man to make bouquet. The line "There arent many people around here that have them" alerts, us to the political and cultural undertones of this otherwise macabre intention of the man. The, tension between the dominant Mestizo's (of mixed Spanish Indian blood) and the indigenous, people of Mexico becomes apparent here. The Mexican Indians, the original inhabitants of, Mexico, (man in the palm sombrero seems to be one) do not have blue eyes. Eyes the colour of, blue, are specific to white people belonging to Caucasian gene group. "Blue Spanish Eyes" are, quite legendary and have found place in common folk lore. "Blue eyes" are symbolic of the "Other", of Spanish colonizers and also Mestizo's by virtue of mixed descent not native to the land.

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However the narrative does not tell us why the man's sweetheart wants a bouquet of blue eyes., Does she intend to use it as a decorative piece like a bouquet? Or does she intend to possess, something which she desires, but can never have? Or will the blues eyes serve as a trophy to, assuage some feeling of being wronged and exploited? The narrative raises these questions but, does not provide any answers to them. The narrator escapes this chance encounter, which brings, him face to face with terror, by another chance which is genetic over which he has no control. This, chance happens to be the fact that he has brown eyes and not blue eyes. The encounter with terror, here is sudden and totally unexpected, and the release from this terror is equally sudden and, unexpected. He is saved by the colour of his eyes. The narrative ends with the narrator returning, to the hotel, changed man with perhaps a better understanding of the real nature of the universe he, inhabits., , Questions, 1. The description of night in ‘The Blue Boquet’ is very mysterious. Briefly describe the night in the, ‘The Blue Boquet’ using the hints given below. (hints:see nothing-groped his way-moon from, behind a black cloud-faint breeze-fragrance of the tamarind trees- sounds of leaves and insectsstars camping out.), 2. The story ‘The Blue Bouquet’ can be read as a shocking tale of violence or as a narrative on, romantic love. How do you comment on this statement?, 3. Do you think that the incident narrated by the author of ‘The Blue Bouquet’ is real? Justify your, answer in about 60 words., 4. ‘Art has a value that no money can buy’. How will you substantiate this statement in view of the, story ‘Balthazar’s Marvellous Afternoon’?, 5. 'I began to walk faster.' What made the narrator walk faster?, 6. How did the narrator try to escape from the stranger?, 7. Why couldn't the narrator see anything?, 8. Why did the narrator stop walking?, 9. What quality of the night is felt quite striking for the narrator?, 10. What did the cage look like?, 11. What made Octavio Giraldo say that Balthazar is an extraordinary architect?, 12. Why did Octavio Giraldo say that 'It would be enough to hang it in the trees so it could sing by, itself.'?, 13. Why were there a lot of people in the dining room?, 14. Why,do you think the narrator walked bare foot across the room?, 15. What was the hotel-keeper doing?, 16. “being careful not to step on a scorpion if one had come out”.What impression do you get about, the room from these words?, 17. Which line in the excerpt tells you that the stranger was not at all confident in placing his, demand?, 18. Would you agree to the statement that the stranger is a passionate lover?Why?

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19., 20., 21., 22., 23., 24., , How does the narrator try to save himself from the stranger?, What did the narrator ask the stranger?, What was the stranger's reply?, What is the stranger going to do with the narrator's eyes?, How did he try to escape from the stranger?, . Describe the stranger when the narrator meets him in the street at night.