Balthazar's marvelous afternoon

Universidad Regional del Sureste
Escuela de Idiomas



Advanced English I
Tutor: Roger Brooks
Balthazar´s Marvelous Afternoon Essay
16 February 2011
Daniela Granados Pérez

Balthazar´sMarvelous Afternoon Essay
This is a short story written by Gabriel García Márquez (b.1927), a very famous Latin American writer from Aracataca, Colombia. He lived with his grandparents when he was achild. He studied law in Bogotá, where he wrote a story for the first time. Life and old friends took him to “take up another line of work” (p. 224). He worked as a writer in some newspapers invarious countries. His most famous novel was named Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude), which quickly became a bestseller.
The story tells us about the most wonderful day in a carpenter´slife. This man´s name is Balthazar; he is a thirty year old man, honest, humble and very talented. He has a companion named Ursula, who has lived with him for four years and they do not havechildren. Ursula is a hardworking housewife that worries about their economic problems at home and about Balthazar. One of the most important characters in the story is the beautiful cage made by Balthazar.Another important character in this story is José Montiel, the richest man in town, obese, bad-tempered and greedy. His wife, Adelaide, a pathetic and shy woman obsessed with death. They have a son,Pepe, who is much like his mother, spoiled and submissive. There are two more characters, Dr. Octavio Giraldo, a physician and good person, he is married to an invalid woman who loves birds and takescare of them. Finally, the crowds of people who celebrate Balthazar´s work and play an important part in the sense of the story.
Balthazar has always been a model human with no vices “…and the generalexpression of a frightened boy. But it was a false expression.” (p. 225). Balthazar has lived a non-challenging life; however, he is a human and humans tend to get excited by experimenting with new...