Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez: Someone Has Been Disarranging These Roses. Summary and analysis

In Someone Has Been Disarranging These Roses, a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, a dead boy recounts how, every Sunday, he tries to take roses from the altar tended by a woman to take them to his own grave. The story takes place in the house where they both lived decades ago. Having died in an accident, the boy remains as a spirit tied to the place, while the woman, who was close to him in life, devoutly maintains the altar erected in his memory. Although she cannot see him, the woman seems to sense his presence and watches over the roses with growing unease. Through the boy’s memories, the relationship between the two and the accident that led to his death are reconstructed. The house, abandoned for years, retains traces of that past life: forgotten shoes, accumulated dust, and the restored altar. The story foreshadows a future outcome: the day will come when the woman dies, and then the boy must find the men who took her to the hill, as they did with him. Only then will she understand that it was his presence—and not the wind—that disarranged the roses on the altar every Sunday.

Gabriel García Márquez: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World. Summary and analysis

Gabriel García Márquez - El ahogado más hermoso del mundo. Resumen y análisis

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1972 in the book The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother. The story begins when some children discover a corpse washed up in a small, isolated coastal village. When the body is brought to the town, the inhabitants are surprised by its enormous size and strange beauty. As they try to understand who this man was, his silent presence begins to awaken a series of emotions, thoughts and unexpected transformations in the community.

Gabriel García Márquez: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Gabriel García Márquez - El ahogado más hermoso del mundo3

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World (El ahogado más hermoso del mundo) is a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1972 in the collection La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada. The story begins when some children discover a body washed up on the beach of a small coastal village. When they take it inland, the inhabitants are astonished by its enormous size and imposing presence. While the women clean and prepare it, they wonder who the man was and what his existence meant. From this discovery, the town begins to transform inwardly, touched by the mysterious grandeur of the drowned man.

Gabriel García Márquez: The Woman Who Came at Six O’clock

The Woman Who Came at Six O’clock (La mujer que llegaba a las seis) is a short story by Gabriel García Márquez published in 1950 in El Espectador. The story takes place in a small restaurant where José, the owner, receives a woman every afternoon who always arrives at the same time. However, that afternoon, although her routine seems intact, she insists that she has arrived earlier. Through a tense dialogue full of innuendo, the woman gradually reveals the reason for her behavior.

Gabriel García Márquez: Tuesday Siesta. Summary and analysis

Tuesday Siesta, a short story by Gabriel García Márquez published in 1962 as part of the collection The Funeral of Big Mama, narrates the journey of a mother and her daughter to a small town in intense heat. Dressed in mourning and with a serene attitude, they look for the priest to ask for the keys to the cemetery. In an atmosphere marked by the drowsiness of the siesta, the story shows how both women face the weight of social prejudice with dignity.

Gabriel García Márquez: Someone Has Been Disarranging These Roses

“Someone is messing with these roses” is a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1952 in Crónica and compiled in Ojos de perro azul (1974). It tells the story of a child’s spirit who tries every Sunday to pick roses to take to his grave. The flowers are grown by a devout woman who lives in the old house where he once lived. Through his silent observations, the intimate bond that unites them is revealed in a story filled with melancholy and a surreal atmosphere.