23 pages • 46 minutes read
Gabriel García MárquezA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
García Márquez names Balthazar for one of the biblical New Testament’s trio of wise kings, who are guided by a star to deliver gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold to Christ at the site of his birth. However, García Márquez complicates the story’s religious pattern in that Balthazar does not intend to simply bring a gift to a child; initially, he intends to receive recompense for his labor. In another modern change, the recipients of Balthazar’s gift are not holy or even pleasant—José Montiel is penny-pinching and harsh, and his son Pepe appears to be both abused and spoiled. These twists set the trajectory for Balthazar’s character arc, setting the stage for the major gesture of Balthazar’s story, a dramatic turn of fortune followed quickly by the reversal of that fortune and a fall.
Throughout the story, Balthazar is a morally incorruptible figure, set apart from the villainous Montiel by his generosity and even temperament. The omniscient narrator praises Balthazar for his forthrightness and notes that he wears white for the procession to the home of the Montiels. Ursula also likens Balthazar to a monk when she advises him, “You have to shave [.
By Gabriel García Márquez
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
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Death Constant Beyond Love
Death Constant Beyond Love
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Eyes of a Blue Dog
Eyes of a Blue Dog
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In Evil Hour
In Evil Hour
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Innocent Erendira
Innocent Erendira
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Leaf Storm
Leaf Storm
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Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera
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Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
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News of a Kidnapping
News of a Kidnapping
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No One Writes To The Colonel
No One Writes To The Colonel
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Of Love And Other Demons
Of Love And Other Demons
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
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One Of These Days
One Of These Days
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Strange Pilgrims
Strange Pilgrims
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The Autumn of the Patriarch
The Autumn of the Patriarch
Gabriel García Márquez, Transl. Gregory Rabassa
The General in His Labyrinth
The General in His Labyrinth
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The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
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The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
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