Balthazar Essay, Research Paper

Balthazar??s Marvelous Afternoon

( Why didn??t Balthazar receive the money?)

?? Balthazar??s Marvelous

Afternoon ??, written by Gabrial Garcia Marquez, is a

story about a birdcage and a poor carpenter,

Balthazar. In the story, Balthazar made a beautiful

birdcage that was commissioned by Pepe, the son of a

rich man, Jose Montiel. However, when the carpenter

took it to the boy, his father refused to pay and

rather said to sell it other people. Although

Balthazar got really angry, he gave the cage to Pepe

as a present. At the end of the story, he told

townpeople that he got much money from the rich man

and bought everyone cerebratory drinks. Then, why

didn??t Balthazar receive the money.

First, he had no intention of

money when making beautiful cage. In the story, he was

accustomed to making and creating cage since

childhood. So when Pepe ordered a cage, he could make

small cage just quickly rather than create big and

beautiful cage for two weeks; ( p 381, ll 45~50).

Also, if he was interested in earning the money, he

would not even start to work on the cage only by

commission of the little boy because he couldn??t be

sure whether he can get money or not. However,

Balthazar was a artist rather than a common carpenter.

What he really wanted as making the cage was to make

the little boy happier.

Secondly, he felt mean and

dirty about rich man??s money. In this story, the cage

was splendid and beautiful as much as news of its

beauty had spreaded even before he finished the cage.

So even though a doctor insisted on buying that cage,

he didn??t sell it because he made only for Pepe. But

Pepe??s father treated Balthazar like a sly merchant

but praised its beauty;(p 384, ll 45~50). So,

Balthazar thought that if he received money for the

cage, it was to exchange his creative beautiful cage,

in other word his pride, with dirty and mean money.

Finally, in the story,

Balthazar was not a realist. Although money is not all

in the life, it is very difficult to live in our real

society without money. However the main character

didn??t care about money. Probably, it is because he

had no complete family. Even though he had a wife, he

was living with her without marrying and having baby.

That is, he felt less responsible to earn money than

common married man. Usually, our parents want to earn

the money as much as possible just for their children

and family, not for themselves. Throughout their long

lives and their real socity, they have learned that

money is necessary to survive and that is the reality

that they can??t avoid. However, here Balthazar felt

not so much responsible and keeping his pride and

making artwork was more important.

In conclusion, at the end of

the story, why Balthazar didn??t receive money was

because he wanted to give him just gift and he didn??t

want to sell his pride to dirty money. Moreover, in

this story, because he didn??t feel responsible for

making money, he didn??t receive money.