"Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon": A Tale of Class, Greed, and Pride in Conflict

We have the theme of generosity and greed, pride, rich and poor, conflict, the lack of love between a couple, and the theme of solitude in Balthazar’s Marvelous Afternoon. The main character, Balthazar, is a poor artisan who makes cages to earn his living. He is not fan of rich people; he dislikes them, and he feels uneasy with them. In the story, it is implied that he has an attitude towards them. But the reason why he dislikes them is not because he envies them; he pities them, even. We can say that he is a humble man since when he is complimented he doesn’t let it go to his head and brag. He is also an intelligent man since he tricks everyone into thinking that he could sell his cage to José for sixty pesos. Balthazar is loyal to the customer, and he is very strict about his work ethics. He is a generous man.

While Balthazar is not a greedy person, we cannot say the same for his concubine, Ursula. In fact, she is like an embodiment of greed. She tries to convince him to sell the cage for more pesos, she does not think that the amount of money he was charging for the cage is not enough at all. The relationships between two of them show that they have almost no love for each-other. Even though they live together approximately four years, they are not married, and while reading the story we find ourselves thinking “Does she even deserve marriage?” Their relationship is not equal.

Another important character in the story is José Montiel, he is an arrogant, greedy, rich, fat and also very hairy man. He is also very short-tempered and gets really angry when he hears that his son, Pepe, has ordered the cage without his consent, we can see that he is harsh on his family. Even though he is rich, he is really ungenerous, while Balthazar is poor, but generous. How opposed Balthazar –who represents the lower class people while Montiel represents the upper class people – is to José’s way of life is hard to miss as he even gives the cage to Pepe as a present.

Another example of greed comes from Dr. Octavio Giraldo, who has aesthetic taste and wants Balthazar to sell the cage to him. His greed takes its form with “… There’s no proof that this one is the one you were asked to make” line. He is being greedy by wanting something wasn’t meant for him, even though he wants it for his sickly wife who adores birds.

The story also shows us how easily a person can change. One moment we read about a man who does not care about money, and near the end, we find ourselves reading about a drunk, arrogant man who "wanted to lie down with two women in the same bed." and who lies to people.

In the story, there is also the theme of pride as Marquez tries to teach us a lesson about it; even the poorest man can be ruined by his own pride. We can see that Balthazar let his pride blurred his vision and therefore his good deed loses its meaning. For example, he is too proud to give in to the Dr. Giraldo, too proud to bow down to José, and too proud to go back to the doctor. Also by the end, he is too proud "to abandon the happiest dream of his life." When he is in the pool hall drinking , he has excessive pride. Balthazar does not want to let others see that he has been beaten by José who refused to pay for the cage. Because of his pride, he wants to be seen as the victor.

Balthazar is in conflict with himself since he has never been drunk before and he begins to have some ideas which does not sound like his sober self. He does not sound like a humble man when he is drunk; he has grandiose ideas when he is drunk. He spends the afternoon living an illusion; spending money as if he is a rich man. Just like José, which is ironic because he does not like rich people.

The cage is a significant symbol as it symbolizes the work of art. It evokes astonishment and pleasure in all who sees it -except for José, he is completely insensitive to beauty and he is the only one in the story who is not awestruck by the beauty of the cage- As the Dr. Giraldo says: “This is a flight of imagination.”

It also may be representing the oppression of the poor, because in selling the cage, Balthazar is given the illusion of freedom; so he enjoys a marvelous afternoon living like a rich man.

In the story, theme of solitude is portrayed as at the end of the story, Balthazar lies down in the street, looking like he is dead. However, no one tries to help him or even asks what has happened to him. Even women walking to the church do not bother to help.