Strange Pilgrims

Which Latin American characters are most negatively impacted by their encounters with Europe? Which characters seem to thrive in this environment? What messages are sent by the differences between the two groups of characters?

Compare and contrast the story you find most influenced by magical realism with the story you find least influenced by this style. How does the presence or absence of elements of magical realism impact how each story conveys the larger themes of the collection as a whole?

García Márquez intended the stories in this collection to function as a unit, telling a larger story when read together. What aspects of the collection create cohesion among the stories and help them enlarge and comment on one another? What aspects of the collection fight against this aim?

The protagonists of the stories come from many different Latin American countries and widely varying circumstances, and they find themselves in a variety of European countries experiencing very different things. What thematic purposes does this variety serve?

What generalizations can be made about female characters in these stories, particularly when contrasted with male characters? Are there notable exceptions? What conclusions does the evidence support regarding the meaning of these characterizations?

What tonal variations do you see in the collection, and which stories most typify each of these tones? Does tone shift from story to story, or does it shift more gradually as the collection progresses? How do these shifts in tone support the collection’s overall meaning?

One notable characteristic of García Márquez’s work is its subtlety—much goes unsaid about character motivations, relationships between plot events, and so on. Choose a story that depends in part for its effectiveness on not only what is said but what is left unsaid. Explain how the spareness helps create the story’s effect.

Water and water proxies (light, soup, and so on) play an important role in several stories in the collection. What does water seem to signify? How does this significance support the meaning of the stories where water is featured?