In the short story, Gabriel García Márquez uses complex characters in order to portray the culture of the story. The author shows that the old woman and her daughter are poor by showing their social position. “’You’d better close the window,’ the woman said. ‘Your hair will get full of soot.’ The girl tried to, but the shade wouldn’t move because of the rust. They were the only passengers in the lone third‐class car.” (Marquez 1) Even though they are third class citizens they still have respect for the way they present themselves. The two also don’t want to be looked down or look weak. “’If you feel like doing anything, do it now,’ said the woman. ‘Later, don’t take a drink anywhere even if you’re dying of thirst. Above all, no crying.’” (Marquez 2) This shows that the old woman doesn’t want to appear weak by crying or depending on others for nourishment. The old woman shows that she has mixed feelings about her son. “’I told him never to steal anything that anyone needed to eat, and he minded me. On the other hand, before, when he used to box, he used to spend three days in bed, exhausted from being punched.’’All his teeth had to be pulled out,’ interrupted the girl. ’That’s right,’ the woman agreed. “Every mouthful I ate those days tasted of the beatings my son got on Saturday nights.” (Marquez 4) While being a thief was bad it was better than her son being beat, in able to feed his family. The old woman and her daughter have self-respect as well as respect for their deceased son/brother.
In Tuesday Siesta, Gabriel García Márquez uses culture to show how people are repected based on social status, occupation, or financial income. In the setting of this story, people of different social statuses can’t even sit with each other. “They were the only passengers in the lone third‐class car” (Marquez 1). They had to sit in a completely different car just because they are in a lower class. The old woman and daughter were told to come back later. “He says you should come back after three,” she said in a very low voice. “He just lay down five minutes ago.”(Marquez 3) If they were someone of high social status or importance of the church, the priest would have immediately stopped his nap. The priest frowns upon the mother of a thief. “He’s the thief who was killed here last week,” said the woman in the same tone of voice. “I am his mother.”The priest scrutinized her.”(Marquez 4). The priest shows that he has strong dislike of thieves and chews out the old woman. Tuesday Siesta, by Gabriel García Márquez, tackles the theme of respect by using complex characters and culture. The author uses these characters because they strive to be strong and be more than this society sees them as. They stay strong and have self-respect even though this culture frowns upon them. They conquer the obstacles in their way to pay respects to their deceased loved one. You should read this book that shows the social struggles that are overcame by this family, to show that anything is possible.