"While reading Balthazar's Prodigious Afternoon, I remembered that Balthazar was the name of one of the three biblical magi. Although there are no apparent or specific biblical allusions within this text, there is a definite connection that can be created between the Balthazar in this story and the Balthazar of the bible.
The Biblical Magi, or The Three Wise Men, visit Jesus when he is born and bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Often in nativity scenes, the three wise men are depicted. There is symbolism behind what the three wise men give Jesus. The gold symbolizes his kingship or his royal status, the frankincense symbolizes his divine status or priestly role and the myrrh was given to represent that he too would die one day. The symbolism behind these three gifts has long been debated but these seem to be rather common interpretations.
Balthazar in Balthazar's Prodigious Afternoon bears a gift just as The Three Wise Men do. Initially the cage was not meant to be a gift but rather a consumer good. However, Balthazar offers the gift to Montiel's son, Pepe, because it would hurt his reputation. The symbol of the cage differs however from the symbols of the three gifts of the Three Wise Men. Within this story, the cage is meant to symbolize the oppression of the poor. It has a rather negative connotation or symbolic meaning rather than positive as the three gifts are."
My response:
"What interesting comparisons! However, while reading “Balthazar’s Prodigious Afternoon,” I didn’t think that Balthazar gave the cage to Pepe as a gift because otherwise his reputation would be hurt (or do you mean it would hurt Montiel’s reputation?), but rather because he was generous and genuinely wanted Pepe to stop being so upset. He didn’t have a problem giving away the cage for free because he wasn’t greedy; in the beginning of the story, he didn't want more than twenty pesos for it, let alone sixty. Anyway, if Balthazar gave this gift because he was generous, then I think it fits your analogy better: the three wise men were simply generous as well."
(http://elenalatinamerica.blogspot.com/2014/03/blog-9-balthazar-and-biblical-magi.html?showComment=1395006461015)
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