Reflection on one’s life is a great deal of importance and the theme of Sabina Murray’s short story titled Balboa. This reflection includes the good and the bad, the accomplishments and the heinous crimes against life, along with the fleetingness of life. This theme develops with Balboa revisiting the memory of beginning his great expedition with the noble Pizarro brothers, Vespucci the scholar, and others. He recalls how he hoped his name would live on and be remembered. It builds upon memories of the mistakes he made during this journey. Together with this with the revelation that despite all he has done, all produce a complex account of his journey, a simple snake, jaguar, or even an insect in the jungle with him could end it all in moments.  

In Sabina’s story, Balboa is trekking up a mountain, which after making it a great deal of the way up Balboa would feast his eyes upon the Pacific Ocean. This story only covers a small portion of his trek up the mountain but it encompasses the most important moment when he sees the pacific ocean. During his journey up the mountain, he reflects on his life. Mainly his mistakes and the horrible crimes he committed against the natives of the land he was currently in. But at the end of this journey, he can bask in the glory of his expedition being completed with seeing the Pacific Ocean. 

Balboa had committed horrible crimes during his expedition to complete his mission. Occasionally thoughts of these acts would return. “Why take him to task when the world is a violent place? ‘May your most evil act be visited on you,’ said the monk. ‘I curse You’” (Murray 83). These are the words of a monk that cursed Balboa back in Darien because of the acts Balboa had committed. He didn’t exactly believe in the curse but the encounter and words did unsettle him from time to time. This is one moment when the theme is shaped. Balboa is revisiting the horrible things he did to deserve the curse from the monk in Darien, but to Balboa, these things he has done are seen as nothing more than acts that were required to get him where he wanted to be. 

One of the decisions that troubled Balboa the most was not the things he had done to the natives of the land. But that he had for once chosen not to kill someone and instead send them away. “What stupidity made him send the governor, Martín Fernández de Enciso, back to Spain? Enciso swore that he would have Balboa’s head on a platter.” (Murray 79) The decision to send away Martín Fernández de Enciso would be one that troubled him for quite some time. He knew that because he had not killed Enciso while he had the chance that Enciso would be back one day for Balboa’s head. This decision to let Enciso go would not be the cause of his death but it would keep him troubled for his days. This reflection of another questionable decision of his builds upon the revisiting of mistakes he has made along the journey. 

Sitting atop a boulder admiring the things he has done, Balboa recognizes that it could all be ended in seconds. Whether by the jaguar he encountered earlier in the story, a serpent he spotted in the bushes, or some other creature. “But here, on the slope of the mountain, his name does not seem worth that much. He has to relieve himself and is terrified that some creature—jaguar, snake, spider—will take advantage of his great heaving bareness.” (Murray 83) Balboa grasps with the fact that while he does have a reputation as the great Balboa, conquistador, explorer, and more, those titles do not mean anything nor will they protect him on the mountain. He comes to terms with his current solitude in the jungle during this journey up the mountain for a view of the sea he was first to reach.

With this writing, I determine that the theme of “Balboa” by Sabina Murray is a reflection of life. A main idea of this text is that despite all the amazing and or horrible things one can do. That no matter what reputation they may have or what worth their name or titles may hold that sometimes they are vulnerable to the world around them. That sometimes those reputations and titles will not protect them against certain aspects of life. 

Mcdougal, Holt. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Collections Grade 11. 2017th ed., McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 2021, pp. 77–83.