A Very Old Man
with Enormous Wings by
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Known as the
literary explosion of the 1960s and a pioneer of the magical realism literary
movement, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a journalist, novelist, and short story
writer of Spanish American descent. He was born in Colombia in 1927 and passed
away in 2014; he was a journalist, novelist, and short story writer. His book
One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967, is a good example of magical
realism. Gabriel Garcia Marquez and magical realism are terms that are
frequently used interchangeably by readers. No One Writes to the Colonel
(1961), Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), Memories of my Melancholy Whores,
and other works by Marquez fall into the magical realism literary genre (2004).
The story ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ was first published in
1955 that has a magical realist story
and examines the human response to those who are weak, dependent, and
different. The story shows human nature-related curiosity, greed & cruelty
and also demonstrates Marquez's ability to tell a fairy tale or folk tale realistically while incorporating the magic of the angel.
Setting:
Physical Setting: The story may take place in 1930/1940 which begins at Friday noon such as on the third day of rain in a small village by the sea …the world had been sad since Tuesday. The light was so weak at noon…. The story ends several years later in the morning. On morning….When the child began school…. … the newborn child had a temperature all night.
Geographical
Setting: Pelayo and Elisenda’s courtyard is a Spanish country because of its name, small town, strongly ruled by Catholicism, and popular mythology and Importance.
Main Points
Ø
A
couple named Pelayo and Elisenda discovered a man with giant wings outside of
their home and assumed he was a homeless person. A poor guy named Pelayo went
outside to look at the elderly man with wings in his yard. The people in his
village believe that he is a fallen angel, while the priest believes that he
may be a representation of the devil. Getting advice from a nosy neighbor, the
old guy was thought to be an angel who had come to take his ailing son away.
Ø
Pelayo
placed the elderly guy into his chicken coop, where he drew notice from
passersby, including Father Gonzaga, a priest. Elisenda, Pelayo's wife,
eventually started charging people to see him, and as a result, they both
became wealthy. As time went on, people ultimately forgot about the winged guy
after a freak show diverted their attention away from the angel. About five
years later, the angel recovered his health and left Pelayo's home on his
wings.
Point of view: One character's perspective is
used to tell the story in the first person. Speaking in the second person, the
narrator addresses the audience. The narrator is not a character in the story
but has access to that character's thoughts; third person limited. A
third person only Since the narrator is not one of the characters yet has
access to every character's thoughts, the story is limited to the third person.
The third-person omniscient narrator is not one of the story's characters yet
has access to each one's ideas.
Theme
The supernatural
& hypocritical people:
Twice, the word "supernatural" is used. It is said that the towns are
pious. The word "wings" in the title suggests that a supernatural
theme could be included. The angel treated him in the same cold manner as the
other mortals. People flung stones at him, called him names, plucked his
feathers, and branded him with a hot iron before the compassionate Pelayo and
Elisenda took him in. As time goes on, they begin to feel less dread and more
compassion for the man. Father Gonzaga ought to have compassion for people, but
after concluding that the guy with wings is not an angel, he does nothing to
assist the needy man or lessen his pain.
Exclusion of those who are different: Elisenda, Pelayo & others
react cautionary to the angel and treat him like an animal because he is
different. Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with
his law officer club. … put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions
for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas……the whole
neighborhood…without the slightest respect, tossing him things to eat through
the openings in the wire as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus
animal.
People are selfish & exploit others: Elisenda and Pelayo continue to dislike the angel even after he or she helps them become extremely wealthy. When they renovate their home, they never even upgrade the chicken coop. When they learn that the angel cannot treat their illnesses or scars, people stop going to him. People listen to the spider's tragic tale out of self-interest and want to experience catharsis, yet this does nothing to help the spider. The angel is then used as a means of gain by Elisenda and Pelayo. People take advantage of the angel and the spider to amuse themselves.
Perception: Everyone had a different opinion of him. The neighbor believed him to be an angel. He appeared to be a sailor to Pelayo and Elisenda. The priest believed him to be a fraud.
Human vs. Angel: The elderly man or angel is frequently depicted as having human characteristics like being toothless and bald, but he also has these enormous wings that make him anything but human.
Prejudice:
He didn't speak
the language that an angel should speak or appear like, which led the priest to
believe that he was a fraud or imposter.
Symbol
Ø
Wings
are something that holds some sort of symbolic value in the story.
Ø
There
are some contrasts with the angel, using everyday objects and comparing the
beauty and ugliness in everyday life.
Ø
..which brought on a whirlwind of chicken
dung and lunar dust. The writer wants the reader to see the beauty in everyday
things,
Ø
The
angel may not look like that but he can still be something special, even if the
town doesn’t think so.
Ø
Next,
wings represent power, speed, and limitless freedom of motion.
Ø
In Christian tradition, angels are often
represented as beautiful winged figures.
Ø
Marquez shows such cultural symbolism because ironically, the wings of the angel in the story convey only a sense of
age and disease. Although the old man’s wings may be dirty, untidy & bare,
they are still magical enough to attract crowds of pilgrims and visitors.
Tone or Mood: What emotions does the writer or reader have regarding the topic they are reading or writing about? Keep in mind that word choice and diction affect tone and emotion.
Bleak Mood: For
instance, since Tuesday, the world has been depressing. The sands of the beach,
which on March nights shimmered like powdered light, had turned into a stew of
mud and decaying shellfish, and the sea and sky became a single ash-gray
entity. His bald skull had just a few fading hairs on it, and he had very few
teeth in his mouth. His pathetic state as a sodden great-grandfather removed
whatever sense of grandeur he may have had. His enormous buzzard wings were
stuck in the mud for all time, filthy and half-plucked.
Sympathetic Mood: For instance, the light was so
dim at noon that Pelayo struggled to see what was grunting and moaning in the
courtyard's back while he was returning to the house after disposing of the
crabs. He had to come quite close to notice that it was an elderly man—a very
elderly man—lying face down in the mud, unable to stand due to the size of his
gigantic wings. … He was being attacked by hens that were looking for the
cosmic parasites that were multiplying in his wings, and the cripples were
plucking out feathers. Even the most forgiving hurled stones at him to force him to stand so they could see him... His side was scorched by
an…
Conflict
Internal
conflict: Pelayo
and Elisenda are at odds because they are unsure of what to do with the angel.
Armed with his bailiff's club, Pelayo kept watching over him from the kitchen the
entire afternoon. They made the decision to abandon the angel to his fate by
placing him on a raft with food and water for three days. How to handle fallen
angels... Elisenda exhaled with relief for both him and her.
External
conflict: The
character is at odds with the environment, society, or another character. They
built a two-story mansion with balconies using the money they saved. The angel
would be discovered in the kitchen after being chased out of the bedroom with a
broom. the irritated and insane. Elisenda yelled that it was terrible to live
in the angel-filled hell.
people vs. the
angel: The angel
is ill-treated and unwanted as the other’…Hens pecked at him, searching for the
stellar parasites that proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out
feathers…even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise
so they could see him standing…they burned his side with an iron for branding.
It is awful living in a hell full of angels. No one understands the angel. He
spent most of his time trying to get comfortable…the hellish heat of the oil
lamps and sacramental candles...they tried to make him eat some mothballs…he
only lifted his antiquarian eyes and murmured something in his dialect.
The angel vs.
the spider: The
character is at odds with society, the environment, or another person. A
two-story mansion with balconies was built using the money they saved. With a
broom, they would chase the angel from the bedroom, only to discover him in the
kitchen, agitated and insane. Elisenda yelled that it was terrible to live in
the angel-filled hell.
Pelayo and
Elisenda vs. the crabs:
They killed so many crabs inside the home on the third day of rain that Pelayo
had to cross his soggy courtyard and dump them into the water because they
believed the baby's fever all night was brought on by the odor.
Character
Analysis
1.
The Old Man (the
Angel):
Ø
Protagonist
and an angel with enormous wings and finds himself facedown in the mud
of Pelayo’s courtyard at first in the story.
Ø
Apparently
he is there to take Pelayo’s sick child to heaven to heal the child
Ø
He
is knocked down in the storm and makes captive in Pelayo’s chicken coop for
years.
Ø
speaks a strange dialect & can’t understand the
locals.
Ø
His pathetic & mangy appearance makes him
a target for their mockery.
Ø
He’s treated like a circus animal
Ø
Pelayo
and his wife Elisenda take money from people to see him.
Ø
The
strange miracle he performs doesn’t impress anyone.
Ø
The
blind man grows three new teeth instead of regaining his sight.
Ø
Once the locals are tired of the angel, he
lives a sorry existence, maltreated, ignored, and considered only a nuisance.
Ø
He
bears his suffering with patience & grace from start to finish.
Ø
Finally,
he regains his strength & flies away.
2.
Pelayo:
Ø
He
is a married man with a newborn son & lives in a seaside town.
Ø
He finds the old man and accepts that he’s a
shipwrecked sailor.
Ø
Once
the neighbor corrects him, he locks the angel in his chicken coop
Ø
Abuses
the man who takes money to watch makes a lot of money & builds a big house.
Ø
Pelayo never profoundly changes as a person.
He is the same, simple and bitter man though he does not have many good
features,
Ø
Provides
the needs of life to his wife and child.
3.
Elisenda:
Ø
She
is Pelayo’s wife who is ordinary and concerned to manage.
Ø
She
has the idea of taking money to see the angel for the locals.
Ø
She’s
not satisfied with their new wealth, house, etc.
Ø
Indeed,
she sees the old man/angel with irritation.
Ø
As
the angel leaves, she has a sigh of relief.
Ø
Her
happiest moment in the story is probably when the admission money she and
Pelayo have accumulated allows her to buy some satin pumps with high heels and
expensive attires.
4.
The Neighbor Woman:
Ø
As Elisenda and Pelayo find the
old man, they go to the old lady next door for advice.
Ø
She
has a reputation for being wise, but she comes across as cruel and petty, and silly in her beliefs. She recognizes
that the old man might be an angel
Ø
she
says that angels are fugitive survivors of a celestial conspiracy.
5.
The Child:
Ø
Pelayo
and Elisenda’s newborn ill son become healthy in the end.
Ø
He is innocent and doesn’t treat the angel
with disdain.
Ø
He
is quite happy to go inside the chicken coop to play.
Ø
The child and the angel are somehow linked but
he has no voice in the story.
6.
Father Gonzaga
Ø
Hapless priest who is brought in to examine
the angel.
Ø
A
religious figure who has no charity and empathy for the wretched angel.
Ø
Through
the character of Father Gonzaga, Marquez ridicules the Catholic church
suggesting that the church is more occupied with bureaucracy and internal
backbiting than with the work of charity & empathy:
7.
The Spider Woman:
Ø
Minor
character who has the body of a tarantula (large) & the head of a fair
maiden.
Ø
She has a simple story to express family
tragedy because people recognize her more than the angel,
Ø
She
becomes a more popular attraction in town though she is physically less
humanlike.
Imagery
Imagery
occurs when there is so much description/figurative language that the audience
can see, hear, smell, taste or feel what the speaker is describing. From the
story:
Ø
He
awoke with a start, ranting in his hermetic language and with tears in his
eyes, and he flapped his wings a couple of times, which brought on a whirlwind
of chicken dung. With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion with
balconies and gardens and high netting so that crabs wouldn’t get in during the
winter, and with iron bars on the windows so that angels wouldn’t get
in…Elisenda bought some satin pumps with high heels and many dresses of
iridescent silk…the chicken coop was the only thing that didn’t receive any
attention. If they washed it down with Creolin and burned tears of myrrh inside
it every so often, it was not in homage to the angel but to drive away the
dung-heap stench that still hung everywhere like a ghost.
Ø
Sea
and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March
nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten
shellfish. Then he noticed that seen close up he was much too human: he had an
unbearable smell of the outdoors, the back side of his wings was strewn with
parasites and his main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds, and
nothing about him measured up to the proud dignity of angels.
Magical
Realism with Open-ended conclusion
ü
Magic
realism is a literary or artistic genre in which realistic narrative and
naturalistic technique are combined with surreal or dreamlike elements of dream
or fantasy. No explanation is given for the magical being & realistic
description of the magical being.
ü
In
the story, instead of telling the audience that they are selfish, hypocritical,
selfish individuals who fear anyone different, Marquez chose to show the
audience a magical character that we could connect to feel sympathy for.
This allows the audience to take the preferences they may already have out of the
calculation and focus on the message of the story. An example of magic realism
is, “He had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man,
lying face down in the mud, who, despite his tremendous efforts, couldn't
get up, impeded by his enormous wings.” The next example of magic realism can be,
“Against the judgment of the wise neighbor woman, for whom angels in those
times were the fugitive survivors of a spiritual conspiracy, they did not have
the heart to club him to death.”
Summary
The story tells us about Pelayo and his
wife Elisenda, who find an old man with wings in their courtyard after killing
crabs in a rainstorm. Pelayo & his wife try to talk to him unsuccessfully.
They finally get their neighbor woman, who informs them that the old man is an
angel who tells them that it was on its way for their sick child. They put the
angel in the chicken coop, & during the middle of the night, their child's
fever breaks. They decide to let him go but when they return to the courtyard
at dawn the entire community has arrived to see the angel. Father Gonzaga soon
arrives, declaring that the old man is a fake. He promises to get the real
truth from the higher courts of the church. The news of the angel spreads like
wildfire, & the courtyard soon resembles a marketplace. Elisenda then has
the idea of charging a 5-cent admission fee for seeing the angel; they are soon
rich. Rome takes its time deciding on whether the old man is an angel, and while
waiting for their verdict, Father Gonzaga works desperately to restrain the
crowd. The crowd leaves on its own when a carnival boasting a Spider-Girl arrives in town. Spectators are allowed to question her, and she tells them how
she was turned into a tarantula one night for disobeying her parents. This
appeals to the crowds more than an old-winged man who ignores the people around
him. So, the curious crowds soon leave the angel for the spider, leaving
Pelayo's courtyard deserted. Pelayo and Elisenda build a mansion with all the
money they have accumulated. They neglect the angel and prevent their child
from getting too close to the chicken coop. He soon becomes a part of their
life, and they no longer fear him. The child visits him often. After a while, the chicken coop breaks, and they allow him to move around their house,
although it causes Elisenda much distress. He gets increasingly frail and
sickly, and they fear that he will die. He recovers & one-day Elisenda
watches him fly away, to her great relief.
Key Quotations
“Frightened by
that nightmare, Pelayo ran to get Elisenda, his wife, who was putting
compresses on the sick child, and he took her to the rear of the courtyard.”
-Pelayo’s first reaction to the supernatural
was just that it was not real and that it was all just a nightmare.
“He was dressed
like a rag-picker. There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and
very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched
great-grandfather took away any sense of grandeur he might have had. His huge
buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked were forever entangled in the mud.”
-This quote shows
that even though the fallen being is an angel, he has human qualities opposite
of what you would associate with a heavenly figure.
“Her only
nourishment came from the meatballs that charitable souls chose to toss into
her mouth. A spectacle like that, full of so much human truth and with such a
fearful lesson, was bound to defeat without even trying that of a haughty angel
who scarcely deigned to look at mortals.”
-This quote that
even though the spider woman is a magical being like the angel, she receives nearly
as much attention as he does because he is associated with God.