"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"

Paper Summary:

Garcia Marquez's short story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," uses the archetypal pattern of the fantastical, or mystical, to convey a serious message about mankind. The theme of the supernatural, or magical, is no doubt an important element of the story, driving the plot of the story; however the plot becomes the primary focus because of how the townspeople behave in this story. The paper shows that while we find the fantastical in the winged creature, we also find that Marquez allows the plot to focus not so much on the creature, but the attitudes of the townspeople that he encounters. As the story progresses, we see a negative aspect of humanity depicted in this tale. The paper explains that the townspeople are close-minded and cannot seem to get beyond their preconceived notions of what an angel should be. This paper concludes that through this inability to accept the fact that they are in the midst of something phenomenal, they only view the creature as something of a freak or fraud and, as a result, miss the miracle before them.

From the Paper:

"Interestingly, the angel, as miraculous as he is, makes no positive impact on the people. They are never willing to accept him for what he is and would rather ignore him than try to figure out what he is and what he means to do for them. It is easier to ignore him and go on with their little lives with an angel locked up in the chicken coop. We are told that Elisenda shouts "that it was awful living in that hell full of angels" (419). Here we see that she may believe that he is indeed an angel but completely unaware of what to do about it. In short, the miracle becomes a nuisance. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Faulkner, Tom. "An overview of "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." Exploring Short Stories, GALE Resource Database. 1998. http://wwwinfotrac.com>
• Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. Bain, Carl, et al, eds. 1991. pp. 415-9.
• McFarland, Ronald. "Community and Interpretive Communities in Short Stories by Hawthorne, Kafka, and Garcia Marquez." Studies in Short Fiction. 1992. Vol. 29. EBSCO Resource Database. Site Accessed April 03, 2006. < http://search.epnet.com>

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