A Very Old Man with Enemous Wings
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a short story which seems at first to be simple, but after a person reads it several times, he finds it is not so simple because it combines realism with fantasy. It appears to have elements of magic, an odd “angel” comes to a family. Although, I have trouble seeing a definite moral to the story, there are several elements which I will discuss: plot, the main characters, and the setting.
The story begins with a husband and wife, Pelayo and Elisenda, who discovered a very old man in their courtyard one stormy afternoon. Amazed, they stare at the enormous wings attached to the body of the old man as he struggles to get up from the mud. The couples try to talk with the old man, but are unable to because he speaks a different language. A neighbor comes by and lets them know that the old man is an angel, who has come to take their sick child. Pelayo isn’t certain about what to do, so he decides to lock the angel in a chicken coop overnight. Early the next morning, the local priest, Father Gonzaga, comes to the home, along the rest of the community, to test the old man and determine whether or not he truly is an angel. In the last analysis, Father Gonzaga finds many reasons why the man cannot be an angel. He feels that the angel has too many mortal characteristics. As a parish priest, he feels an angel ought to understand the language of God, and should know how to greet the ministers of God in their dialect. Father Gonzaga also feels nothing about the man measured up to the proud dignity of an angel due to his unhealthy appearance.
Elisenda becomes tired of having so many people at her house, so she decides to charge an entrance fee to see the angel. The family became very rich, and they decided to build a mansion with the money they have collected. The crowd becomes disinterested in the angel after hearing and listening to other weird stories about those who had risen to fame in the past
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a short story which seems at first to be simple, but after a person reads it several times, he finds it is not so simple because it combines realism with fantasy. It appears to have elements of magic, an odd “angel” comes to a family. Although, I have trouble seeing a definite moral to the story, there are several elements which I will discuss: plot, the main characters, and the setting.
The story begins with a husband and wife, Pelayo and Elisenda, who discovered a very old man in their courtyard one stormy afternoon. Amazed, they stare at the enormous wings attached to the body of the old man as he struggles to get up from the mud. The couples try to talk with the old man, but are unable to because he speaks a different language. A neighbor comes by and lets them know that the old man is an angel, who has come to take their sick child. Pelayo isn’t certain about what to do, so he decides to lock the angel in a chicken coop overnight. Early the next morning, the local priest, Father Gonzaga, comes to the home, along the rest of the community, to test the old man and determine whether or not he truly is an angel. In the last analysis, Father Gonzaga finds many reasons why the man cannot be an angel. He feels that the angel has too many mortal characteristics. As a parish priest, he feels an angel ought to understand the language of God, and should know how to greet the ministers of God in their dialect. Father Gonzaga also feels nothing about the man measured up to the proud dignity of an angel due to his unhealthy appearance.
Elisenda becomes tired of having so many people at her house, so she decides to charge an entrance fee to see the angel. The family became very rich, and they decided to build a mansion with the money they have collected. The crowd becomes disinterested in the angel after hearing and listening to other weird stories about those who had risen to fame in the past