The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Religion has been the beacon of hope that people have looked towards during times of distress, being one of the largest influences in the world. It also has been the moral compass for people worldwide. However, the mystery of religion has left people unsatisfied in the world today, frustrated that they can’t get the clear answers they seek. Because of the rising thirst for knowledge, people disregard their religion as merely a show and in turn leave their faith in exchange for sources that have more clarity. This idea is spread to the future generations, leaving faith farther behind in the past. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”, illustrates the slowly dying relationship between man and religion by utilizing the reaction of the people towards the angel’s imagery and the manipulation of people’s faith. Through this, Marquez is stating that religion is aged and in the end, only a setback to the people involved in faith. An angel is clean, beautiful, youthful, but Marquez, however, corrupts this image to indicate the dying image of religion itself. Once Pelayo and his wife find the angel, they “very soon came over their surprise and in the end found him familiar,” indicating the lack of awe for the angel (Marquez 1). The diction that Marquez uses here illustrates the lack of wonder, avoiding words that show respect for the angel and instead describing him as a mere surprise that they soon came over. This lack of awe already initiates the distant relationship between man and religion. Furthermore, the familiarity that Pelayo and Elisenda have for the angel humanizes it into an average person of equal importance, instead of this amazing messenger of god that has come with a blessing. Along with the lack of admiration that Pelayo and Elisenda have for the angel, the decaying image of the angel, described as a, “rag picker [… with] only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth,” represents the