A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, By Gabriel García Márquez
Mysticism and Wings
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, just an “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. Gabriel García Márquez’s short story about an old man with wings has been said to begin the “magical realism” genre of stories (Rios, 2015). This is evident by the normal aspects of life the main characters, Pelayo and Elisenda, have. Their life changes, arguably for the better, once an old man with wings became stranded on their farm. The story begins with the average dismal day, and after an undisclosed amount of time, ends with a fantastic display that is not known in the world today. Márquez intertwines the realistic and the mystical to establish a story about magical realism.
Realism
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” provides a realism …show more content…
These characters range from the know-it-all neighbor woman who “knew everything about life and death” (Márquez, 1968, p. 590) who’s less than compassionate observation of the old man with wings, was to murder him in cold blood, to Father Gonzaga. Father Gonzaga, who is described as a former “robust woodcutter” (Márquez, 1968, p. 591) illustrates him as a fairly large and muscular man. Another aspect of realism that is rendered, is the general rabble of people who came to see the old man with wings. The general population appears to disregard the possibility of the old man with wings as not being an angel, but more a “circus animal” (Márquez, 1968, p. 591). Some of the acts described are tossing food at the captive man, tossing stones at him to wake him, and even prodding him with a hot branding iron to elicit a response (Márquez, 1968, p. 591-592). Scenes like this are what you expect to see when children are surrounding a caged animal they have never seen. These actions give a vivid description of what one may see when the group mentality of people engaging in something they do not understand takes over. Although this story has many attributes of the mundane, which lays the foundation and framework in which this story occurs, there are numerous passages of mysticism-interwoven
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, just an “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. Gabriel García Márquez’s short story about an old man with wings has been said to begin the “magical realism” genre of stories (Rios, 2015). This is evident by the normal aspects of life the main characters, Pelayo and Elisenda, have. Their life changes, arguably for the better, once an old man with wings became stranded on their farm. The story begins with the average dismal day, and after an undisclosed amount of time, ends with a fantastic display that is not known in the world today. Márquez intertwines the realistic and the mystical to establish a story about magical realism.
Realism
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” provides a realism …show more content…
These characters range from the know-it-all neighbor woman who “knew everything about life and death” (Márquez, 1968, p. 590) who’s less than compassionate observation of the old man with wings, was to murder him in cold blood, to Father Gonzaga. Father Gonzaga, who is described as a former “robust woodcutter” (Márquez, 1968, p. 591) illustrates him as a fairly large and muscular man. Another aspect of realism that is rendered, is the general rabble of people who came to see the old man with wings. The general population appears to disregard the possibility of the old man with wings as not being an angel, but more a “circus animal” (Márquez, 1968, p. 591). Some of the acts described are tossing food at the captive man, tossing stones at him to wake him, and even prodding him with a hot branding iron to elicit a response (Márquez, 1968, p. 591-592). Scenes like this are what you expect to see when children are surrounding a caged animal they have never seen. These actions give a vivid description of what one may see when the group mentality of people engaging in something they do not understand takes over. Although this story has many attributes of the mundane, which lays the foundation and framework in which this story occurs, there are numerous passages of mysticism-interwoven