Shelby's Analysis of "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"

Shelby Nelson
Honors Writing 150
9 March 2012

A Very Strange Tale with Enormous Questions


Viewed by many as one of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century, Gabriel García Márquez does not disappoint in his short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. As a Nobel Prize winner in literature, Márquez is well acquainted with the art of drawing his audience in with his unique storyline while simultaneously prompting them to search for deeper meanings beneath his written word. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” achieves this by hooking the reader with its world of magical realism and then revealing the themes or motifs, such as how the presence of cruelty seems to be overpowering that of compassion as well as how superficial humankind can be.

In the literary world, unbeknownst to the average reader, Gabriel García Márquez’s name is synonymous with the term magical realism. As evidenced in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, he flawlessly incorporates the fantastic into a seemingly every day narrative, lending his stories a fairytale-like quality. Márquez sets that mood from the very beginning of his story with the light hearted words “On the third day of rain...” which function as his own “Once upon a time…” of sorts and prompt the audience to comfortably immerse themselves in the story. Throughout the rest of the work, similar language, such as “nights glimmered like powdered light”, is used to continue the whimsical mood. A bit of whimsy is just what the more “normal” parts of the story needs. Otherwise, things could become quite depressing following the life of a poverty stricken, crab plagued family with an ill child. Unless one counts the decrepit and aged man with wings that falls from the sky and into their backyard. That is when Márquez really starts going above and beyond the call of making our reality coexist with the miraculous. Supposedly, any normal couple would suffer full-fledged panic attacks at the sight of a winged man (or possibly angel) showing up in their yard. But in Márquez’s world, they “very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him familiar.” Evidently, an angel falling from the sky is accepted, but does not occur on a regular basis. Later on, the reader learns of a woman with the body of a tarantula, adding an additional crossover between the fantastic and the realistic.

Now, after enticing his audience with a magical and yet applicable world, Gabriel García Márquez commences to hint at the not-too-obvious themes or motifs. The first one being that cruelty, not compassion, is second nature to the characters can be considered parallels of Marquez’s own audience. For instance, rather than immediately tend to the obviously ill old man, the couple leaves him in the mud as they go and ask the “all-knowing” neighbor for advice. Thankfully, the couple “did not have the heart to club him to death”, but came to the decision that they would send him off with a raft and maybe three days’ worth of supplies. Sure, they are no longer bordering on man (or angel) slaughter, but their solution is not exactly the most benevolent of options. Drawing the comparison to those in the world of the reader, Márquez seems to be calling out society as a whole, saying that when it comes to service or compassion, society endeavors to involve themselves as little as possible if there is no direct personal benefit. Only when there is the possibility of making a profit from gawking spectators does the couple deem it necessary to put the angel up in their anything but comfortable chicken coop. Moving on to the gawking spectators, one would think that someone would feel enough guilt to stand up for the poor, caged angel. Instead, they taunt him, pelt him with rocks and spoiled food, and prod at him with a cattle brand; hardly neighborly actions. At first glance, it appears that no one is capable of compassion, but every once in a while there are brief moments of kindness. Such as Pelayo (the husband) when he “watched over [the angel] all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff's club” the first night, in fear that someone else would do as his “all-knowing” neighbor’s advised and do away with the old man. This could easily be the point Márquez is trying to make the audience grasp: that compassionate acts are all the more distinctive because they happen on rare occasion.

A second underlying motif or theme in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is how humankind is characterized as extremely base or superficial. Unfortunately, there are easily drawn parallels to society here as well. Returning to the gawking spectators, all those nosey neighbors seem to having nothing better to do than find entertainment at the expense of others. The people have an almost unholy joy in “having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if weren't a supernatural creature but a circus animal.” There is an ill, ragged, and winged old man holed up in a caged habitat and the people look to him for the basest form of entertainment: exploiting another’s misfortune. The situation is repeated when the new “entertainment” arrives in town. A woman who had disobeyed her parents as a child was punished by her body turning into that of a giant tarantula. The gawking spectators were more than happy to “ask her all manner of questions about her absurd state and to examine her up and down so that no one would ever doubt the truth of her horror.” In other words, so they could all boast about seeing and talking to the freaky spider girl and revel in her misfortune. When looking at society, once again outside of Márquez’s story, it does not differ too much from the gawking spectators. A large amount of what people deem as entertainment focuses on or exploits the misfortune of others. It seems that society finds comfort and even happiness in the thought that someone else’s life is much worse than their own. Márquez indicates that parallel perfectly within his story.

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is definitely a very unique story. It is with such a unique, magical realism story that Gabriel García Márquez is able subtly convey themes involving the foils of mankind to his audience. His story invites the reader to search for those deeper aspects within the text and try applying them to their own lives. Whether they discover that they should strive to be more compassionate, avoid being stereotypically superficial individuals, or do not read anything into the writing, the audience will undoubtedly enjoy Márquez’s superb skills as one of the best storytellers of the twentieth century.