Category: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” In the short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” the author, Gabriel Marquez, makes an effort to show the reader many different lessons that could be learned in life. The attribute of mercy stands out as one of the themes that the author intended to teach the audience. He has a unique style of writing, the ability to show the reader something they did not know either about themselves or about others. He is known for the genre of magical realism and typically writes in third person omniscient. In this particular story, the reader is introduced to a small family who has a sick baby. Before Marquez gives too many details about the family, a strange new character is introduced, a very old man with enormous wings. It is not clear who the man is or why he is in their yard, but the neighbor suspects that he is an angel come to heal their baby. People travel hundreds of miles and pay admission to see the angel locked up in a chicken coop. The “angel” sacrificed his pride and freedom so the family could be better off than they were before. Marquez highlights mercy through characterization, symbolism, and conflict proving that true mercy demonstrates compassion towards others regardless of their response.

The first way that Marquez displays mercy is through characterization. The entire visualization of the old man with large wings is mercy. He is pictured through an internal aspect, completely defined by his actions. They put him in a chicken coop, but their child was healed anyway. “Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club, and before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. In the middle of the night, when the rain stopped, Pelayo and Elisenda were still killing crabs. A short time afterward the child woke up without a fever and with a desire to eat” (Marquez par. 4.) They charge the community money to come see him, and he sits in the chicken coop, taking all of the looks and things thrown at him with grace. They brand him and considered clubbing him, but he continues to sit there so that the family in poverty could get back on their feet.

Both the husband and the wife showed mercy in spots of the story. For example, when the old man is stuck in the mud at the beginning, Pelayo helps to pull him out and allows him to stay in the chicken coop with the chickens. “Before going to bed he [Pelayo] dragged him [the old man with wings] out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop” (Marquez par. 4). Despite the fact that the “angel” scared the family at the beginning, they showed him enough mercy to give him shelter. The wife, Elisenda, lets him stay in the house after the chicken coop falls apart, but quickly gets irritated with him for being in the way. “He seemed to be in so many places at the same time that they grew to think that he’d be duplicated, that he was reproducing himself all through the house, and the exasperated and unhinged Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in that hell full of angels.” ( Marquez par. 12).

The second way that the author shows mercy is through symbols. Once again, the “angel” is a symbol of humility and mercy continually throughout the story. Also throughout the plot the reader sees that the couple’s child shows mercy without knowing it. He was not afraid to play and talk to the old man, and did not see him as a monster. “At first, when the child learned to walk, they were careful that he not get too close to the chicken coop. But then they began to lose their fears and got used to the smell, and before they child got his second teeth he’d gone inside the chicken coop to play, where the wires were falling apart. The angel was no less standoffish with him than with the other mortals, but he tolerated the most ingenious infamies with the patience of a dog who had no illusions” (Marquez par. 10). The chicken coop symbolizes the old man’s lack of freedom, which is ironic since his wings symbolize power. Another symbol in this story is the storm at the beginning. The storm can symbolize change, which was definitely true for this story, as the family would never be the same again. “The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish” (Marquez par. 1).

Finally, Marquez shows mercy through imagery. The wings of the very old man are a picture of his mistreatment from the family and the community. “Especially during the first days, when the hens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers to touch their defective parts with, and even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing” (Marquez par. 8). The conditions of his wings mirrors the condition that people have been treating him. By clearly painting this image, the author better exemplifies the leniency shown by the old man for the townspeople.

In conclusion, Gabriel Marquez uses many different literary techniques to show the characteristic of mercy throughout this story. He does a phenomenal job of showing different attitudes throughout the story, and letting the reader pick and choose what they would like to get out of it. In the end, the main points of mercy are shown through characterization, s

The brief summary of the story entitled, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings the story tells, of Pelayo and his wife Elisenda, who locate an ancient man with wings in their courtyard after killing crabs in a very rainstorm. Pelayo gets his wife, and that they attempt to talk with him unsuccessfully. They ultimately get their neighbor woman, who informs them that the old man is an angel. She tells them that it absolutely was once on its way for his or her poor health child.

They put the angel within the rooster coop, and through the middle of the night their child’s fever breaks. They arrange to let him go, but once they return to the courtyard at dawn the whole neighborhood has arrived to work out the angel. Father Gonzaga soon arrives, declaring that the historic man could be a fake. He promises to induce the 000 truth from the greater courts of the church. the data of the angel spreads like wildfire, and therefore the courtyard soon resembles a marketplace. Elisenda then has the concept of charging a 5-cent price of admission for seeing the angel; they’re soon rich. Rome takes its time determining whether the old man is an angel, and while awaiting their verdict, Father Gonzaga works desperately to restrain the group.

The crowd leaves on its own, however, when a carnival boasting a Spider-Girl arrives in town. Spectators are allowed to question her, and she or he tells them how she grew to become a tarantula one evening time for disobeying her parents. This appeals to the masses greater than a historical-winged man who ignores the people around him. Thus, the curious crowds quickly escape the angel for the spider, leaving Pelayo’s courtyard deserted.

Pelayo and Elisenda build a mansion with all the money they need accumulated. They neglect the angel and forestall their baby from reaching to shut the rooster coop. He quickly turns into part of their life, and they now not worry about him. The kid visits him often. After a whilst the coop breaks, and that they allow him to cross around their house, though it motives Elisenda plenty of distress. He becomes increasingly more frail and sickly, and they worry that he will die. He recovers, however, and sooner or later Elisenda watches him fly away, to her tremendous relief.

‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ by Gabriel García Márquez and ‘Life of Pi’, directed by Ang Lee, delve into the human response to weakness and the supernatural as well as the primacy of survival. Religion is a focal point in both works, they look at how the belief in the divine can be either evil or act as a means of survival. Through religion, the two works highlight the ugly truth that is the desperation and cruelty of people when confronted with challenging situations. The use of magical realism in these two works links the supernatural to the human experience.

In ‘Life of Pi’, the main character – Pi, is raised by an atheist father who strictly believes in science and a mother who is a devoted Hindu. He grows up in internal conflict, he doesn’t seem to know what he should follow, so he decides to extend his faith and becomes a Hindu, Christian, and Muslim while also believing in science. When stranded in the ocean with no one but a Bengal tiger, religion is one of the few things that gives him hope. However, as time goes by, he begins to question God, wondering why he is going through all this hardship. And as his faith in God weakens, so does his will to live. Religion starts off as a lifeline for Pi until the storm scene. At first it seems as if he’s gone mad, yelling ‘Praise be to God, Lord of all worlds, the compassionate, the merciful’ in joy despite being in a life-threatening situation. It isn’t until he sees Richard Parker, a mighty animal of the jungle cowering in fear, that he is brought back to his senses. His trust in God turns into hatred as he begins to ‘Why are you scaring him? I have lost my family, I’ve lost everything! What more do you want?’. Through Pi’s perspective, this scene focuses on how religion, something so holy, can turn sour in a matter of seconds when people are confronted by challenging situations.

Religion in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings plays a completely different role. It is used to show that religion is not necessarily good and can often be corrupt. When the old man is found, instead of rejoicing to have been blessed with a divine being, the villagers lock him up for personal gain. Rather than helping the angel, they make a profit out of this situation, charging anyone who wishes to see him. Márquez explores the corruption and hypocrisy within the Church.

The narrator in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children” uses using characters’ logic for crucial determinants, creating false assumptions, and misleading who the angel really is. The false interpretation implied by the characters redefines and shapes the overall view of the angel as a wild creature. Although the use of similes, imagery, and logos by the author helps convey a tale for children, using logic and assumptions, helps determine every incorrect idea each character has about the angel.

Pelayos quickly assumes the fallen angel in the courtyard is a sailor by using logos to back his idea up. Pelayos believes the angel is a sailor due to its “strong sailor voice” (1). He quickly assumes by using the logic of why the angel is entangled in the mud, believing his logical reasoning. “That was how they skipped over the inconvenience of the wings and quite intelligently concluded that he was a lonely castaway from some foreign shipwreck by the storm” (1). By using the words “skipped over” and “intelligently concluded”, clearly hints at how the use of logos is applied in the tale because that was the reason to believe the angel was a sailor without any other evidence to prove he was. Father Gonzaga also has a mutual way like Pelays, and others, of quickly assuming his claim about the angel. “ He reminded them that the devil had the bad habit of making use of carnival tricks in order to confuse the unwary”(2) The audience, in the tale, has a tendency to logically believe in Father Gonzaga because he logical reasons and connects the idea that the angel is the development using a carnival trick. The use of logos makes every claim aimed towards the angel believable, redefining who the angel is. The assumption redefines the idea of what an angel is to be but is the complete opposite.

The author portrays and depicts information by using similes and imagery. The similes create a good image of how, for example, the angel looks stuck in the mud. “He was dressed like a ragpicker” (1). This clearly creates an image of how the angel was viewed creating support for the logical reasons the author used to make the audience believe the author’s logic. The use of similes slowly builds on the idea of how the angel is interpreted to be and also the conditions. “As if weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal” (1) The author pictures a clear idea of how the angel looks in the chicken coop making the audience notice, and display why it was logical to believe he is not an angel, the conditions and the concrete details of his state of being by making the angel to be dehumanized completely. “At the pitiful man who looked more like a huge decrepit hen among the fascinate chickens.” (2) This is another example of how the human qualities of the angel have been stripped away, creating a negative image for the angel, allowing the bad logical reasons to be accepted. The similes also eliminate the stereotype of how an angel’s original appearance is, but in this tale, the author creates a bad image for the angel, allowing the use of these similes to give a bad impression of the angel, creating a bad image for the angel.

The author uses a wide amount of details creating a bad image of the angel to the audience, because of the use of similes and imagery it is logically inferred what he is to be. Overall this fictional tale was intentionally created to make it easier for children to understand the logical aspect of the tale. In the end, all the assumptions or logic explains what the angel where misinterpreted. The angle in the end was an actual one.

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1968 is a magical realist text, which falls into the category of a short story, depicting the contrast between good and evil through the use of religious symbols to emphasize societal views of faith. I chose this story because I want to understand more about the author’s life and influences through the investigation of his work. Through the use of the formalist approach, I will discuss the role of religion in the text, and observe the dualities between the natural and supernatural culturally in this text. I will focus on the narrative and discuss the characters as they relate to the development of the story, in interpreting and further understanding the story. I hope to discover the author’s method in manipulating the text to allow his readers to independently and personally identify with the message of the story, as well as investigate what may have influenced the plot. Also, through the utilization of one most recurring symbol of the text, and one prominent motif to further serve as evidence that both culturally and socially during this time religion heavily influenced society, these elements all come together to symbolize the irony of society’s hypocritical practices and ideologies.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in 1927 in Aracataca, Colombia. Marquez spent the first eight formative years living with his maternal grandparents, where he grew independent and well as an interest in writing and various other creative outlets (Pelayo, 2001). Being around such an older generation, storytelling was very important during Marquez’s formative years. This short story, published in 1968, utilizes the foundation of religious ideologies, more specifically, Catholicism or Christianity to show both societal and cultural practices during this time in South America. Marquez’s way of communicating through the most recurring symbol in the story wings, and the most prominent motif being prosperity, further emphasizes both waging sides of heaven and hell of God and the devil.

Wings symbolized to me as being free and limitless, others may argue that wings have more significance than that and may go as far as to say that it is trying to communicate to the readers the dualities of the war between heaven and hell or good and bad. Christian or not, it is a known tale that the devil is a fallen angel who once resided in heaven and was one of God’s favorite angels, but due to his stubbornness and his separate agenda, he and thousands of other angels were expelled from heaven due to their rebellious ways. So, even at one point in time, even the devil had wings. Yet Marquez in a way manipulated how Christians or those knowledgeable of the Christian faith perceive angels and wings, Marquez portrays the theme of this story not as actual angels but rather as the wisdom of the old man. In the text, the old man has a visit to the doctor, during the examination the doctor is truly amazed at how naturally the wings complimented the man’s natural shape and physical structure. “They seemed so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn’t understand why other men didn’t have them too.”(Marquez, 455). Despite the wings fitting perfectly the man still had few issues physically, the wings were dirty and bare, and although they still attracted the attention of crowds it was not typical wings that one would imagine when thinking of an angel from heaven.

“All he had left were the bare cannulae of his last feathers.”

The poem “Sonnet for Heaven Below” and the short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” are similar in many ways. The angels, or “God’s children,” in the sonnet are the homeless people living in the dirty subway tunnels of New York. They have no jobs, so they have no money. They do not have the chance to bathe or shave. Their “angel feathers” are ruined by acid rain, and they “sing hoarsely.” They are dressed badly, and their “gossamer shoes” are torn and stained. Since they do not look or sound the way people think they should, the homeless are not seen as being worthy people. New Yorkers do not treat them like one would treat other human beings, and eventually they just ignore the homeless. The New Yorkers are not in a hurry to solve the issue of homelessness. They have decided that they would rather continue to ignore the homeless than deal with tourists. The theme of the poem is that even the homeless are still human beings who should be treated with dignity. Anyone could be an angel in disguise.

In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” the old man is an angel from heaven, so he has no home on Earth. The couple who finds him forces him to live in a nasty chicken coop until it collapses. Even though the couple makes a fortune charging people to see the angel, they do not share any of the money with him. The angel smells bad because he only gets to wash if they decide to hose down the coop because of the stench. His feathers are ruined by mud, parasites, and villagers pulling them out. He is dressed “like a ragpicker” and does not know how to speak Latin. Since he does not look or sound the way people think an angel should, they think he is not worthy to be considered an angel. The angel was not even treated as one would treat another human being. The villagers treat him very badly, and then they ignore him and go on to the spider girl. Priest and church authorities are not in a hurry to solve the mystery of the angel. When the angel finally flew away, the woman “let out a sigh of relief” because he was no longer her problem to deal with. The theme of the story is that people tend to mistreat those they do not understand instead of trying to help or understand them. People should “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2)

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1968 is a magical realist text, which falls into the category of a short story, depicting the contrast between good and evil through the use of religious symbols to emphasize societal views of faith. I chose this story because I want to understand more about the author’s life and influences through the investigation of his work. Through the use of the formalist approach, I will discuss the role of religion in the text, and observe the dualities between the natural and supernatural culturally in this text. I will focus on the narrative and discuss the characters as they relate to the development of the story, in interpreting and further understanding the story. I hope to discover the author’s method in manipulating the text to allow his readers to independently and personally identify with the message of the story, as well as investigate what may have influenced the plot. Also, through the utilization of one most recurring symbol of the text, and one prominent motif to further serve as evidence that both culturally and socially during this time religion heavily influenced society, these elements all come together to symbolize the irony of society’s hypocritical practices and ideologies.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in 1927 in Aracataca, Colombia. Marquez spent the first eight formative years living with his maternal grandparents, where he grew independent and well as an interest in writing and various other creative outlets (Pelayo, 2001). Being around such an older generation, storytelling was very important during Marquez’s formative years. This short story, published in 1968, utilizes the foundation of religious ideologies, more specifically, Catholicism or Christianity to show both societal and cultural practices during this time in South America. Marquez’s way of communicating through the most recurring symbol in the story wings, and the most prominent motif being prosperity, further emphasizes both waging sides of heaven and hell of God and the devil.

Wings symbolized to me as being free and limitless, others may argue that wings have more significance than that and may go as far as to say that it is trying to communicate to the readers the dualities of the war between heaven and hell or good and bad. Christian or not, it is a known tale that the devil is a fallen angel who once resided in heaven and was one of God’s favorite angels, but due to his stubbornness and his separate agenda, he and thousands of other angels were expelled from heaven due to their rebellious ways. So, even at one point in time, even the devil had wings. Yet Marquez in a way manipulated how Christians or those knowledgeable of the Christian faith perceive angels and wings, Marquez portrays the theme of this story not as actual angels but rather as the wisdom of the old man. In the text, the old man has a visit to the doctor, during the examination the doctor is truly amazed at how naturally the wings complimented the man’s natural shape and physical structure. “They seemed so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn’t understand why other men didn’t have them too.”(Marquez, 455). Despite the wings fitting perfectly the man still had few issues physically, the wings were dirty and bare, and although they still attracted the attention of crowds it was not typical wings that one would imagine when thinking of an angel from heaven.

“All he had left were the bare cannulae of his last feathers.”

The poem “Sonnet for Heaven Below” and the short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” are similar in many ways. The angels, or “God’s children,” in the sonnet are the homeless people living in the dirty subway tunnels of New York. They have no jobs, so they have no money. They do not have the chance to bathe or shave. Their “angel feathers” are ruined by acid rain, and they “sing hoarsely.” They are dressed badly, and their “gossamer shoes” are torn and stained. Since they do not look or sound the way people think they should, the homeless are not seen as being worthy people. New Yorkers do not treat them like one would treat other human beings, and eventually they just ignore the homeless. The New Yorkers are not in a hurry to solve the issue of homelessness. They have decided that they would rather continue to ignore the homeless than deal with tourists. The theme of the poem is that even the homeless are still human beings who should be treated with dignity. Anyone could be an angel in disguise.

In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” the old man is an angel from heaven, so he has no home on Earth. The couple who finds him forces him to live in a nasty chicken coop until it collapses. Even though the couple makes a fortune charging people to see the angel, they do not share any of the money with him. The angel smells bad because he only gets to wash if they decide to hose down the coop because of the stench. His feathers are ruined by mud, parasites, and villagers pulling them out. He is dressed “like a ragpicker” and does not know how to speak Latin. Since he does not look or sound the way people think an angel should, they think he is not worthy to be considered an angel. The angel was not even treated as one would treat another human being. The villagers treat him very badly, and then they ignore him and go on to the spider girl. Priest and church authorities are not in a hurry to solve the mystery of the angel. When the angel finally flew away, the woman “let out a sigh of relief” because he was no longer her problem to deal with. The theme of the story is that people tend to mistreat those they do not understand instead of trying to help or understand them. People should “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Introduction

A very Old man with enormous wings is a story about a married couple Pelayo and Elisenda who found a strange being. The being was classified as an angel by a diviner in the village because he had wings attached to his body. However, he was too feeble to support himself. He became the center of attention for the people at that village. The couple then decided to charge a viewing fee for those who came to view the strange creature.

My singular Irene is a story which features the role and place of Irene as a wife who was married to a controlling husband. She was quite submissive to her husband but was also quite exploited. Irene and the angel were exploited by those around them yet they remained helpless. This essay will compare and contrast the two stories discussing the symbolism of repression and triumph together with their significance in the modern society.

Confinement

A very Old man with enormous wings story features an old man found in the courtyard of Mr. Pelayo. The old man was very weak to the extent that he was unable to rise up from mud. His wings prompted the family of Pelayo to seek clarification from a woman who was known for her understanding of life and death.

Her explanation that he was an angel who had come to take away Pelayo’s child was shocking and the news spread like a bushfire in the village. Pelayo took this man and locked him up in a chicken coop together with chicken. He was helpless and repressed in that he could not speak out for himself thus he was powerless. His inability to stand up on his feet and to speak up made him a subject to the decision of the family (Marquez 1).

In the story my singular Irene, confinement was Irene’s place. Her husband could not agree to have her walk around because he felt that it was his responsibility to protect her. He restricted people who visited their house: “I was not going to permit my wife to run around as if she had no one to protect her. Not that.

And no visitors either” (Almanzar 9). Irene had no freedom to engage in whatever she wished to though she was not locked up like the angel. Whenever she went out with her husband he easily got annoyed by her behavior of gathering butterflies and he could not give her time to enjoy what she liked doing. In case they were on a trip, it was the husband who made decisions: where to stop, for how long and what she could do in the course of the journey.

Irene did not have a right to freedom of expression though she could speak to her husband unlike the angel who could not say anything to anyone. Her husband planned for everything on behalf of their family. She rarely asked for anything from the husband. Instead it was the husband who decided when to do something for her. She lived as a captive in her own home:

Since women have their whims and poor Irene seldom asked me for things and, except for when she visited her mother, she spent weeks and months tied to the house taking care that everything was in order on my return from a trip. (Almanzar 8)

Irene’s husband failed to understand what his wife needed even if he thought he was taking care of her. He did his best to buy her what he thought she needed; “it seems a lie to me that she has left the comfort of her house without any regrets, but it is rather because of what occurs to one on the day least expected” (Almanzar 8).

Alienation

The old man was alienated from everything around him. He did not fit to be a human being though mostly he resembled a human being. He was locked up with the chicken as if he was a chicken. Some people even tried to feed him on moths; this is quite inhumane (Marquez 1).

On the other, Irene was alienated from all her friends and almost lost her senses. She was under a psychological torture which made it quite difficult for her to live a normal social life (Almanzar 9). Alienation of the two victims denied them chances to become what they desired in their hearts.

Exploitation

The two victims did not receive love; Irene was more psychologically exploited while the angel was mostly physically exploited. Villagers in Pelayo’s neighborhood mistreated the weak angel. On the second day early in the morning, Pelayo and his wife Elisanda found a large crowd of people making fun of this man outside the chicken coop.

Later on, father Gonzaga arrived and the people eagerly waited to hear what he could say. He spoke to him in Latin but the old man did not reply. The father despised him saying that the old man did not suit the wisdom of the angels (Marquez 1).

Pelayo and Elisanda took advantage of the strange angel. More people kept on coming to see the strange old man and this gave Elisanda a bright idea: “Then got idea of fencing in the yard and charging five cents admission to see the angel” (Marquez 1). After a few days, the family had collected a large sum of money with which they built a big mansion with balconies.

It is ironical that they made money out of him yet they did not provide him with good basic needs such as food and shelter: “He spent his time trying to get comfortable in his borrowed nest, befuddled by the hellish heat of the oil lamps and sacramental candles that had been placed along the wire” (Marquez 1).

Irene’s husband wanted Irene to remain within the confines of the house as a housewife. This was a demand not a request; “I had to be firm and demand more attachment to household. At first she accepted my imposition unwillingly” (Almanzar 9). This is a clear indication that she was controlled by the husband which was against her wishes as a wife. The man had a low opinion of women and boasted that he wanted a woman with little sense.

He wanted her as a wife because she did not have much sense. He thought that such women could not ruin their husbands’ lives. From her appearance she looked humiliated, “she didn’t think too much, although she often showed signs of weariness, of wanting to escape” (Almanzar 10).

Modern Repression and Triumph over Repression

The two stories are significant and quite relevant in the modern society. The poor are exploited with no one to speak out for them. The angel was used to make wealth for Pelayo and Elisanda whereas he lived a miserable life with the chicken. In the modern society, the rich and the leaders are likely to use the poor who work so hard for them, yet they get underpaid and never improve on their lives.

It has become normal for international corporations treat its employees unfairly by underpaying them and exposing them to dangerous work environments. This especially happens in third world countries where governance is weak and government officials are corrupt.

Father Gonzaga could not convince his people. The author referred to the people as sterile and noted that the pleading of father Gonzaga was in vain “His prudence fell on sterile hearts” (Marquez 1). This is an insinuation of how it is hard to educate people.

On the other hand, Irene represents women in society who live in a male dominated society. Women live in accordance to what their husbands say; by being commanded on which work to do, which friends to have, where and when to go. Their failure to meet their husbands’ demands exposes them to being abused.

The alienation from other people depresses them. They do not enjoy being married and thus a time comes when they cannot bear it any longer and therefore they run away from their homes ending up in separation and divorce. As a matter of fact the number of divorces in the modern day society is quite high. There are many cases where people marry and divorce a number of times. This cuts across every nation whether you are looking at the developed nations or the third world countries.

The two stories also portray an energy that does not serve any good cause. The old man had wings, yet he could not stand. Irene was very hard working yet she did not enjoy her life. Both stories are marked with triumph of both victims. The angel got stronger and fled while Irene left her home. The wings of the angel got stronger at same time when Irene was running after the butterflies.

Conclusion

The two stories are similar in that the main characters are exploited, mistreated, confined and alienated. They both came to a time when they could not bear it any longer and left their homes of exploitation. This is relevant in the modern society representing the poor, overworked, underpaid and disrespected wives.

Works Cited

Almanzar, Jose. My Singular Irene. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, n.d. Print.

Marquez, Gabriel. A very old man with enormous wings: A tale for children. Homestead, n.d. Web.

To clearly understand the story, “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children” we must first understand the context to which the story is set. The story is a magical realism set in Latin America which presents a real life story through magic and thus a deeper meaning exists within the story.

In the story it is discovered that the creature does not understand the language spoken by the locals although it was suspected to be Latin, this gives a political dimension to it and as highlighted by Father Gonzales who became suspicious of the creature when he discovered that the creature did not understand the heavenly language.

In this context we can understand that the story is reflective of the political climate of Colombia where it is dominated by two parties, this story is attributed to the writer who is of a mixed race and descended from pirates and smugglers, he has presented himself as the winged creature and thus seemingly making a political statement.

The writer has portrayed himself as an outsider (winged man) and his two hosts as the main political parties in Colombia. One can interpret the unbearable smell as the misbehaviors committed by the outsiders i.e. the pirates and smugglers.

The story can also be placed in a religious context. Believing the language of the old man to be Latin; the people of Macombo have the feeling that the Creature might be an angel. This attracts pilgrims from all over who are expecting to receive miracles. The writer tells of the Portuguese who couldn’t sleep, of the sleepwalker, the woman who had been counting his heartbeat since childhood and many other people with different ailments.

However, no miracle happened and hence no person was healed and instead some of them got even whose. Realizing that they couldn’t be healed the pilgrims forget all about the winged man except Palayo and his wife who continue to live with the creature. The pilgrims are attracted to another spectacle of the woman who was changed to a spider.

The reader observes the magical quality of the winged man through the doctor after he and the child were caught with Chickenpox. The doctor discovers that his heart doesn’t beat normally but makes a ‘faint whistling’, he also realizes that the wings appear naturally and wonders why men cannot have them, in this the writer shows that what appears unnatural to someone can be natural to another or event to ourselves if we take a careful look at something.

On carefully reading the story one can also come to the conclusion that the winged man is an angel that came to protect the child who had just been born. This is because as soon as the child attained the school going age the angel flies away, besides that the winged man is observed playing with the child.

The child behaves with openness towards the angel in a way that is lacking in adults. Also, the coming of the old man with wings brings success to the family of the child; the writer tells us that with the money they had saved up, ‘they built a two storey mansion with balconies and gardens’.

Above all, the story gives a moral lesson to the target audience that it had set to reach, the writer tells us the story of the woman who was changed into a spider for disobeying her parents and thus the story remains folklore nonetheless.