A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Essay Example

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia MarquezWings often remind me of angels, however, in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the thought of an angel is rendered ordinary in the flow of the narrative where a certain couple find themselves having to adopt a winged old man during a rainstorm. As the fictional piece depicts the old man in a filthy and sickly appearance, despite his huge wings, the notion of wonder is eventually banished since it amply contrasts how a reader commonly imagines an angel who must have neat brilliance, dazzling aura, as well as youthful look and beauty to marvel at besides a pair of wings.

Pelayo and his wife Elisenda could have had moments of awe in keeping the old man, nevertheless, his countenance which is rather unpleasant in view and is seemingly more human than supernatural may be the reason that he acquires no more special treatment from them. In the narrative, the news about the old man’s physical nature spread in spite of the cautious task of Father Gonzaga to help the family address the situation with confidentiality. The old man becomes known to several people and pilgrims from different places seek his capacity for healing.

At this stage, the reading audience may feel that while he can be associated to someone heavenly and capable of performing miracles with pure kindness, the sense of high wonder is gone on observing the human attitude of the man who acts with indifference to the point of ignoring people though he still meets their expectations to cure with charge, as imposed by Elisenda. Marquez occurs to illustrate in this part of the story a reality in our world that whenever people bear witness to a rare creature or human being, they tend to cause commotion and give sensational treatment to the subject as though such is a materialization of religious faith they have held on to for centuries.

Through this scenario, Marquez demonstrates the common disease of society as men are naturally bent to bring much interest upon the physical value of things that as in the case of the very old man whose wings matter considerably to especially to those who choose to maintain the principle “to see is to believe.”Without his wings, I doubt the idea that he could attract attention from the multitude for as himself, he would be just like other old men prone to neglect by the modern world. To me, the old man characterizes Hi, just a few details to add.

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