A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale For Children
This magical realism written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez “A very old man with enormous wings” tells the story of an old character that seems to be an angel that turns out to be the central attraction of the town where he unfortunately crashed due to a heavy rain season. The story define by its author as a tale for children seems to be pointless with no moral at first but as one take a closer look at it we understand that maybe the author is depicting the human reaction to the unknown and inferior being and also pointing out how narrow the vision of the human race can be, therefore how intolerant to differences they can become. The story begins during a three day storm as Pelayo is removing the crabs brought in by the storm and throwing them into the sea when he discover the old man with wings embedded in the mud in their courtyard. At first they don’t really know what they should do with him. Although he appears to be very old and harmless, they take no chances of putting him in their main house and they secure him in the chicken coop. There, the old winged man shows no concern for the visitors who upon hearing news of his existence come from everywhere to see him. In fact, the old man is characterized throughout the story by his indifference toward the people and events that occur. The author mentions that “his only supernatural virtue seemed to be patience” (3) to illustrate his almost nonhuman reaction to the annoyance caused by the crowd. They even called him an angel.
Although angels are usually attributed to god, this particular man did not look divine to the common villagers. His old body along with his clothing “took away any sense of grandeur he might have had.”(1) He soon became a parody and later was even used by pelayo and his wife as a lucrative attraction. This type of behavior is common among humans. The unknown usually attracts us and later used for our own benefits. When in the beginning of