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Symbolism of Angel in a Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Published: Sep 1, 2020

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In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, the skilled use of imagery and symbolism challenges conventional perceptions. The old man symbolizes both light and dirt, subverting traditional angelic imagery with his disheveled wings. This character's arrival blurs the line between the ordinary and the mystical, captivating the villagers and travelers.

The angel's connection to a sick newborn hints at a mysterious influence, and as he's locked away, the child's health improves, blurring the lines between life and otherworldly forces.

However, the villagers exploit the angel, turning him into a circus attraction for profit, leading to his deterioration. This narrative prompts us to reconsider our views on angels, raising questions about the extraordinary in everyday life and the complexities of human nature.

Marquez's narrative prompts us to reconsider our preconceived notions of angels, leaving us to ponder how our views might evolve if such an angelic being were discovered in our world. Ultimately, the story challenges our understanding of the extraordinary in the context of the everyday, reminding us of the complexities of human nature and our capacity for both wonder and exploitation.

Works Cited

  • Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2009). Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Bloom's Modern Critical Views). New York, NY: Infobase Publishing.
  • Cevallos, F. G. (1990). Gabriel García Márquez: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
  • Consolo, V. (2003). Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the Powers of Fiction. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
  • Franco, J. (2010). The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City: Latin America in the Cold War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • González, A. (2003). Gabriel García Márquez: A Life. New York, NY: Random House Trade Paperbacks.
  • Martin, G. E. (Ed.). (2007). Gabriel García Márquez: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers.
  • Mellen, J. (1981). Gabriel García Márquez. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers.
  • Pelayo, R. (2006). Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Biography. New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
  • Quiroga, J. (1997). García Márquez: El viaje a la semilla. Bogotá, Colombia: Editorial Oveja Negra.
  • Williams, R. G. (1993). Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Man and His Work. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press.

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a very old man with enormous wings symbolism essays

Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ is a 1968 short story by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014). Like much of his fiction, this story is an example of magic realism (which we’ll say more about below).

Subtitled ‘A Tale for Children’, ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ is about an elderly man with large wings who crashes into the home of a man whose son is ill. The townsfolk gather around to see the man, who some believe is an angel fallen from heaven. Before we offer an analysis of García Márquez’s story, here’s a brief summary of its plot.

Plot summary

The story begins with the titular old man with enormous wings crashing into the muddy yard outside the house of Pelayo, a man who lives with his wife, Elisenda, and their sick son. When the elderly man speaks, it is in a dialect they do not recognise and his accent is that of a sailor’s.

Their female neighbour tells them that the man is an angel who must have been coming for their son, but the incessant rain knocked him off-course. The next day, word spreads, and the whole neighbourhood turns up to take a look at the ‘angel’. By this time, Pelayo has confined the old man to his chicken coop and his son’s fever has abated. They had considered putting the old man on a raft with some food and pushing him out to sea, when their neighbours showed up to see the supposed angel in their midst.

As the day develops, the townsfolk begin to suggest what the fate of this old man should be: one thinks he should become mayor of the world, another reckons he should be made a five-star general, while one thinks he should be ‘put to stud’ so that he could sire a race of superhuman creatures.

The local priest then arrives to inspect the angel, and when the old man doesn’t understand the Latin the priest speaks, Father Gonzaga concludes that the man cannot be a true angel at all. His wings are too filthy, and he lacks the dignity one would expect from an angel. But the townspeople do not believe him, and continue to show up in greater numbers, wanting to see this angel for themselves.

Elisenda, spying an opportunity, decides to charge each of them an admittance fee of five cents if they wish to see the old man with wings. Over the next week, they make a fortune charging people to visit the angel, and their home becomes a site of pilgrimage visited by people with the strangest of afflictions. Speculation continues concerning the ‘angelic’ (or non-angelic) nature of the mysterious old man.

But then a travelling show arrives in town: a woman who was turned into a spider (a tarantula as large as a ram, but with a woman’s head) because she disobeyed her parents. Because the fee to see this ‘act’ is lower than the five cents being charged to see the angel, many townsfolk stop queuing to see the old man with enormous wings and instead go to see the spider-woman, who is also happy to answer all manner of questions about her unusual condition.

Although the queue of people waiting to see the angel disappears as the spider-woman lures away all of the waiting crowd, Pelayo and Elisenda are happy because they can use the money they’ve already made to build a better house. However, the continued presence of the angel in their yard becomes an annoyance to them. Their son spends time with the angel in his chicken coop, and both of them fall ill with chicken pox. They fear that the angel is going to die, but in time he recovers and flies away.

The subtitle which Gabriel García Márquez appended to ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ identifies this short story as ‘a tale for children’, and in many ways, the story might be analysed as a kind of fairy tale. Indeed, its central figure, the old man who may or may not be a genuine angel or some other strange supernatural being, can be viewed as a ‘fairy’ of sorts, whose arrival coincides with the improvement of Pelayo’s son’s health.

Like most good fairy tales, this story also fuses myth or fantasy with more everyday or realistic elements. This combination is also common, however, in works of magic realism : a literary movement with which Gabriel García Márquez was closely associated. In magic realist fiction, we are given a realistic view of the world but there are additional magical elements in the narrative as well.

In ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’, the key magic realist elements are obvious enough: a woman who has been transformed into a giant spider; a man who, angel or otherwise, has wings and is capable of flight.

These two beings are at the heart of the story and its meaning, which is as much about how groups of people respond to unusual elements within a society as it is about the two individuals themselves. Indeed, the old man with his enormous wings is something of a cipher: nobody knows what he thinks about anything because they cannot understand the language he speaks.

His main virtue, we learn, is patience, and he seems content to wait in the chicken coop and does not ask for much from Pelayo and Elisenda (who become very rich from him in a short space of time). The spider-woman, by contrast, was subjected to her supernatural fate because of disobedience – or, to put it another way, because of im patience, in that she wanted to go out to a dance but her parents forbade it, presumably on the grounds that she was too young.

These two special individuals – one very old, the other young; one male, one female; one patient and the other flighty; one capable of flight and the other earthbound – represent polar opposites in many respects. Indeed, whereas the old man is turned into a reluctant circus spectacle by his hosts, the spider-woman arrives as part of a travelling show, and intends to sell her story (as we’d say nowadays) and court public interest.

They also represent very different things. The townsfolk are sceptical of whether the old man is really an angel from heaven, but even after Father Gonzaga tells them outright that the man is no angel, they continue to turn up at the house so they can catch a glimpse of the mysterious figure. The spider-woman clearly has been transformed into an arachnid, as they can see this with their own eyes, but there are no heavenly claims made about her fate.

One question a reader of ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ might ask is whether the old man’s claims to ‘angelhood’ actually matter: if he is not angelic but merely a strange winged man, does that make him any less of a spectacle worthy of study and speculation? Clearly the ‘freakish’ elements of spider-woman’s affliction are enough in themselves to warrant crowds of people flocking (and paying) to see her.

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"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings": Study Guide

This story of a fallen angel is a classic example of magical realism

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In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,"  Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes unbelievable events in an earthy, straightforward manner. After a three-day rainstorm, husband and wife Pelayo and Elisenda discover the titular character: a decrepit man whose "huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, were forever entangled in the mud." Is he an angel? We’re not sure (but it seems like he might be).

The couple locks the angel in their chicken coop. They also consult two local authorities—a wise neighbor woman and the parish priest, Father Gonzaga—about what to do with their unexpected visitor. Soon, however, news of the angel spreads and curiosity seekers descend upon the town.

Like much of Garcia Marquez’s work, this story is part of a literary genre called "magical realism." As its name implies, magical realism is contemporary fiction whose narrative combines magical or fantastical elements with reality. Many writers of magical realism are of Latin American origin, including Garcia Marquez and Alejo Carpentier.

Plot Summary of ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’

Although Pelayo and Elisenda make a small fortune by charging five cents admission to see the "angel," their visitor’s fame is short-lived. When it’s revealed that he can’t help the invalids who visit him, another oddity—“a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of a sad maiden”—soon steals the spotlight.

Once the crowds disperse, Pelayo and Elisenda use their money to build a nice house, and the aged, unsociable angel remains on their estate. Though he seems to grow weaker, he also becomes an inescapable presence for the couple and their young son.

Yet one winter, after a dangerous illness, the angel begins growing fresh feathers on his wings. And one morning, he attempts to fly. From her kitchen, Elisenda watches as the angel tries to lift himself into the air, and keeps watching as he disappears over the sea.

Background and Context for 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings'

Granted, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” does not have the unmistakable grounding in 20th-century history or politics that one finds in Garcia Marquez’s "One Hundred Years of Solitude," "The Autumn of the Patriarch," or "The General in his Labyrinth." But this short story does toy with fantasy and reality in a variety of ways.

For example, the onslaught of crabs that begins the story is a bizarre, improbable occurrence—and yet, crabs are probably abundant in a seaside town like Pelayo and Elisenda’s. And in rather a different vein, the townspeople witness fantastic events, but they react with a credible blend of enthusiasm, superstition and eventual letdown.

Over time, Garcia Marquez distinctive narrative voice—a voice that describes even outlandish events in a straightforward, credulous fashion. This storytelling mode was indebted, in part, to Garcia Marquez’s grandmother. His work is influenced by writers such as Franz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges, who both conjured fictional worlds where shocking actions and surreal sights are nothing out of the ordinary.

Though it's only a few pages long, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" describes fairly large groups of people in considerable psychological detail. The shifting tastes of the townspeople, and the ideas of local authorities such as Father Gonzaga, are delivered quickly yet precisely. 

There are elements of Pelayo and Elisenda’s life that do not really change, such as the stench that surrounds the angel. These constants cast in sharper relief the important changes in Pelayo and Elisenda’s financial situation and family life.

The Symbolism of the Angel

Throughout "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," Garcia Marquez emphasizes the many unflattering aspects of the angel’s appearance. He mentions parasites on the angel’s wings, the food scraps that the townspeople throw at the angel, and finally the angel’s ungainly attempts at flight, which resemble "the risky flapping of a senile vulture."

Yet the angel is, in a sense, a powerful and inspiring figure. He is still capable of inspiring wildly hopeful fantasies. The angel may be a symbol of fallen or degraded faith or a sign that even less-than-ideal manifestations of religion harbor profound power. Or this atypical angel could be Garcia Marquez’s way of exploring the disparity between legend and reality.

Questions About 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings' for Study and Discussion

  • Do you think that "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is a work of magical realism? Are there any conventions of the genre that it doesn’t seem to obey? Is there another genre designation (such as children's literature) that might be more appropriate to this particular Garcia Marquez story?
  • What religious message do you think this story is trying to convey? Is religion dead or discredited in the modern world, or does faith persist in unexpected or unconventional forms?
  • How would you characterize the community where Garcia Marquez’s story is set? Is there anything about the townspeople’s attitudes that is ambiguous or unclear?
  • Why do you think Garcia Marquez used such vivid, gritty descriptions in this story? How do his descriptions affect your impression of the townspeople, and of the angel himself?
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Symbolism in “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Marquez

Symbolism is often employed in literature to represent, signify, and express ideas and qualities that differ from their literal sense in real life. As a literary device, symbolism can assume various forms by using abstract ideas to give an object a more vivid and deeper meaning by the use of symbols. It has become a very integral part of literature as it enables the creation of universal characters and themes. Moreover, authors have gained freedom as they give interpretation varyingly. For these reasons, many authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in his short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” greatly rely on symbolism to develop his characters and relay the significant themes of the story. There are several instances of symbolism in the story: the very old man with wings, the feathers of the wings turning dark in color at some point in time, a spider woman whose character depicts evil, and the greedy townspeople. In the end, this writing style helps to tell the idea that assumptions can lead to very severe actions.

An audience may draw several interpretations of the symbolism depicted in the Marquez’s work. An instance is the case of the old man with wings. Marquez describes the old man spotted by Pelayo and Elisenda as someone who was rather malformed, incongruous: “His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked” and a rag picker judging by his lanky looks (Garcia and Gregory 1). These negative connotations represent the life of a person who has undergone so much misery and has so much burden to bear. At first sight, the townspeople do not want to be associated with the old man and isolate themselves from him. The description of the old man’s wretchedness and despair is analogous to the real world, where people go through lots of challenges and problems, and most at times, their lives are torn apart through their experiences. After an inability to rise from such misfortunes, the world always seems to isolate from such kinds of people, just like the old man’s case. The author uses “the old man” in this context to represent anyone going through a cynical phase, mentally, physically, or financially.

On the other hand, the wings symbolize people’s various burdens in their daily endeavors. However, matters take a turn later in the story when the old man begins to grow new wings and can fly away: “at the beginning of December some large, stiff feathers began to grow on his wings, the feathers of a scarecrow… But he must have known the reason for those changes, for he was quite careful that no one should notice them” (Garcia and Gregory1). The angel’s feathers begin to grow dark in color at some point. The dark-rugged feathers indicate the consequences of going through a tough time and adapting to the situation. Earlier, the author depicted the wings as dirty, sullen, soft, and dysfunctional. It was not until the dark feathers grew that he could fly. It shows that there is always a recovery time for anyone going through anguish and hope for better days, albeit the time needed for a person to resuscitate and rise like a phoenix.

Another character used to bring out the story’s theme was the spider woman. The writer labels the lady as “a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of a sad maiden” (Garcia and Gregory 3). The girl represents someone who had gone against societal norms as she had disobeyed her parents on one occasion. From the picture painted by Marquez and the girl’s nature as seen from her deeds, she represents evil in society. Such people are always a harbor for negativity and a constant source of unwarranted misfortune, just like in the real world.

The townspeople (villagers) symbolize society and how differently they react on various occasions. In this instance, the villagers are depiction greed. Pelayo and Elisenda go to the point of putting the old man on a display so that people could pay to see him. Despite the angel being meek and mild, the villagers torture and rile him up to see what he could do, “the most merciful threw stones at him… they burned his side with an iron for branding steers ” (Garcia and Gregory 2). Just like in the old man’s case, the people who held the spider woman captive charged people to see her. The two occurrences show how much greed the people bore and their cruelty towards outsiders.

Literary devices have been widely used in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” especially symbolism that Marquez uses to develop the characters and the themes. Much as we never learn if the old man was an angel, he represents good in the story and calls society to incline towards charity and good deeds. Society is never always devoid of evil, and the author represents the same by using the spider woman’s nature and deeds. Humanity’s greed for wealth is also highlighted, and the consequences of baseless and biased assumptions are the advent of societal misfortunes.

Garcia, Marquez G, and Gregory Rabassa. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: And the Sea of Lost Time . 2014. Print

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About A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Gabriel García Márquez

Magic realism, fantasy

Wings, The Spider Woman.

The Old Man, Pelayo, Elisenda, Father Gonzaga, The Neighbor Woman, The Spider Woman

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