A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings Analysis

The Unexpected Gabriel Marquez’s fantasy short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, transpires in Pelayo and his wife Elisenda’s yard on the beach after a stormy three days. While throwing dead crabs from the rain into the sea, Pelayo stumbles on a very old man with gigantic wings lying in the mud. On the same day, he tries to take care of his son who is running a fever. When Pelayo comes across him, he notifies Elisenda. Not knowing exactly who the man is, the two lock him up in Pelayo’s chicken coop and keep him there for years. They want to know if he is really an angel or not. While being locked up, the old man goes through a lot of pain and suffering by the hands of the villagers because they do not know his true identity. In this combination of natural and supernatural, Marquez makes the readers wonder what would happen if they were faced with the supernatural. Also, Marquez forces the readers to consider how selfish, ignorant, greedy, and judgmental can be. In addition, Marquez pushes readers to realize that something out of the ordinary maybe a blessing in disguise. Marquez achieves this through his strong use of imagery, irony, and symbolism. In the story, Marquez uses imagery to demonstrate his view of an angel to readers. For starters,
Marquez is able to use different literary devices to teach readers important life lessons. Marquez’s story forces the readers to see deeper features within the story and try to use them in our lives. Overall, Marquez’s story leaves readers with so many unanswered questions and leaves us to think about how we believe in certain things. Also, Marquez story might force readers to think about how they treat others and how they are able to recognize good things in bad situations. In conclusion, Marquez shows readers that sometimes we use and abuse people who can sometimes be just what we