“A Very old Man with Enormous Wings” (1955) is a short story by Garbriel Garcia Marquez, a Latin American author. This story contains many elements of Magical Realism, such as having one fantastic element while being reality based, having a deeper meaning, and having no need to justify or explain events or human actions.
The magical elements in this story are the old man (that is assumed to be an angel) and the girl who was turned into a spider because she disobeyed her parents. The angel is the element in Magical Realism that discovers the mysterious parts in life. Most people believe in supernatural beings like angels. Angels are usually thought of as protecting and taking one to the afterlife. The angel was believed to have come to take the baby to heaven. Another magical element was the sicknesses of the people who came to be healed by the angel. There was “a poor woman who since birth had been counting her heartbeats and had ran out of numbers; a Portuguese man who couldn’t sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him; a sleep-walker who got up at night to undo the things he had done while awake” (527).
The realistic elements include everything else in this story. The people’s curiosity to the angel and the lady spider are authentic. This element shows the curiosity of everyday people. Another trait of people is shown by Peylo and Elisenda, who take advantage of the angel by keeping him in a chicken coop and charging admission to see him.
The purpose of the lady spider may have been to scare children into obeying their parents. The girl was normal until one night when she went against her parents wishes to a dance. On her wa…
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…, an angel and an everyday world are crossed, and no one doubts the appearance. The deeper meaning is told though the life of the angel after he was caged and has an impact on any that would read it. This short story would be good for anyone to read whether he or she had read many Magical Realism stories or if he or she have not. Gabriel Garcia Marquez does a perfect job of “transforming the common and everyday into the awesome and unreal” (Flores 114). I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
Works Cited
Flores, Angel. “Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction.” Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 109-118.
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” The Norton Introduction to literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty. N.Y.: W.W. Norton and Company, 1996: 525-529.
Magical Realism in Context: Analysis of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Magical Realism in Context: Analysis of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
From the beginning of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” the ordinary begins to confront the extraordinary. This short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the most famous Latin American authors, was introduced to the world in 1955. By examining the “magical” and “realistic” elements of this short story, the theoretical term given to an emerging art form of the mid- twentieth century can be applied to a work of literature.
Marquez does not waste time ushering in the “magical” elements of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” The main character of the story, Pelayo, was coming back to his house after throwing away many crabs that had come into his house. Pelayo and his wife Elisenda thought that a stench from the many crabs was the cause of their daughter’s fever. The whole world had been “sad,” with the sky and sea turning to a “single ash-gray thing.” As Pelayo returned from his task of removing the crabs from the courtyard, he noticed a moving and groaning presence in the rear of the courtyard. At first glance, this presence was perceived by Pelayo as just an old wanderer. Upon further examination, Pelayo noticed that there was one extraordinary feature to this man (Marquez 525).
To him were attached huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked. Pelayo looked at the old man closely and very soon overcame his surprise, in the end finding him quite familiar. He was able to arrive at this conclusion by noticing the strong sailor voice with which he spoke. Even though the “language” the old man spoke was incomprehensible to Pelayo, Pelayo concluded that the old man was a lonely castaway from some foreign ship wrecked by a storm. Seeking…
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…t everyday life and the mundane, one gains new appreciation for his or her surroundings. He or she learns to view the world in a way that glorifies the mundane and breathes life into our natural surroundings. This mid-twentieth century art term can be applied not only to literature, but also to life.
Works Cited
Flores, Angel. “Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction.” Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 109-117.
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty. N.Y.: W.W. Norton