A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is about an angel who was stuck on earth due to the damage done on his wings from the weather and about the family who takes him in. Pelayo finds this old man with wings in his courtyard one day and does not know how to deal with him so he gains information from his neighbor who knows everything; eventually he throws him in the chicken coop. Word spreads and everybody wants to see the angel so Elisenda charges an admission fee to make money off of it. Meanwhile a circus is in town and as soon as they leave so do the entire tourist. As time passes by the old man's wings begin to heal and is capable to fly away into the horizon as Elisenda watches him vanish. There are various events that symbolize various things. Such as the setting, the appearance of the angel, the crowd's reaction, the angel's wings, and the angel's flight.

The setting and original appearance of the angel at the beginning of the story are very gloomy and give off a negative vibe. The rain symbolizes the negative lifestyle everyone has been living, "The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash gray thing" (340). The appearance of the decrepit angel is a symbol of the lack of faith that Pelayo and Elisenda have; meanwhile Pelayo's newborn child was getting constant fevers. As the story advances all of these things start to clear up as Pelayo and his family become economically stable and are able to live a better life.

The characters in the story are unsure of how to react to the angel. They treat him as if he is some sort of animal and don't realize what he does while he is there. They mistreat him by throwing him in the chicken coop and leaving him locked up in there. People who want to catch a glimpse of him start to the throw objects at him and even burn him with metal rods. This shows the level of ignorance of people and how it leads humans to acting uncivilized. Meanwhile as the angel is being mistreated he is helping out Pelayo and his family without them realizing it. They gain major profit off of the angel and are able to live a better life which gives them more faith; which is ultimately what the angel symbolizes.

The angel's wings alone are their own symbol of freedom. The angel's appearance makes it seem as if he is a filthy and homeless man with such enormous wings. The was dressed like a "ragpicker," (340) had a few hairs on his "bald skull," (340) and had "parasites" (341) on his wings. This short story portrays a lot of religion and religion plays a big part in society, but slowly but surely, it is slowly disappearing as time passes by. When the angel first shows up his wings are mangled up and damaged yet at the same time Pelayo and his family live in poverty. He could fly away whenever he pleases to but decides to stay to help out the family. He stays there as long