The story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children starts off with a couple trying to shoo out crabs thinking it is the cause of their childs sickness when Pelayo sees an old man stuck in the mud. When he got closer he saw an angel with the old tattered wings. After getting past their initial shock they went to find their neighbor who was wise in spiritual matters, and they decide to put this angel in the chicken coop. After they put the angel in the coop, their child felt better and wanted something to eat. The following morning, locals gather in awe to look at this so called angel, except that it doesn't look like your typical angel. This angel looked old and dying. His feathers were falling off his wings and he spoke in some dialect that not even the local Priest could communicate to him. After meeting with the angel the priest reminded the throng of people that the devil likes to deceive people and that he was going to write to Rome about this matter yet, his words his words fell on deaf ears. More and more people came to visit this mysterious angel, Pelayo’s wife Elisenda, decided to charge 5 cents to every visitor, which actually helped them out in the long run. After several days of visitors gawking at the angel, a carnival came to town and distracted the townspeople for a little bit. In the carnival was a lady who had her body turned into the body of the spider because she snuck out of her house to go attend to a dance party without telling her parents. On her way back to her house there was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning and her body was turned transformed into a spider for not telling her parents. What was interesting about the spider lady was that she had healing powers as opposed to the angel who really didn’t. The spider lady healed Pelayo of his crab infestation and the priest was cured of his insomnia. Whereas the angel let a paralytic person almost win the lottery and someone who suffered from leprosy sprouted flowers form their sores. After a several months, the chicken was in terrible condition which allowed the angel to escape and walk around Paleyo and Elisenda’s newly renovated house, which was a result of all the money that they charged the visitors to see the angel when he locked up in the chicken coop. Eventually, the angel heals up to the point where he can fly and Elisenda watches hi, fly into the horizon, happy that he is leaving.
At first I wasn’t sure to think of the angel, but after the wise neighbor mentioned that “He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down” I thought of him coming for the child, so that would make him the angel of death. I also think that the angel mimics the ill person that he comes to take with him, which would explain his frail nature at the beginning of the story. The angel could also imply patience and compassion, as he suffered through being in the chicken coop, while eventually Pelayo and Elisenda were better off than they were in the beginning of the story.
The visitors who came to visit the angel were those looking for a sign that would justify their faith in God. Something that spider lady would ultimately do for the townspeople instead of the angel.
Speaking of which, the spider lady could represent how self-assuming people are with their own faith, many went to see the angel thinking that he had healing powers when he really didn’t. the spider lady had a heart wrenching story that was able to draw crowds and be able to do her own healing. The spider lady and the angel are contrasts of each other in the fact that she is easier to understand whereas the old angel is filthy and can not mach her appeal.
In a little history section about the author, they used a term he liked writing in, mystical realism, which is a blend reality and fantasy. Many Latin American authors write in this mystical realism genre. It is prevalent when the author, Gabriel García Márquez, describes in detail the life of Pelayo and Elisenda in detail, while adding the celestial component of the angel to the story, which gives a balanced storyline throughout the entire story. Also, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children could also be described as a satire. For instance, after the local priest told the crowd to beware of Satan’s tricks and he was going to “write a letter to his bishop so that the latter would write his primate so that the latter would write to the Supreme Pontiff in order to get the final verdict from the highest courts.” Well Rome wrote asking ridiculous questions such as “finding out in the prisoner had a navel, if his dialect had any connection with Aramaic, how many times he could fit on the head of a pin, or whether he wasn't just a Norwegian with wings.” This shows that the author was painting the Church in a new light, and in a sense made them look like they knew nothing.
I chose this story because it had a lot of material was allowed to be interpreted. This allows for readers to be able to have their own ideas and bring in their own interpretation. This applies to us since the author makes an attempt to show that what we think is right, may not be right at all.
