Very old man with enormous wings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Very old man with enormous wings - Essay Example Everyday life details of the story are elements of realism. The events of the story are set in some coastal village sometime. Unusual guest or visitor with the wings in Pelayo’s yard attracts many people who are willing to come and see the real angel. However, no one is quite sure that the old man is really an angel. The neighboring woman â€Å"who knew everything about life and death† claimed that the man was angel. Besides, his strange language and wings on his back were one more prove which lead to conclusion that he is an angel. The man does not wish or is not able to communicate or cooperate with people. Thus, the onlookers lose their interest to the old man with the wings soon. The angle does not meet expectation neither of town’s citizens nor the reader. The very first meeting with the old man and sight of his wings does not have a positive effect neither on Pelayo nor on his wife, Elisenda. Character of the old man of the story can be interpreted as a sym bol of a crippled and ugly old age as some people perceive it. The couple is not really happy with what they find in the mud of their yard: His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, were forever entangled in the mud. They looked at him so long and so closely that Pelayo and Elisenda very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him familiar (Marquez). They are surprised to see his wings. However, their interest and confusion does not last for too long. They take the man as if some injured animal and put him in hen’s coop. Furthermore, citizens of the town seem to be frustrated by angel’s lack of activity or almost motionless posture in the coop. the people who came to look at real flesh and blood angel feel frustrated and even aggressively because the angel does not meet their expectation. Their behavior towards the old man is cruel, unfair and impolite. The reader is also baffled by angels’ inactivity. Slowly people leave Pelayo’s yard, be cause they lose the interest in a strange old men. Rather, their attention is switched to another interesting creature which is Spider Woman. By that time, Pelayo and his wife Elisenda manage to get some money from the onlookers and get rich. However, after public interest is gone, the couple is not interested in the fallen angel either. Even though Marquez’s second title of this short story is A Tale for Children, issues that are raised by the author is this short story are not childish. The fist theme of the story is writer’s measurement of two opposite human feelings such as cruelty and compassion. Marquez sinfully present the degree of human cruelty towards those who are week and dependent. The negative attitude to the old man is exacerbated by his unusual look and strange language which is known to no one. Heartlessness of people from this story is striking: â€Å"the most merciful threw stones at him trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing†; or â€Å"they burned his side with an iron for branding steers, for he had been motionless for so many hours that they thought he was dead† (Marquez). Elisenda and Pelayo’s first plan was to set the old man on a raft with provisions and let him sail freely. Such an act is not the most merciful one, because leaving the old almost dieing man alone is rather pitiless. However, when the couple understands that they can profit from showcasing the fallen angel to the audience they chance their plan. When their child gets well, Elisenda and Pelay