Enormous Wings

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Angels Are Among Us: Do Not Assume One’s Demeanor “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Aristotle. In the story, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author is trying to convey a message to the reader on how society reacts when they see someone out of the ordinary by acting selfish and preposterous. Society discriminates the old man with enormous wings because of his appearance because he is dressed like a “ragpicker,” few faded hairs left on his head, dirty wings, and a few teeth in his mouth. Imagery, symbolism, and mysticism are three terms that Marquez uses to portray a theme that is not only mythical, but it is something realistic…show more content…
Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses imagery to help the reader feel what it is like to be in the story. For example, he starts off the story in the first paragraph by saying, “On the third day of rain…” that represents sadness and following up with, “Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing…” (Marquez, 1) meaning that is possibly the only color they see around them. This alone plants into the reader’s mind that the setting is gloomy and depressing. Furthermore in the first part of the story, we meet the very old man with enormous wings. The author introduces him with, “…it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in…show more content…
Gabriel Marquez uses mysticism throughout the text making the story seem majestic and unreal. For instance, the girl who transformed into a spider. It is impossible in reality for a person to change into a spider but in this story it happens and people treat her like a carnival attraction, “…there arrived in the town the traveling show of the woman who had been changed into a spider for having disobeyed her parents” (Marquez, 10). There are other examples of mysticism like the old man himself with his wings or the crabs that arrive during many seasons, which is plague in the story causing Elisenda and Pelayo’s son to get sick, and in reality it never happens. Although the world in “ A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is nothing short of an author’s vast imagination, it still somehow relates to our very real and ordinary

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