Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

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A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings Reader-Response A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, by Gabriel García Márquez, is a piece of literature that many parents may relate to. The story is a fictional one that tells of a child who is sick and the parents of the child first believe it is due to environmental conditions brought on by the migration of a multitude of crabs through their town. The story then takes a turn, which makes them believe their child may be in dire straits when an old decrepit fallen angel lands in their yard and is intended to take the child when he dies. In fact, according to Márquez (1968) the parents of the child called a neighbor woman who knew everything about life and death and stated “He is an angel, and he must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain must have knocked him down” (p. 1). Has anyone really seen a fallen angel? Would you harm one if you thought it was here for your child? Mythical Beings Has anyone really seen a fallen angel or any other mythical creature? This could be greatly debated, and has been for as long as there has been writing on walls and words on writing. In fact, according to Palacio-Pérez & Redondo (2014) in the course of research currently being carried out at Santimamiñe (Bizkaia, Spain) and Altxerri (Gipuzkoa,…show more content…
How is this possible? Could it be this was not in fact an angel sent by God or was their restraint rewarded for not killing the old angel? Was this old angel actually sent to protect the child and not to take him? Maybe his decrepit state was actually a result of him warding off an evil entity attempting to take the child and the result left him old, weak and near death himself. It may come down to one’s personal beliefs as to which scenario it was but there are numerous other situations and stories similar to this all over the

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