Human Nature In A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

A Look into Human Nature

The story of "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" was originally written in 1955 in Spanish, titled ''Un seсor muy viejo con alas enormes." This story is categorized in a style called "magical realism." This style is also associated with its author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Magical realism incorporates real everyday details with elements of fantasy. It is done in such a manner that it can disguise the distinction between reality and fiction. This style, often associated with South American authors, differs from typical fairy tales and folk legends because "stories of magic realism lead to no clear morals or simple truths" (). These stories provide rich examples of a world with magical possibilities but often leave the reader searching for its meaning. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is just that story. Although the plot revolves around a winged man who has fallen from the skies, the underlining theme to this story is the townspeople's negative nature which conflicts their inability to appreciate a miracle.

This story is filled with the use of symbolism in order to demonstrate the negativity of human nature. The story begins painting the setting and stating that "sea and sky were a single ash gray" (269) and the "sands had become... a stew of mud and rotten shellfish." (269) This picture of a negative atmosphere is painted and therefore a negative atmosphere is painted over the people. This hints that people in this town are all coming from a negative environment. Another form of symbolism embedded in story is through the contrast of the old winged man and the spider lady. The spider lady was this "woman who had been changed into a spider for

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disobeying her parents." Although it never really states whether the old winged man was an angel or not, he is a clear representation of an angel or perhaps Jesus. He fell from the heavens, was misunderstood, an endured hardships on earth. The spider-lady on the other hand is a representation of the negative side of religion. Spiders are often seen as sinister creatures and this lady can be the devil or another form of temptation. She was a lot more exciting since she talked and was a lot more animated. These two beings were put side by side as a carnival act and people chose to give the spider lady a lot more attention. People were drawn to something they can see and gave her more attention even though she had a committed a wrong-doing. This shows the negative nature of people since the fell into temptation.

Another representation of the people's character is shown through characterization of the townspeople. The townspeople are blind to what they are truly seeing. Although they see a winged creature come down from the sky, they say he is "castaway from some foreign country" (270). They choose to ignore the fact that he has wings and says his only "only supernatural virtue seemed to be patience" (272). People in this town fear what they do not know. They are also very quick to dismiss this being because they don't fit the mold of what an angel is in their mind. Since the man is old and his wings are old and have parasites on them, the man cannot be an angel. Since he is different he is treated like a circus freak. The people of this town are all unable to recognize that when this man arrived things started to get better for the family that found him. Although he did not perform any miracles that can be seen physically, people