For my interpretation I decided to chose “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children” by Garcia Marquez for a two reasons. The first reason would be that the entire story from beginning to end held my interest. The second reason I chose this piece of literature is because it affected me in a variety of ways; it influenced me to really reflect and challenge myself among other things. Marquez’s work is also well written painting intriguing images and containing a plot that can make the reader continue to reflect after finishing the literature.
A synopsis of any kind would take away from the intelligence of the literature but I will do my best. The story begins by setting a very gloomy and dark scene, the world was dark and stench filled on a “sea and sky” bound beach. A character by the name of Pelayo was ridding his house of dead crabs when he came across a very old man with enormous wings who was collapsed upon the sand of the beach. After trying to speak to him he responded in “an incomprehensible dialect with a strong sailor’s voice” they put him up in their chicken coop. As soon as word got out it seemed that the whole city was outside the chicken coop watching the old man with wings like he was some sort of carnival attraction. Then the local priest arrived, Father Gonzaga, who said that the man is not an angel because he is too worn down and doesn’t “understand the language of God”, which is apparently Latin. As the story continued it seemed more and more people kept coming to see the old man; people even came for healing by rubbing with the feathers of the man. The crowds became so many that Pelayo’s wife Elisenda began to charge admission to see the captive man. The crowd finally begins to dwindle when a spider woman came to town apart of a carnival attraction. She gained popularity and people soon forgot their oddly performing miracle angel. The owners of the house used the money they received from their attraction to upgrade their property: a mansion, gardens everything except the chicken coop that contained the forgotten angel. The angel stays with the family in the coop for several years when the weather finally caused the chicken coop to collapse. From then on he wondered around the house and property much to the annoyance of Elisenda. The angel’s health seemed to continue withering when he actually began to gain strength and new feathers. He attempted and failed to fly until he finally flies off into the horizon becoming an “imaginary dot” over the sea. Instead of regretting or missing the angel she feels relieved of the annoyance. This concludes the story.
At first this story may come across odd or weird that contains no true meaning, but after one dives into the literature and rereads the piece many meanings and ideas can become apparent. An interpretation of the meaning of, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” would be that our world and culture is not very accepting of ideas of people who are different or weak. Sometime’s when people come up with new ideas or a different view than what has been held before our world can be all too ignorant and immediately turn them away and shun them away from our culture which in a way locks down people’s differences and creativity that God has blessed all of us with. This can be seen in the story where the angel was different; no one had seen anything like him before so they observed him. The world observed him, but observed through a cage protecting themselves from his different ways. Peleyo and Elisenda milked money out of him like he was a sideshow creature. This can be seen all throughout our world today, where creative and different people are noticed and people are genuinely interested, but instead of letting a person who is different be themselves they lock them in restrictions and world views and get what they can out of the person, whether it is money or fame as soon as the world grows tired that different person is casted aside, becoming old news. An example of this in our long history of out casting new or different people can be seen in the trial of Socrates the great philosopher. Socrates had many different ideas that challenged the society and their views that would eventually bring upon a change within the society. Though he can be seen in history as a great mind and contributor to society, when he was alive he wasn’t accepted. Instead he was tried for polluting the minds of the youth with false doctrine and ideas that were against the government and he was put to death.
Unlike Socrates the angel was eventually able to fly away into the horizon and be himself without any restrictions; hopefully we can learn from this story. We can learn that when new people or ideas come along we shouldn’t restrict them with our own simpleton views but let people be themselves and they as the different can make a difference. Jesus Christ was seen as different because of his ideas that challenged the society to a new level and he was crucified. I am not saying that we crucify people with new ideas because they’re different but in a way we crucify their ideas. It is time that we grow and open our minds and know what we believe in but at the same time do not punish people for a different view because for all we know that different person can have an idea that could change the society and world.
Awsome
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