This essay is an interpretive analysis of Gabriel García Marquez's famous short story, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.
Psychological Criticism for A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
This short story very interesting, as the overall tone seems to have a subdued sense to it, as though the events related here are something that happened, without any remarkable attributes to it. The story itself opens with this matter-of-fact statement:
“On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench” (289).
The story opens up with this omnipotent narrator telling the reader that there is an ill infant, and showing how life in this small village is on a lower note than usual. With the opening sentence alone, the reader can tell that they are dealing with a foreign group, a family that lives on a coast that holds a possibly more superstitious mindset: infant temperatures seemingly caused by things other than foreign bodies. However, that is just a first glimpse into this world, so further evidence is needed.
The story quickly takes a bizarre turn with a segment that comes soon after the one mentioned above:
“it was hard for him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings” (289).
The reader is introduced to the stories namesake, someone that is remarkably uncommon to the world depicted in this story. The presence of such a creature is not common for anyone, whether it be for someone who resides in a place where there is no place for fancy, or a place where the lines between reality and the fanciful are remarkably blurred. The reader must then ask themselves, what they would have done in a similar situation. It is known that Pelayo and Elisenda look at the being, disregard the enormous wings and seek the counsel of a woman “who knew everything about life and death” (289). She deems him an angel, and that is where everything begins.
It is the woman they talk to who turns this entire scenario into something that ends up being questionable, at best. It is not surprising that “everyone knew that a flesh-and-blood angel was held captive in Pelayo's house” (289). This reiterates the fact that this location is more like a small village. There is some difficulty getting a time stamp on the story, as there is this undertone of superstitious thought that is mingling with a more modernized feel. This only gets to be more intense as the story progresses.
Right around the bottom of page 289, the last sentence on this page goes:
“... they found the whole neighborhood in front of the chicken coop having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren't a supernatural creature but a circus animal”.
This statement alone has an implicit feel, one that is remarkably negative; it is something that could be viewed as something akin to sacrilegious. The author seems to liken many people to children; they are simply incapable of being aware that their actions have consequences. There are things that are obviously wrong, like murder and theft. Then there are things that are morally objectionable and wrong, like hurting animals and treating others as though they are below you. This man, whether he be human or angel, is obviously down on his luck. What drives the crowd to treat him like this? To toss food at him as though he were nothing more than an animal is not something that all of us would be able to do. However, readers who press on will see that this is only the first wave of onlookers.
The only one who seems to be alarmed by such questionable behavior is Father Gonzaga. When he shows up to inspect the being/creature/man, the second wave of people have appeared. They make crazy suggestions and comments, almost seeming to be fueled on sheer insanity. “The simplest among them thought that he should be named mayor of the world. Others of sterner mind felt that he should be promoted to the rank of five- star general in order to win all wars. Some visionaries hoped that he could be put to stud in order to implant the earth a race of winged wise men who could take charge of the universe” (290).
This wave of the onlookers are only slightly better than the ones that preceded them. This is a living creature, one with human form. Do the wings he possesses suddenly make him less than that? He is a foreigner, which is something the reader comes to understand based on the snippets of culture the village is exhibiting.
The author seems to place some of the atributes of this village, as is demonstrated with numerous other small villages, towns, and the like, to have a tendency to lean toward the xenophobic side when dealing with others who are not from their area. However, while this is something that can be sympathized with, it seems that the native group are treating him less than human, not because he is foreign, but because he is not purely 'human'. In light of this revelation, the question would shift from 'what makes other beings closer to 'divine?'' and suddenly have to become 'what makes us human?'.
It should be noted, however, that there really isn't any hostility present in the story, either. The owners of the cottage locked the man/being/creature in the chicken coop, and the villagers became curious and started being some odd childish form of awful to him.
Anyway, Father Gonzaga seems to be the only reasonable man in this coastal town. He doesn't mess with the creature/being/man in any negative way, he makes a simple statement and goes off to send the information to his bishop. Simple and straightforward. He even mentions that wings are not the end-all-be-all of determining if this being is, indeed, an angel.
One quote that rings out the most thoroughly is this: “His prudence fell on sterile hearts” (290).
This line sums up quite a few of the mixed emotions presented in the short story. No one really seems to care about the nature of what this being is. He is interesting, new, usable, and allows them to look at a freak in order to make themselves feel completely normal. Humans are practically designed to take in information and apply it to the self, as demonstrated in the 'I think therefore I am', type of mentality.
Of course, events from the story only become worse. This section sums up the greedy and using natures of all people, but it is described in a way that makes me want to question the intentions. Is it something inherent within us all, or was there knowledge aforethought:
“The curious came from far away. A traveling carnival arrived with a flying acrobat who buzzed over the crowd several times, but no one paid any attention to him because his wings were not those of an angel but, rather, those of a sidereal bat. The most unfortunate invalids on earth came in search of health: a poor woman who since childhood has been counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers; a Portuguese man who couldn’t sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him; a sleepwalker who got up at night to undo the things he had done while awake; and many others with less serious ailments. In the midst of that shipwreck disorder that made the earth tremble, Pelayo and Elisenda were happy with fatigue, for in less than a week they had crammed their rooms with money and the line of pilgrims waiting their turn to enter still reached beyond the horizon” (290).
Eventually, people become less and less interested in the angel, but Pelayo and Elisenda had made their fortune. They seem to live happily after all the hubbub, letting their child play with the angel/man and watching them seem to have a connection, one that may have been there, but it doesn't matter, in the end. The being/creature/man's health seems to decline, the reader is sent through a time where they are waiting for his death. The entire story seemed to be working to this point, a point that, ironically, never occurred. The reader almost feels manipulated by the author because of this, but there is also a sense of relief knowing that the being may not die after all.
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- Alexandria Villa (Autor:in), 2017, Psychological Criticism for "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/368613