A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings Essay Example

The authors of fictional stories develop fictional short stories with the intention to depict real-world issues. Through the short stories, it is possible to teach about problems facing society as well point out the mistakes of people. The story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," depicts people as being skeptical, who had to travel all from different towns to come to a particular town to see an angel whom they believed had fallen from heaven. The angel was captured by Pelayo who was the owner of the compound where the angel had found and confined him in a chicken coop where the visitors had come to view the creature (Marquez 2). From the occasion, Puleya and Elisenda benefited from the proceeds of the occasion as the viewers paid to enter the compound.

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Usually, fictional stories suffice to contain extraordinary characters and features. In most cases, the stories I have heard about fictional creatures involved extraordinary characteristics that normal human beings cannot match. A similar situation I experienced in my life was when I saw a man burning and could remove one of his hands and still return the arm. After removing the arm, the man has the ability to attach the arm without the help of a doctor. Also, the whenever the man burned on the feet, the fire did not seem to consume him. It mostly looked like magic to many and neighbors feared him. In fact, his actions were mostly accepted on shows and people believed it was just an illusion. My experience relates to the story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" as it involves extraordinary acts or performance (Marquez 1).

In the short story by Marquez, the character has extraordinary characteristics such as having wings. However, the character in the story was stuck in the mud, and yet he was an angel. People of the town believed that the flesh-and-blood angel had been overwhelmed by rain and did not have the powers any longer. The metaphorical characters could do extraordinary things as compared to human beings; however, they sometimes are overwhelmed by standard things such being overwhelmed by the rain and being stuck on the mud (Marquez 1). It is uncommon where the metaphorical characters derive their power. Similarly, it was impossible to understand where the person who burned and could remove his arm derived his power. As such, metaphorical character in the story, as well as my real world experience, have extraordinary but confusing characteristics.

Subsequently, the story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" contains other extraordinary stories such as the woman who had been turned into a spider. As such, the spider had come to the town seeking to be healed or reconverted back to being a human being. People from different towns had come to the town seeking assistance for the problems they were facing. People with various problems such as the woman who had run out of numbers while counting her heartbeats needed assistance from the fallen angel. Further, a Portuguese man who could not sleep due to the noise of the stars had come to also seek assistance from the angel. These among other people had different problems they sought answers and the intervention of the flesh-and-blood fallen angel (Marquez 3).

The interesting idea in the short story is embodied in the part whereby people come to seek assistance from the powerless angel who had even been captured by Puleya. The instance was ironical as it seemed that the angel needed much help more than he could give to the people. Also, it was ironical when the wise woman in the town could not figure out certain aspects of the angel such as how to deal with the angel if he died. The angel had been powerless and was even kept in a chicken coop (Marquez 3). It is interesting since the character, as per the description of the wise woman, it should have had the power to free itself from the mud. Further, the wise woman asserts that the angel had come to take the life of the child; however, he ended up being captured by the father of the child.

The particular idea is relevant to the real world as it teaches about the expectations of the people in the society without scrutinizing an issue. Just because the wise woman had said the creature was an angel, the people were ready to get assistance while the angel was powerless and weak to the extent he got stuck in the mud. Further, the disappointment of the crowds when the angel fails to perform miracles led to the crowd dispersing (Marquez 4). This shows how people should scrutinize an issue before making conclusions. As such, people living in the real world should make judgments based on their intuition. If people in the town society had understood that the angel was powerless and needed help, they would have probably not wasted their time seeking assistance from the captured flesh-and-blood angel.

Work Cited

Marquez, Garcia Gabriel. " A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." (1972).