Enormous Wings Symbolism

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings “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” (356). In Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” we sense the general idea that people tend to challenge what they don’t understand. This is vividly conveyed in the conflict that exists between the story’s protagonist, the old man, and the society he stumbles upon as well as through the use of symbolism of the chicken coop throughout the story. In the very beginning of the story, it is told that a man with wings appears in a family’s yard and it comes as a concern. “He’s an angel” the neighbor tells them, “He …show more content…
Throughout the story Pelayo and Elisenda, the couple whose courtyard the old man stumbles upon, seem to grow more patient with the old man as if he is teaching them or passing on this virtue. In the beginning they found him to be a burden and immediately had him locked away, however as the story progresses, it seems as though they grow more fond of him but not for the reasons we’d hope. “Elisenda, her spine all twisted from sweeping up so much marketplace trash, then got the idea of fencing in the yard and charging five cents admission to see the angel” (358). Elisenda, knowing her own initial reaction to the old man, develops the idea that others are just as curious and skeptical of such a sight and uses it to her advantage to charge people to see the unthinkable. However, another “act”, a large spider with the head of a girl appears, and gives the old man, or rather Elisenda, a run for her money. The people have now seen the old man and he has become old news. “The angel was the only one who took no part in his own act” and the people noticed (358). They came to realize there was nothing to fear and he was of no harm or interest anymore and moved on to the next spectacle that rolled into town. Pelayo and Elisenda become more tolerant to the old man after this and they allow him into the home, even though he is still thought to be a burden, claiming “They would drive him out of the bedroom with a broom and a moment later find him in the kitchen” (360). Although the town has forgotten him the family that he stumbled upon certainly cannot. He is there every which way they turn and although he may seem like a burden, the family has also gotten used to his presence around the