“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Garcia Marquez, is a short story infused with elements of reality and fantasy. The story originally meant to be a tale for children also challenges the mentality of any adult. Marquez combines the aspects of reality in everyday life with fantasy. After days of a rain an old angel lands down in a town, surprising the townspeople. Pelayo and Elisenda, the first to witness the angel in their home, ask help from the wise neighbor who is quick to say the old man is an angel who must have been coming for the sick child. Soon enough the whole town is coming to watch the angel who is now treated as an outcast. Father Gonzaga is called upon and decides that this is no angel and that he is an imposter stating that “nothing about him measured up to the proud dignity of angels (205)”. In this short story the line between magic and reality is blurred throughout the entire story and at the same time the reader feel as though a fairy tale is being told. The simplest example of this is the fact that the angel looks so human that they believe he might not even be an angel. Also the fact that no one is able to understand him not even Father Gonzaga. Overall, the use of magic realism in this short story is mainly used to challenge the way we see the world and how we make sense of it, especially via religion.
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