In the story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” Garcia Marquez fuses dreams with reality and uses religion as a device to ridicule religion in Latin American culture and illustrate fraudulent it has become. Throughout the entire story, the Angel, who is normally a revered symbol of religion, is seen as a disheveled, pitiful old man. The idea that an angel has actually fallen from the sky and is now stuck with the mortals is one of the elements used by Marquez as a fusion of dreams/reality. When news of the angel reaches the townspeople, they all flock to the chicken coop where he is being help in order to see him with their own eyes. Upon sight, most of them are displeased and even begin to harass this divine being, treating him, “as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal (205).” Eventually the town’s priest comes to see this creature, but he too is a non-believer simply because the angel does not know the proper way to great his ministers. Because everyone was unsure what to do with the angel, Father Gonzaga chose to merely write a letter to Rome and have them decide. Unfortunately, “the mail from Rome showed no sense of urgency.” Marquez does this to show his disdain for the Latin American religion. A priest has the once in a lifetime opportunity to be with an angel and all he does is write a letter, he doesn’t try to help it, he doesn’t even show sympathy to towards it. Pelayo and Elisenda eventually begin charging people to see the locked up creature, further exemplifying the theme of disgracing religion.
Marquez continues his theme of dreams vs. reality when the girl who is a giant spider shows up. The girl claimed that she disobeyed her parents one night and was turned into this spider because of it. All of the townspeople eventually forget about the angel and quickly focus on the giant spider. The reality that this girl was turned into a spider because she disobeyed her parents is a reflection on Latin American cultures where it is very common to see overly strict parents who fully expect their children to obey them. This is not seen as much with the American parents who have a tendency to be more lenient or not care as much.
In the end, the Angel recovers and eventually flies away. This reveals that all of the townspeople were wrong in doubting this holy creature, especially Father who should have stopped the circus act surround this creature’s well being as soon as it started. These so called religious followers should have cared for the Angel and helped him regain his dignity.
In the story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” Garcia Marquez uses a common binary of dreams vs. reality as well as the common theme of fraudulent religion as devices to ridicule the once proud and prominent religious culture in Latin American.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very beginning, the Angel, who is normally a revered symbol of religion, is seen as a disheveled, pitiful old man. The idea that an angel has actually fallen from the sky and is now stuck with the mortals is one of the elements used by Marquez as a fusion of dreams/reality. This fallen angel should be viewed as a miracle and treated with the utmost respect, but as the reader discovers that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When news of the angel reaches the townspeople, they all flock to the chicken coop where he is being help in order to see him with their own eyes. Upon sight, most of them are displeased and even begin to harass this divine being, treating him, “as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal (205).”
Eventually the town’s priest comes to see this creature, but he too is a non-believer simply because the angel does not know the proper way to great his ministers; this should not be the deciding factor as to whether this angel is real or a fake. This portrays the reverend as an arrogant, he should be the one greeting the angel and yet he is upset that he was not properly greeted when he entered the dirty chicken coop that this phenomenon was being held in. Because everyone was unsure what to do with the angel, Father Gonzaga chose to merely write a letter to Rome and have them decide. Unfortunately, “the mail from Rome showed no sense of urgency.” Marquez does this to show his disdain for the Latin American religion. A priest has the once in a lifetime opportunity to be with an angel and all he does is write a letter, he doesn’t try to help it, he doesn’t even show sympathy to towards it.
Pelayo and Elisenda eventually begin charging people to see the locked up creature, further exemplifying the theme of disgracing religion. They are exploiting this miracle that fell into their laps rather than attempting to help it. Marquez does this in order to show how greedy and unsympathetic people have become. He is clearly disgusted by this new attitude and is criticizing anyone who displays these attributes.
Marquez continues his theme of dreams vs. reality when the girl who is a giant spider shows up. The girl claimed that she disobeyed her parents one night and was turned into this spider because of it. All of the townspeople eventually forget about the angel and quickly focus on the giant spider. The fact that this girl was turned into a spider because she disobeyed her parents is a reflection on Latin American parenting where it is very common to see overly strict parents who fully expect their children to obey them. This is not seen as much with the American parents who have a tendency to be more lenient or not care as much.
In the end, the Angel recovers and eventually flies away. This reveals that all of the townspeople were wrong in doubting this holy creature, especially Father who should have stopped the circus act surround this creature’s well being as soon as it started. These so called religious followers should have cared for the Angel and helped him regain his dignity. These people missed out on their once in a lifetime chance to save an angel who may in turn save their live one day but they were all too busy looking a giant spider.