A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
| "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" | |
|---|---|
| Original title | "Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes" |
| Translator | Gregory Rabassa |
| Published in | Leaf Storm and Other Stories |
| Publication type | Book |
| Publisher | Harper & Row (1st English edition) |
| Publication date | 1955 |
| Published in English | 1972 |
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (Spanish: Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes) is a short story by Gabriel García Márquez first published in 1955. It falls within the genre of magic realism and is included in English in the book Leaf Storm and Other Stories.
At the beginning of the story, it has been raining for 3 days and crabs are everywhere. Pelayo and Elisenda's child is sick, supposedly because of the crabs' stench. An old sickly man with enormous wings is found in their backyard. When the couple attempts to communicate with the old man, his incomprehensible language (which is never identified) leads the couple to believe he is a castaway. A neighbor woman who knows everything about life and death tells the couple he is an angel. Pelayo decides to lock the angel in a chicken coop overnight and then send him on a raft to his fate. Early the next morning the local people have gathered in front of the chicken coop, having fun with the angel. Father Gonzaga arrives at 7, alarmed by the strange news and to see whether the old man really is an angel or not. Ultimately, Father Gonzaga finds many reasons why the man cannot be an angel, such as the fact that the old man cannot understand Latin, and that he has too many mortal characteristics. Elisenda, tired of cleaning up the visitors' messes, decides to charge an entrance fee of 5 cents to see the angel, which eventually allows them to amass a fortune.
The crowd soon loses interest in the angel because another freak has risen to fame. The new attraction is a woman who disobeyed her parents when she was young and has since been transformed into a tarantula. In order for her to continue telling her story, the people of the town toss meatballs into her mouth, which was "her only means of nourishment." Though the people of the town no longer see the angel, the family has saved up enough money to build a mansion with balconies and gardens and nets. The angel's health declines and it seems he is on the verge of death. When his last winter in the chicken coop is over he suddenly becomes more healthy and grows a few new feathers. At first, he roams around the house, but Elisenda keeps shooing him out of the rooms with a broom. One day he leaves the house and begins to fly away.
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings was published during "La Violencia". Scholar John Goodwin argues that the text of the story can be read as a commentary on the events in Colombia at the time: "The opinions of the villagers reveal an idealized view of religion as government; their treatment of the angel, however, betrays their reaction to rule by religious authorities."
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