Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes

It takes place in a coast village, somewhere. The time is the past. The story begins with the Old Man and it ends with him flying off until Elisenda can no longer see him in the distance. It takes place over about 5-7 years span of time. Part of the "Angel's" stay can be signified as how amazed the people of the village are by the oddity of his appearance and mannerisms. The other half of the story the village treats him like a circus freak and he is no longer an amazing creature, but rather a developing pebble in their shoes. All of these things take place until the "Angel" is practically forgotten about.

In the beginning Pelayo, one of the men living in the village, is the first to discover the "old man" in his backyard. When he finally steps closer to the man he sees, "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.” Pelayo's wife, Elisenda, also sees the angel and they decide to lock him up in their chicken coop for the night only to see neighbors from all over the village looking at the mysterious creature. At that point everyone knew that Pelayo had found something profound and mysterious. When people visited the "Old Man" they treated him like an animal. They would throw him food every now and then. More and more people from far away came to see the man. With the way Marquez writes it almost sounds like people were living in a warped reality, especially with how they were treating the "Old Man". Even with some treating him like he should be “five-star general in order to win all wars," and some treating him like the scum of the earth he still took "no part in his own act." Even with all of the abuses, harsh words and seemingly other inhumane travesties he still was virtuous. The seemingly sad part of all of this is when the Spider Lady speaks up about her past and how because she didn't listen to her parents that she had been turned into a spider. The good thing about telling her story is that there is no speculation and people in the village were more inclined in their understanding of how she came to be that way. With the "Old Man" because he refused to speak, he was ridiculed and misunderstood. Even still, he remained silent. After the Spider Lady speaks of her story, people leave the "Old Man" alone. They no longer want to hear his story, if there even is one. He is seemingly forgotten. Later on in the story, we find that Pelayo and Elisenda become wealthy off of the "Old Man's" oddity. They build a mansion and forget about their chicken coop. The "Old Man" was basically left to die, but despite him being neglected he still lived. When the village doctor went to inspect him he found the "Old Man" was alive. The doctor also wondered why he only had wings and why the rest of humanity didn't have them. In the end the "Angel" regains is strength and as Elisenda looks out onto the horizon he “no longer [is] an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea.”

Where are the specifics? I suppose as the reader we are the ones that must create them. But much like Waiting for Godot, do we take it for what it is or find some kind of parallel with the rest of the world? Obviously this story is very complex. If one does not take the time to entirely read the text and digest it, they will get lost in it's meaning and words. For example, the sentence that reads, "...that his passivity was not that of a hero taking his ease but that of a cataclysm response." First off, that is very well written. I admire this write greatly and I sense his passion for writing in every word that is printed in the page of our Literature book. For me the sentence seem to stick out over some of the others in this text. When I look at this sentence in comparison to the rest of the text I look toward myself. Do I act passive like a hero taking ease, or do I stay silent and wait to explode?

This story in general is amazingly written. When people seemingly come into our lives out of nowhere we are quick to judge. I've been a person that has tried to never do that. We all judge in someways, but I really try to refrain. When I let myself open to the possibilities that people may bring to my life, that's when God uses me and them the most. If the people in this story would've just treated this "Old Man" with some dignity, maybe he would've had something so amazingly brilliant to give to society. Said part is, we'll never know. The Angel or Old Man just flies off into the sun, what if? Just what if? What is Elisenda would've allowed him to speak? What if they would've cared for him rather than leave him to die in the public's eye?

What ifs are a major part of what makes this story so interesting, yet tragic at the same time. The second part of the title is labeled "A Tale for Children"; Professor Corrigan asked us in class why we think this is even apart of the title. I thought about it and I really think that it's a good tale for children because it teaches them to not leave out anyone and to look at all the possibilities that life has yet to bring them.