Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

¶ … Old Man With Enormous Wings Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, "The Old Man with Enormous Wings," might from a plot summary appear to be a light fantasy story. However, closer examination shows that it is actually a very realistic piece of culturally accurate, albeit speculative, fiction.

This story is very realistic because it shows the casual and reasonable way in which people are capable of accepting and integrating the absurd into their daily lives, acknowledges the lack of faith or curiosity which has perverted much of modern religion, and does all this without stepping outside the lines of realistic occurrence.

The casual and practical, if mundane, way in which the village people accept the appearance of a winged man in their midst demonstrates a keen understanding of the way in which most humans can accept the introduction of the absurd or unusual into their lives. One notices how in the story the appearance of the old man is greeted at first with shock, which turns quickly to acceptance, use, and even casual frustration.

The man with wings is kept, reasonably, in the chicken coop! He is shown at a freak show, but he is taken no more or less seriously than any other sideshow attraction. Most readers might like to think that they would be more curious and inquiring, or more scientific, or perhaps more faithful and reverent -- at least, they might hope to be more humane. However, in all (tragic) likelihood these are just pretensions.

In general, humans tend to accept the world at face value, and integrate any unusual occurrences into the rest of the fabric of reality as just an oddity. For example, despite the fact that spontaneous combustion is a recognized fact, most people just refrain from thinking about it and certainly don't spend their lives obsessing about its causes or meanings.

The truth of the matter is that as far as human reasoning goes (and there's no particular reason why this should change), there is no such thing as the miraculous, there is only the unexpected. This is because that which does happen is obviously possible, because it has occurred; moreover it is natural because it is taking place within nature (or it would not be happening) -- the miraculous is defined by that which is impossible and/or supernatural.

Miracles cannot occur because by occurring they cease to become miraculous and become merely improbable. This simple fact does away with much wonder, and at the same time allows people to comfortably incorporate the happening of the improbable (such as a man with enormous wings materializing on a beach) in the workings of daily life.

Humans tend to abuse rather than revere the unusual that has become common, and it is this tendency to harm the outsider that leads in Marquez's story to the economic, physical, and cultural abuse of the winged man.

The casual naturalization of the miraculous may be a modern phenomena; at least it is certain that its effects on religion are relatively new -- for this naturalization has made it so that most religions no longer expect the supernatural and that much of science treats the occurrence of the supposedly supernatural with quiet disregard and the assurance that it has "natural causes" such as fraud. In Marquez's story, the local priest Father Gonzago writes to the Vatican for their opinion on the winged man.

They respond with questions, but appear to dismiss his questions generally. This might seem odd. However, if one looks at worldwide reports of miracles (such as weeping Mary statues, stigmata sufferers, the existence of a girl in a coma who can heal people, or sightings of the Virgin or Christ), then one will notice that the Catholic Church has consistently sent inquiries into the subjects with a skeptical eye, and does not generally accept the truth of these miracles.

That it would do the same to an angel with parasites in its wings only makes sense. So this story is at least socio-culturally realistic in its portrayal of how people in one area might respond to the appearance of a winged man; even apart from that, however, the tale struggles to retain its basic earthy realism.

There is nothing wrong with humans noticing and believing that most things which happen will have some physical reality and explanation, and to aid in this Marquez makes sure that his winged man has the realistic traits one would expect of a winged figure. If there were indeed winged people or angels who were inhabiting earth, one would expect them to follow basic laws of nature. So their wings should have parasites, they should be heavy when wet (unless.