A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

To
MAM BAILA

MANSOOR ALI KHAN, MUKSAH MEHSOOD, SANA FATIMA, WAJEEHA KHAN

& AQIB TALHA
 PURPOSE

Writer

Introduction
to Story

Character
Analysis

Theme
Analysis
 Gabriel García Márquez

March 1927 – April

Gabriel José de la Concordia García 2014
Márquez was a Colombian novelist,
short-story writer, screenwriter, and
journalist. He was awarded the 1972
Neustadt International Prize for
Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in
Journalist Colombian
Literature.
 Gabriel García Márquez
One
Hundred
García Márquez started as a journalist and wrote Years of
Solitude
many acclaimed non-fiction works and short
stories, but is best known for his novels. His works
have achieved significant critical acclaim and
widespread commercial success, most notably for
popularizing a literary style known as magic
Famous
realism, which uses magical elements and events in
works
otherwise ordinary and realistic situations.
Chronicle of Love in the
a Death Time of
Foretold Cholera
 Early Life – A Writer Shaped
by his Past
“There was a real dichotomy in me because, on one
Born in the sleepy provincial town of Aracataca ,
hand ... there was the world of my grandfather; a
Colombia. Garcia Marquez and his parents spent
world of stark reality, of civil wars he told me about,
the first eight years of his life with his maternal
since he had been a colonel in the last civil war. And
grandparents. After their death, they moved to
then, on the other hand, there was the world of my
Barranquilla, a river port. He received a better than
grandmother, which was full of fantasy, completely
average education but claimed as an adult that his
outside of reality.”
most important literary sources were the stories
about Aracataca and his family that his grandfather
- Gabriel Marquez
had told him.IN a 1984 interview with NPR, he said
 ERA
Julio Cortazar Carlos Fuentes Mario Vargas Llosa Juan Rulfo

Carlos Fuentes Macías Jorge Mario Pedro Juan Rulfo, was a

Julio Florencio Cortázar was a Mexican novelist
was an Argentine-
French novelist, short
story writer, essayist,
and translator.
Mexican writer,
Vargas Llosa, is a
and essayist. screenwriter, and
Peruvian novelist,
photographer. He is
journalist, essayist, and
best known for two
a former politician.
literary work, Pedro
Páramo andEl Llano en
llamas.
 Writing Style

Reality is an important theme in all of García

Márquez's works. He said of his early works Realism
all reflect the reality of life in Colombia and
this theme determines the rational structure
of the books. The style of these works fits in
the "marvellous realm" described by the Magical Realism
Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier and was
labeled as magical realism. His novels were
filled with miraculous and enchanting events
and characters; love and madness; wars, Surrealism
politics, dreams and death.
 Writing Style
García Márquez was known for his capacity to create vast, minutely woven plots and brief,
tightly knit narratives. García Márquez was noted for leaving out seemingly important details
and events so the reader is forced into a more participatory role in the story development.

Leaving out Vastness of

details Plot
 School of Thought
Socialist

García Márquez was a "committed leftist" throughout his life, adhering to socialist beliefs.
In 1991 he published Changing the History of Africa, an admiring study of Cuban activities
in the Angolan Civil War and the larger South African Border War. García Márquez's
political and ideological views were shaped by his grandfather's stories.
 Literary Movements – Latin
American Boom

The Latin American Boom was a literary

Started in 1960s movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the
work of a group of relatively young Latin
American novelists became widely circulated
in Europe and throughout the world.
Still Ongoing by the New
Generation
Literary Movements – Magical Realism

Inclusion of
fantastic or
mythical
elements into
seemingly The fantastic
realistic fiction elements may
be intrinsically
plausible but
are never
explained
Uses symbols
and imagery
extensively
Introduction to
the Story
 Plot Summary
The story begins after three days of rain. Pelayo comes back from throwing the crabs into the
sea, he sees a very dirty old man with wings laying face down in mud. A neighbor informs them
that the man is an angel. The following day, the entire town knows about the man with wings
who is said to be an angel. Pelayo decides to chain up the man and keep him in the chicken
coop.

Sea Shore in News spread all

Rain across town
 Plot Summary

Father Gonzaga then warns the onlookers

that the man is not an angel. However, the Start of a
people do not care, and word spreads that
business
the old man with wings is an angel. Pelayo
and Elisenda charge people admission.
However, the old man wants nothing to do
Abusing the old
with his act. His audiences attempt to get man
him to react, at one point prodding him with
hot iron pokers. The angel responds in anger.
 Plot Summary

The townspeople lose interest in the angel. People lose

However, Pelayo and Elisenda are able to
interest
build a mansion with the fortune they have
gained by charging admission. The old man
becomes very ill. Yet, he survives the winter
The old man flies
and becomes stronger. One day, he tries to away
fly off and succeeds.
 Symbolism
Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses imagery and symbolism throughout his entire short story from
beginning to end. One of the most significant uses of symbolism in this text would be the old
man or the angel that the village encounters which represents light and dirt. Wings represent
power, speed, and limitless freedom of motion.

Ironic
Freedom Portrayal of Ignorance
Angel
Character Analysis
 Characters List
The characters in the story are largely ironic as they represent different sides of the same story.
The following are the notable characters from the story; the old man, Pelayo & Elisenda, the
neighbor, father Gonzaga, the Church, the crowd and the spider-woman.
 Characters Analysis
The Old Man

Filthy and bedraggled, the old man speaks a foreign language that no one can understand.
His wings and unintelligible language prompts some people to believe that he’s a fallen
angel and the church to believe he’s a Norwegian, even though he seems oblivious to
nearly everything that happens around him.
 Characters Analysis
Pelayo

Pelayo is an ordinary villager, poor but grudgingly willing to shelter the winged old man in
his chicken coop. Pelayo guards the old man from harm, humbly consults the village priest,
and has the sense to resist the more extravagant advice he receives from the other
villagers.
 Characters Analysis
Elisenda

Elisenda is a perfect match for her husband, Pelayo, being equally ordinary and concerned
with practical matters. If anything, Elisenda is the more practical of the two because she
suggests charging admission to see the “angel.”
 Characters Analysis
Father Gonzaga

The village priest. As an authority figure in the community, Father Gonzaga takes it upon
himself to discern whether the old man is an angel as the townsfolk believe or just a mortal
who just happens to have wings. Father Gonzaga is skeptical that the dirty old man could
really be a messenger from heaven”
 Characters Analysis
The Neighbor

Pelayo and Elisenda’s bossy neighbor. The supposedly wise neighbor woman actually
seems more like a silly know-it-all than a true counselor and is the first to suggest that the
old man is a crippled angel.”
 Characters Analysis
The Spider-Woman

A freak-show attraction who visits the village. Punished for the sin of disobeying her
parents, the spider woman now has the body of an enormous spider and the head of a sad
young woman.
Themes’ Analysis
 Themes of the Story

Ambiguity Diversity Fame Understanding Divine Gift

Ambiguity

We don’t
always know
what life brings

Blessing in
disguise

Lack of
perspective
 Diversity

The story may represent the Unequal

struggles of any minority or special Outcasts Treatment
person in a society.
 Marquez Handling Fame
Published in
1968

Famous in
50s

Coping with the

pressure of
expectations
 Critique of Masses’ Understanding
of the World
Narrow
Minded
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings wryly
examines the human response to those who are
weak, dependent, and different. There are
moments of striking cruelty and callousness
throughout the story. It questions how we
attempt to under the world around us. Masses

Asserting
Upbringing
Standad
 Divine Gift
Angel comes off the
shores, singing sea
shanties

Sea represents voice of

God in Bible.

People’s Reaction
 CONCLUSION

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings is a very vague story that can be interpreted in many ways.
Marquez uses magical realism to craft a thought-provoking tale. The general theme of “A Very Old
Man With Enormous Wings” is “Let things run their natural course; don't bring conflict upon
yourself by trying to defy nature”.
 Acknowledgment

Thank you Ma’am Baila for giving us the opportunity to present this
topic and guiding us through this course. And I'm thankful to my
fellow classmates for their time.
THANK YOU
.