Short Stort Essay Draf 1

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Dec 6, 2023

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Gonzalez 1 Irvin Gonzalez ENGL-1302-085 10/10/2023 Asynchronous Short Story Character Analysis Essay A Deep Look into A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a lawyer, journalist, and ultimately a writer was born on March 6, 1927. While his parents worked, much of his youth was spent with his maternal grandparents in Aratacata a small village in Colombia. His Grandfather, Nicolas Marquez Mejia a retired military colonel, would often share his old military stories and ghost tales with young Gabriel. Unbeknown to his grandfather, these stories would serve as inspiration to Gabriel in the future (Gianoulis). Gabriel studied Law at the University of Bogota and eventually landed a gig as a journalist while working for the newspaper. While working in Paris, the violence in Colombia reached its peak. The newspaper shut down and decided to no longer support his efforts when he was let go. It was then that he embarked on a writing career full time while recycling bottles to make ends meet. Gabriel's stories often utilize fictitious creatures and meteorological symbolism as a tool to set the tone of his stories and captivate readers. The author's use of rain is often reminiscent of his younger days during the rainy season in Aratacata and paints a grim picture of monotony, desperation, and overall despondency (Adams). Gabriel’s choice of words allows the reader to feel the “sadness” looming in the environment for example in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings he uses the phrase “stew of mud and rotten shellfish” to allow the reader to see and smell the sand vividly (Marquez 428). As the story plot evolves changes in the Angels health will

Gonzalez 2 influence the weather. This change in tone within the story allows the reader to foreshadow how the plot will unfold. In A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings during a storm, while tending to his sick child, Pelayo finds an old man struggling to get up due to the weight of his wings. Unsure of what might be wrong, Pelayo's neighbor comes over to assist. She identified the old man as an angel who likely came for Pelayo and his wife Elisenda's young, sick child. (Marquez 428) Unfortunately, the angel was too weak and old to complete his duty. To the dismay of his neighbor who recommended killing the Angel, Pelayo put his suspicions aside and sheltered the angel in his chicken coop. Surprisingly the next day the bad weather stopped, and the child’s health was restored. Gabriel Marquez's symbolic use of weather and mystic creatures allows his stories to unfold and gives the reader insight into the complex behaviors the characters experience in the presence of the Angel. As described by Clementina Adams, “Gabriel Garcia’s short stories are strongly influenced by climate conditions characteristic of his homeland” (Adams,65-72). When taking examples from A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, the weather seems to be impacting Pelayo's mood as the narrator describes it as “sad and ashy” (Marquez 428). Gabriel uses the child’s sickness as a focal point to emphasize his hardship Pelayo, somber and helpless against the rain, simply tries to tend to his sick child. Not only does the bad weather plague him, Pelayo has to deal with a crab infestation that is suspected to be the root cause of his child’s fever. The mood is being set by Pelayo’s misfortune and the endless rain that sparked the young boy’s fever. The initial display of Pelayo’s conflict with the Angel begins when he stumbles upon an old man with wings on his back, perplexed about where the decrepit man’s origin is from he looks for help from anyone who might have the closest idea of what it could be. “He’s an

Gonzalez 3 Angel… who must have been coming for your child,” said the crazy neighbor (Marquez 428). The Angel is representative of the inexplicable, a symbol of the unknown, and the neighbors’ assumptions are simply the human intrigue at what they can’t explain showcasing how people tropicalize the unknown to come to terms with oneself. When the weather cleared and his child recovered from his ailment, Pelayo's suspicions vanished at the realization that maybe his actions had played a role. In a show of gratitude, the Angel had healed his son in exchange. The Angel is the antagonistic character. He is symbolic of the unknown and peoples’ struggle to figure out how something so detached from their reality could exist. His encounters were usually unpleasant and, as time went by, people realized how much of an inconvenience he was. Father Gonzaga who was the city’s priest warned and implored the city to not fall for the devil's “carnival” tricks. He cautioned that only the “unwary” would believe the Angel simply because of its wings. Elisenda was tired of having to pick up after the spectators visited and ended up hating the angel because of it. All the fortune in the world could not get her out of the “hell full of angels” she lived in. The village citizens only came to ask for miracles and often hurt or harassed the angels for their own personal gain. This array of responses from all characters to the angel pokes fun at human nature. The villagers are wrapped up in their world and interested more in what they can get out of the Angel while failing to realize the significance of encountering an Angel in the first place. (Faulkner) When discussing a character in conflict within himself one cannot dismiss observing Elisenda as a prime example. Elisenda out of all characters might have been the one who benefited the most, yet her dismissive attitude towards the angel made it seem like he was simply a bother. Initially, when the Angel was cooped up with the hens, Elisenda's problems stemmed from the trash left behind by the Angel-watching spectators. Her attitude towards the issue

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