Irony In A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

The way Pelayo and his wife treated the angel throughout the whole story emphasizes some aspects of the theme. In the beginning of the story, Gabriel García Márquez described the very old man by mentioning that he had few teeth and hairs left. He compared his attire to a “ragpicker” and his overall state to a great grandfather which can only accentuate the fact that the angel looked extremely old and in a very distressing condition. According to the author, the very old man spoke an unrecognizable language which made communicating with the villagers even harder. Seeing how pitiful the state of the angel was, Pelayo and his wife concluded that he is a survivor from a ship that has been wrecked by some storm. However, even after making such conclusion they couldn’t decide whether to help him or not. They couldn’t lend a hand to an old man covered in mud. This shows how humans could be a little cruel but mostly shows how humans fear the unrecognizable and the unknown which in this case is represented by the very old man in enormous wings. Even when they started to discern what he might

In the novel ‘’Night’’ Eliezer survives from Auschwitz and surprisingly almost dies from food poisoning.The irony in this is that he could of died many ways at Auschwitz but ultimately almost dies from food poisoning.That is also a form of situational irony meaning that the situation turns opposite of what you expect.Another example of situational irony in’’Night’’ is when Chlomo Wiesel makes a remark about the yellow Jewish star,mocking it by asking if its lethal,but wearing the yellow star is what kills him in the story.In this essay I’ll be giving you more three more examples of irony throughout the novel ‘’Night’’.

Irony is used in many different types of texts for the purpose of teaching us a lesson. We experience irony in our lives through our own encounters as well as through texts and media. There are three types of irony: situational, verbal, and dramatic. Each type has a way of teaching us an important lesson, although some are more common than others. In the Poem “The Old Man’s Lazy” by Peter Blue Cloud, irony is used throughout the text, allowing us to learn from the characters’ mistakes.

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a short story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez about an “angel” who appears in a town and catalogs the reactions of the townsfolk to his presence. The capacity of humans to do evil through no fault but their own is also something explored in their story[worded strangely & needs revision]. Through this short story, Marquez demonstrates a theme of irony, which is shown through not only the angel, but the townsfolk and their beliefs and ideals.

It is often said that irony is the vital literary element to a story because it gives the story character. Whether it changes the mood, creates suspense, adds foreshadowing, engages the reader or something else, irony can do many things for a story.

A very dull and boring story can be made into a great story simply by adding in something that is unexpected to happen. When the unexpected is used in literature it is known as irony. An author uses irony to shock the reader by

In the two short stories, both the authors use situational irony to convey the exact opposite

The author of the story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Roald Dahl, uses a significant amount of irony throughout the story. Dahl uses irony to make his story more appealing to the reader by keeping them engaged. An example of irony in the story is when Mary is six months pregnant and her husband expresses he is leaving her, so she murders him. The audience would have never seen this coming because the author expresses Mary’s feelings from the beginning of the story by saying, “She loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in the door or moved slowly across the room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they rested on her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it away.” (Dahl 1-2). When Dahl shares Mary’s feelings, the reader concludes that Mary is an innocent, loving wife that truly loves her husband and would do absolutely anything for him. But when Mary murders him after he decides to leave, situational irony appears. This is an example of situational irony because the reader would never expect Mary to murder her husband, but the exact opposite occurs. Dahl also uses situational irony as an example of language. The language makes the story more intriguing and exciting. The situational irony is used in the story to shock the reader and to create the climax of the plot.

In the stories “Story of an Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery” it is evident that irony was quite a large part of the short story. There is situational irony, which is when the situation turns out differently than expected. Also, dramatic irony is present, which is when you as a reader knows more than the character. The authors seem to base their whole story around irony to surprise their readers.

It says,“..but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down,” ( Marquez 363). This phrase is critical to the theme of the story as it provides the readers information on the Angel and allows them to understand he was frail and week. This also gives the people who found him a gateway to a larger domain of opportunities to obtain money. In the short story, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.” Gabriel Marquez, develops the character of the Angel through the use of symbols, character, and plot to demonstrate encounters with those who are weak and how the Angel overcomes adversity through courage and strength.

Through the use of magical realism, Marquez shows us the absurdidity of people’s actions. The large man with enormous wings converys people’s misunderstanding of the unknown. Although the large man is thought to be an angel, because of his grotesque looks and awkward nature the townspeople treat him poorly. They shame the creature in various ways. This shows

Marquez uses irony as an element of tone to show the reader that the wings, which were supposed to aid the man, are now his source of anguish. It is evident when a woman, having concluded that the peculiar old man was an angel, decides to put him to death by bludgeoning. Marquez utilizes ironic wording in describing the actions of the couple who felt noble after their decision to put the old man on a raft with food “and leave him to his fate on the high seas.” (Márquez 14)

People watch other individuals experience irony all the time. When something is ironic it means that the thing that was to happen, did not happen the way it was thought to happen. Sometimes irony happens to those who least expect it or irony happens to everyone. There have been songs, television ads, and stories written about irony or that have included ironic events or details. One piece of literature that contains a lot of irony is Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”. Crane uses irony in many different ways in the story to tell of four individuals who survive their ship being wrecked and everyone else aboard has drown.

Location also tells us that it is economically and socially underdeveloped, and is reinforced with the image of isolation given to us when Garcia Marquez writes of Father Gonzaga having to write and send a letter to the bishop. The time period of the story is established as modern day when it is written “…in determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane…(Garcia Marquez 442).” The town’s people are portrayed as simple, primitive and crude as demonstrated when Garcia Marquez writes  “…they did not have the heart to club him to death.” and then instead Pelayo “…dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop (441).” After the child’s fever breaks Pelayo and Elisenda “felt magnanimous and decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas (441).”

There are snapshots of striking brutality all through the story. After Elisenda and Pelayo's baby recoups from his ailment, for instance, the guardians choose to put the old man to ocean on a pontoon with arrangements for three days as opposed to simply killing him, prolonging his suffering. When they find that they can benefit from exhibiting him, nonetheless, Pelayo and Elisenda detain him in a chicken coop outside, where outsiders pelt him with stones, gape at him, and even smolder him with a marking iron. As the story proceeds readers are shown that the couple is indifferent regarding the old man's circumstance Elisenda takes advantage of the old man as she realizes she an profit off of his appearance at the detriment of the old man's nobility. Town people are not regarding others. Rather than helping the poor man who is in a terrible physical condition they deride and embarrass him "They found the whole neighborhood having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence ,tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren't a supernatural creature but a circus animal." Marquez makes a productive feedback about the decay of qualities in American culture and in which visual impairment and lack of respect are the reason for this