The Imperfection of Human Nature and Selfishness in “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” Anonymous 10th Grade

Magical realism is a genre where mysteriously enchanting events are intertwined with a realistic setting. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1982, investigates the negative view of human nature and derides the Roman Catholic Church through the short story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.” A family utilizes an old man who falls from the sky for their own personal gain and profit. The angel is imprisoned in a chicken coop where townspeople mistreat him. Marquez uses characters, objects, and the setting itself as symbols to satirize Human responses to those who are weak, dependent, and different.

Marquez uses the elements of magical realism in his short story to heavily emphasize how people fear what they don’t understand and dislike what they can’t defeat; which can also result in cruel treatment. This is a recurring theme that can be found throughout the story. Even though the plot focuses on an old man with “huge buzzard wings” (1), the stories’ focal point is not the angel, but the people surrounding him. The locals mistreat the man because he is viewed as being different or alien. For example, Pelayo “locked him [the old man] up with the hens in the wire chicken coop” and the neighborhood...