Metaphors In A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

In A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses imagery, simile, symbolism and metaphor to describe the mistreatment of an ‘angel’ that fell from the sky, revealing the theme that assumptions can lead to unwarranted misfortune for the one being judged. This theme is first presented when characters Pelayo and Elisenda discover a man with wings. “He was dressed like a ragpicker… his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away and sense of grandeur he might have had” (Marquez, 975). Through visual imagery and simile, describing the winged man as a great grandfather and a ragpicker, he is connoted as grotesque, malformed, and of no use. These assumptions piled negative connotations on the old man without

“the most merciful threw stones at him... they burned his side with an iron for branding steers” (Marquez 977). All these punishments were warranted by the assumptions at the beginning of the story. Instead of examining further into why or how the winged man had arrived at the scene, the townspeople invented the answers. His misfortune reached its peak at this time for these punishments may have increased the angel’s recovery time. “at the beginning of December some large, stiff feathers began to grow on his wings, the feathers of a scarecrow... But he must have known the reason for those changes, for he was quite careful that no one should notice them” (Marquez, 980). The negative connotations of the angel continue. Conversely, this is present in the metaphor presented comparing the feathers on the angel’s wing to one of a scarecrow. However, despite this physical and emotional misfortune, the angel recovered. Literally and figuratively, he flew away, leaving his assumptions and misfortunes behind. Although this example may be supernatural, it is important to wait to make judgements, for in the end, the assumed’s misfortune may truly be unwarranted and