Old Man With Enormous Wings

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez is a story, told by a third person narrator, of a family who lives near the ocean. In the midst of a storm, they find an old man lying in the corner of their courtyard who is in “pitiful condition” (363) but has large, angelic wings. The husband and wife, Pelayo and Elisenda, ask their all-knowing neighbor about the man, to receive her advice. “He’s an angel.” she tells them. She prophesizes that he must have come to see their sick child, but was ravaged by the storm. The overall tone of the story seems to be negative, to say the least. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the significance of the story and to determine if it is indeed a story for children. The story is not told by an existent character in the

In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard’s friends and family take great care when trying to give her the news that her husband had been killed in a railroad disaster. Little do they know, Mrs. Mallard isn’t completely saddened by this, but in a way relieved. Both groups were plagued by something, but interpreted them in different ways. Others in “The Old Man with Enormous Wings” find him fascinating, and tried to play with him, but throughout the story the family just uses him for their own personal gain, and even thinks about killing, or abandoning him. Mrs. Mallard, instead of being broken by the death of her husband, is happy, because she would now long for the years that would “belong to her absolutely.” (288) She welcomed the future years that she could spend by herself, for herself, no longer having a will overpowering her own. In one story, they are given a gift, but see it as a nuisance. In the other, they have something taken from them, but one sees it as a gift. It is very interesting to see the discrepancies in which people can interpret the things that happen to