P. 7/8: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings- Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Carla Sanford

Choose to respond to A, B, C

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:05:34 UTC

What human shortcomings might Garcia Marquez be satirizing in this story? Consider:

A. How do Pelayo and Elisenda treat the old man?

B. Why does Father Gonzaga suspect the old man is not an angel?

C. How do people react to the “spectacles” of the angel and the spider-woman?

Satire:

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:06:06 UTC

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. (Dictionary.com)

Symbol

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:06:34 UTC

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:07:39 UTC

What might the old man symbolize? The miracles we wish for but are unable to accept when they happen? The artist, who is often mocked and misunderstood by other people and whose imagination longs to soar? The limitations of organized religion? Something else?

Resolution

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:07:58 UTC

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:08:27 UTC

How do you interpret the story’s resolution? What causes the old man to be able to fly away? How does this impact the message of the story?

Instructions: Be sure to include your name and response to ONE question thoughtfully and completely.

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:16:59 UTC

Exemplary Responses will include:

csanford20 — 2024-03-25 17:20:21 UTC

Textual Reference

Thoughtful reader response

Complete sentences and correct grammar for clarity.

A Test - Saniya

2024-03-25 17:31:28 UTC

Genuinely, I believe the old man was sent as a test. A lot of the time even in the bible someone is tested to show their faith. Elisenda and Pelayo did not have the hearts to club him to death and this resulted him them keeping their child and making a motherlode off the creature.

2024-03-25 17:33:00 UTC

Father gonzaga claimed that he was not an angel based on a few things. When he approached the birdman he spoke to him in latin which the birdman didn't understand which was an initial suspicion as to why an angel wouldn't be able to speak the language of god. He then examined his body and noticed that he was too human like stunk awfully and had very unsanitary feathers and missing alot of feathers. he was also very dirty. Elijah

Niall Gillen Q2

2024-03-25 17:33:29 UTC

I believe that the Angel symbolizes the marginalized and how society treats them. Pelayo initially takes him in, sparing his life, before utilizing his features for profit. The Angel does not resist, patiently existing in solitude. Once he becomes useless as an attraction, he is allowed into the mansion his work paid for before finally flying off into the Sea where he started. This story strongly connects to the way undocumented immigrants are treated and have been historically. The angel is seen purely as a commodity, similar to how immigrants are seen useful only for their economic benefits. Additionally, they are not recognized for their accomplishments just like how the Angel wasn't recognized for his role in Pelayo's wealth accumulation.

aubrey

2024-03-25 17:33:48 UTC

B. I think because he is a priest and as a priest you don't really believe in spirits like that. I think the author is making front of the neighbor because they believe in different things while shes more spiritual while he is a priest.

Elsa B

2024-03-25 17:34:04 UTC

He suspects that he is not an angel because he saw that he did not understand the language of God or know how to greet his ministers. His wings were not an essential element in determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane. Also " he was much too human; he had an unbearable smell of the outdoors, the back side of his wings was strewn with parasites, and his main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds, coop and in a brief sermon warned the curious against the risks of being ingenuous" (Marquez 5).

Jade hosler

2024-03-25 17:34:41 UTC

A.) Pelayo and Elisenda poorly treat the old man by putting him up for show and physically hurting him by burning him and making chickens poke him.

A - tamia

2024-03-25 17:36:10 UTC

they threw him in the chicken coop and had him almost viewed as some type of animal attraction. they didn't treat him that well for a while. having him get burned and all typa stuff.

Jordyn Griffen response A

2024-03-25 17:36:12 UTC

Pelayo and Elisenda treated the old man as a miracle and then took advantage of him by making him a "act" and made people pay to see him.

Keris

2024-03-25 17:36:35 UTC

Why Father Gonzaga suspects that the old man is not an angel is because he starts to explain how hes much more human than angel for example when he said "he had an unbearable smell of the outdoors, the back side of his wings was strewn" .

Jadess

2024-03-25 17:37:16 UTC

I feel like the author might be making fun of humans greed and anger towards things they dont understand completely

Chelsea

2024-03-25 17:38:06 UTC

I interpret the story's resolution of strength. The old man is able to fly away with that gain of strength. It impacts the message of the story of involving mystery. We saw how he wasn't able to fly throughout the story and he was able to gain that power out of nowhere.

Dulce Juarez

2024-03-25 18:07:29 UTC

The old man might've symbolized victims of humanity's avarice and abuse of power. As he is constantly caged in the chicken coop his abusers and at the mercy of their whim, in which he has no say in. In addition to that, the old man is subjected to the townsfolk objectives and demands forcefully with little care to how it affected it him overall. That resulted in the old man's captures to make money off his sufferings and the old man gaining nothing from it in the end.