Realities in the Unrealistic World
The Realities in the Unrealistic WorldThe short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez entitled "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" brings us into a world of fiction by introducing characters and events that are very unfamiliar to our world. From the title itself, one finds both real and unreal elements - the "very old man", and the "very old man with enormous wings". At first, I found the story quite absurd and too childish. Well, that was before I learned about Magical Realism. So when I read the short story a second time, I found myself impressed with how it is able to allow realistic human values to be manifested in the atmosphere of a strange world. Beginning from the title, the story continually introduces unrealistic characters and plots. The first paragraph introduces the very old man who was "impeded by his enormous wings" (203). In the following paragraph, a "woman who knew everything about life and death" confronts us (204). And as th
Another scene is that of the woman spider, who was just among the "so many other carnival attractions" (207). Children, on the other hand, are more open to new ideas; they are more appreciative of the unrealistic. There are probably more characteristics of human nature that were depicted by Marquez which I am not aware of. However, as I was reading the story I also found myself surprised at how the other characters in the story reacted to these uncanny characters. The collective reaction of the people in some particular events was not explicitly described by Marquez; however, the context clues are enough to conclude so. However, Marquez distorts this picture and gives us the opposite, ". and charging five cents admission to see the angel" (206). Adults tend to entertain stories that are more pragmatic and those that make "sense" to them. "Unlike other fantastic stories, this contains elements of the profit-seeking world with which all of us are familiar (Morris 1).
Common topics in this essay:
Magical Realism,
Father Gonzaga,
Pelayo Elisenda,
Garcia Marquez,
Enormous Wings,
Unrealistic World,
garcia marquez,
Gabriel Garcia,
gabriel garcia marquez,
gabriel garcia,
enormous wings,
story found,
human nature,
magical realism,
short story,
short fiction,
|
Acceptance Essays
