The Realities in the Unrealistic World
            
             The 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 the story continues, one meets the "unfortunate invalids" who have odd ailments which are extraordinary (206). And finally, there is the woman who turned into a "frightful tarantula the size of a ram" (208).
             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. Everyone acted as if these creatures were normal and that they seemed so casual. 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. One example would be when "... Pelayo and Elisenda very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him (the angel) familiar", just like that, considering that it was the first night that they met him (204). Another scene is that of the woman spider, who was just among the "so many other carnival attraction...