A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

All of humanity has seen the supernatural. Romans 1:20 says that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made”. God is basically saying here that we need go no further than a rainfall, the sun shining in the sky, or a mountain majestically standing firm in its place, to see the supernatural things of God. Jesus says much the same, “For he (God) makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45, emphasis added); even David states the same truth in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” All of humanity has experienced the supernatural, even if they do not acknowledge it. The same chapter in Romans says that humanity has “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25). Gabriel Garcia Marquez illustrates this Biblical truth, if perhaps accidentally, in his short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. More specifically, in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez presents the idea that humanity would rather gain or be entertained by the supernatural, than be changed by it.

The storyline of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is simple enough, as Marquez wrote it to be a child’s story. A poor man named Pelayo and his wife Elisenda find an old man with wings in their yard. The old man is in a pitiful state and they lock him in the chicken coop. The old man’s wings lead to the labeling of him as an “angel”, and so this strange appearance brings “pilgrims” from all over the world to visit this strange occurrence. Eventually, however, the crowds are drawn away from the “angel”, who does not speak or do anything put lie in his pitiful state in the chicken coop, to a girl who has been turned into a spider being shown at the carnival. The story ends with the “angel” flying back out over the ocean in a beautiful scene that only Elisenda witnesses.

The inability for man to appreciate the supernatural can be seen in the crowds that come to see the “angel”. They come eagerly, even willing to pay, but are sorely disappointed when the angel says nothing, and performs miracles that they seem to be inconsequential. The people leave the old man as soon as something more interesting, like the spider-girl, comes along. Something that fits what they want in the supernatural, as false religions and world views of today deceive people with a false truth that seems more attractive. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. The “angel” can be taken as a Christ-type, or a character that embodies some of the characteristics of Christ. He falls from glory into a pitiful state, reminiscent of Philippians 2:6-8, “Christ Jesus...made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”. This brings up another interesting Christ characteristic, the Old Man with Enormous Wings is rejected by man because he is “much too human” (Marquez par. 5), and is even accused of being a trick used by the devil. This accusation is made by a religious ruler, Father Gonzaga, calling to mind the Pharisees’ accusation that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul (Matthew 12:24). Even looking past the Pharisees, most of the Jewish nation rejected Jesus because he was not what they thought he should be. The Messiah was suppose to save them from the oppressive power of Rome, not die on a cross; in Marquez’s words, he came “much to human”. Marquez’s perhaps most obvious allusion to Christ in the story is when an onlooker pierces the angel’s side with a hot iron, just as Jesus was pierced by a spear on the cross (John 19:34).

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” teaches us that the supernatural is not something to be entertained by, but something that should change us. The only person who perhaps realizes this is Elisenda. When the angel makes his flight across the sea, she is the only one to witness: “She (Elisenda) kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea. (Marquez par. 13)” The angel is no longer an annoyance, but something beautiful. Maybe Elisenda will think on her experience with the angel. Perhaps she will think of the poor state of herself and Pelayo before the angel appeared, in a old house infected with crabs with a sick child, and the life that they now lead, in a big, new house, where they no longer have to catch crabs, the child well and in school. One day Elisenda may see all the angel did for her family, and the Old Man with Enormous Wings will live in her memory as a beautiful dot on the sea of her life, just as some finally see the world around them as the beautiful dot of God, and so believe in the Lord of all creation.