Enormous Wings

In a land where the natural and the supernatural collide, acceptance expands to new realms. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” magic realism brings forth a being that may, or not be an angel, and the alienation portrayed by everyone in the story. It is hard enough to fit in with the normal, but when there is no classification of a being where do they go? Everyone in this tale chooses to alienate the being, which is “to make unfriendly, hostile, or indifferent especially where attachment formerly existed“(Alienate, n.d.). Through analysis of the story, one can conclude that the married couple, the community, and even the narrator disenfranchises the main character through their words and actions. Pelayo discovers …show more content…
While the community and other characters have called the main character an old man, an angel, a Norwegian with wings and an imposter (Marquez, 1955), the narrator refers to him as an angel throughout the story. John Goodwin (2006) suggests “when the purpose is in identifying with various characters, a third-person perspective is ideal” (p.130). The narrator not only reveals the thoughts and feelings of the characters, but consistently expresses his/her views in the mix. Third-person is also known as an omniscient point of view, which is an external narrator who has access to the all the characters and an all-knowing point of view (Clugston, 2014). Even with the access, the narrator never reveals what the main character’s true identity is, leaving it open to interpretation, thus keeping the man/angel alienated from belonging …show more content…
Para. 10). Evidence of powers, yet discrediting ability, but still referring to the man as an angel leaves readers up in arms as to what to believe. Perhaps the narrator purposefully defends the label of an angel, and is looking for outside interpretation of the story with no one answer being correct. Regardless of the intent, the narrator does more than their fair share of alienating the main