“A VERY OLD MAN WITH Gabriel

Marquez
ENORMOUS WINGS”
 TONE/MOOD

Tone- how does the speaker feel about the subject they are
writing about?

Mood- how does the reader feel about the subject they are
reading about?

Remember that the tone/mood are created by the diction (word

choice).
 TONE

 Bleak
▪ “The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single
ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights
glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten
shellfish” (Marquez1).
▪ “There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few
teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-
grandfather took away the sense of grandeur he might have had. His
huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked were forever entangled in
the mud” (Marquez 1).
 MOOD

 Sympathetic
▪ “The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was coming back to
the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see
what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the
courtyard. He had to get very close to see that it was an old man, a
very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his
tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous
wings”(Marquez 1).
▪ …[H]ens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that
proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers…even
the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise so
they could see him standing… they burned his side with an iron for
branding” (Marquez 2).
 SETTING

 Temporal setting - when a story takes place.

 Physical setting - where a story takes place.

 TEMPORAL SETTING

 The story begins at noon on a Friday.

▪ “On the third day of rain…the world had been sad since Tuesday”
(Marquez 1).
▪ “The light was so weak at noon…” (Marquez 1).

 The story ends several years later in the morning.

▪ “On morning…” (Marquez 4).
▪ “When the child began school…” (Marquez 4). “…because the
newborn child had a temperature all night…” (Marquez 1).
 PHYSICAL SETTING

 The story takes place in a small village by the sea.

▪ “…Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into
the sea…” (Marquez 1).
▪ “On the following day everyone knew that a flesh -and-blood angel
was held captive in Pelayo’s house” (Marquez 1).
 CONFLICT

 Internal conflict- (man vs. self) This is when a character has a

conflict within themselves. This is usually a moral conflict.

 External conflict- (man vs. man, man vs. society, man vs.
nature) This is when a character has a conflict with some
aspect of nature, society, and/or with another character(s).
 INTERNAL CONFLICT

 Elisenda and Pelayo- Both characters are conflicted because

they do not know what they should do with the angel.
▪ “Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with
his bailiff’s club…they decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh
water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate…
(Marquez 1).
▪ …what to do with dead angels” (Marquez 4).
▪ “Elisenda let out a sigh of relief, for herself and for him…” (Marquez
4).
 EXTERNAL CONFLICT (MAN VS. MAN)

 Man vs. man- the couple vs. the angel

▪ “With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion with
balconies…” (Marquez 3).
▪ “They would drive [the angel] out of the bedroom with a broom and a
moment later find him in the kitchen…the exasperated and unhinged
Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in that hell full of angels”
(Marquez 3).
EXTERNAL CONFLICT (MAN VS. SOCIET Y)

 The people vs. the angel

 The angel is mistreated and unwanted/ seen as ‘the other’
▪ …[H]ens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that proliferated in his
wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers…even the most merciful threw stones
at him, trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing…they burned his
side with an iron for branding” (Marquez 2).
▪ [I]t is awful living in a hell full of angels” (Marquez 4).
 No one unde rstands the ange l.
▪ “He spent most of his time trying to get comfortable…the hellish heat of the oil
lamps and sacramental candles...they tried to make him eat some mothballs…”
(Marquez 2).
▪ “…he only lifted his antiquarian eyes and murmured something in his dialect..”
(Marquez 2).
 The angel vs. the spider
 People like the spider better than the angel.
▪ “[T]he woman who had been turned into a spider finally crushed him completely”
(Marquez 3).
▪ “A spectacle like that, full of so much human truth and with such fearful lesson,
was bound to defeat without even trying that of a haughty angel who scarcely
deigned to look at mortals” (Marquez 3).
 EXTERNAL CONFLICT (MAN VS. NATURE)

 Pelayo and Elisenda vs. the crabs

 “On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that
Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea,
because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it
was due to the stench” (Marquez 1).
 The angel vs. the elements
▪ “[H]is main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds…”
(Marquez 2).
 POINT OF VIEW

 First person- (I, me, my, us, we, our) The story is told from one
character’s perspective.
 Second person- (you, your) The narrator is directly addressing
the audience.
 Third person limited- (he, she, it, they, them) The person
telling the story is not a character in the story. The person
telling the story can only see into ONE character’s mind
 Third person omniscient - The person telling the story is not a
character in the story. The person in the story can see into
EVERY character’s mind.
 POINT OF VIEW

 Third person limited

▪ The story is third person limited because the person narrating the
story is not a character in the story. Furthermore, the narrator cannot
see into EVERY character’s mind.
 ANALYSIS OF POINT OF VIEW

 The story is third person limited because the person narrating

the story is not a character in the story, and they cannot see
in the mind of the angel.
▪ Because the narrator is not a character in the story, they describe the
angel in a way they will make us feel sympathetic; they seem to see
how much he is suffering, which the villagers would not do because
of their biases.
▪ Because we never see inside the mind of the angel, we never know
where/who he is, or how he feels. This is important because it adds
to the mystery of the angel, and it helps make the angel seem even
more misunderstood by all those around him.
 IMAGERY

 Imagery occurs when there is so much description/figurative

language that the audience can see, hear, smell, taste, and/or
feel what the speaker is describing.
 IMAGERY

 “He awoke with a start, ranting in his hermetic language and

with tears in his eyes, and he flapped his wings a couple of
times, which brought on a whirlwind of chicken dung”
(Marquez 3).
 “With the money they saved they built a two -story mansion
with balconies and gardens and high netting so that crabs
wouldn’t get in during the winter, and with iron bars on the
windows so that angels wouldn’t get in… Elisenda bought some
satin pumps with high heels and many dresses of iridescent
silk…the chicken coop was the only thing that didn’t receive
any attention. If they washed it down with creolin and burned
tears of myrrh inside it every so of ten, it was not in hmage to
the angel but to drive away the dungheap stench that still
hung everywhere like a ghost” (Marquez 4).
 CHARACTERIZATION

 Direct characterization- This occurs when the narrator tells

you the personality of the character.

 Indirect characterization - This occurs when the narrator shows

you the personality of the character (actions, ef fect on other
characters, speech, looks).
 DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

 The angel
▪ Patient- “His supernatural virtue seemed to be patience” (Marquez 2).
▪ Crazy- “The few miracles attributed to the angel showed a certain
mental disorder” (Marquez 3).
▪ Angel- “’He’s an angel’” (Marquez 1).
▪ Sickly- “[H]e found so much whistling in the heart and so many
sounds in his kidneys that it seemed impossible for him to be alive”
(Marquez 4).
 The neighbor
▪ Knowledgeable- “And yet, they called in a neighbor woman who knew
everything about life and death to see him” (Marquez 1).
 INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

 Elisenda (selfish and ungrateful)

▪ “With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion…the
chicken coop was the only thing that didn’t receive any attention”
(Marquez 3). “Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in a hell full of
angels” (Marquez 4). “[The angel] was no longer an annoyance in her
life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea” (Marquez 4).
 The angel (hopeful and cautious)
▪ “He remained motionless for several days in the farthest corner of
the courtyard, where no one would see him, and at the beginning of
December some large, stiff feathers began to grow on his wings… he
was quite careful that no one should notice them , that no one should
hear the sea chanteys that he sometimes sang under the stars”
(Marquez 4).
 MAGICAL REALISM

 Real-world setting
 Open-ended conclusion
 No explanation given for magical being
 Realistic description of the magical being
 Meant to be a critique of society
 ANALYSIS OF GENRE

 Magical realism
▪ Instead of telling the audience that they are selfish, hypocritical, self -
serving individuals who fear anyone who is different, Marquez chose
to show the audience this with a magical character we could connect
to/feel sympathy for. This allows the audience to take any bias they
may already have out of the equation and focus on the story’s
message.
 PLOT

 Exposition- the beginning of the stor y when the characters,

setting, and conflict are introduced.

 Rising action- the events that take place before the climax

 Climax- the turning point of the stor y (the point when the central
conflict either allows for the protagonist to be the winner or the
loser).

 Falling action- the events that take place before the resolution

 Resolution- the end of the stor y when the conflict has been
resolved and life goes back to normal
 PROTAGONIST/ANTAGONIST

 Protagonist- the main character/ the story revolves around

this character

 Antagonist- the character in conflict with the protagonist/ the

conflict in the story revolves around this character.
 SYMBOLS/THEME

 Symbol- When something represents something else.

 Theme- This is the central message of the story. Ask yourself:

what is the story trying to say about people/life in general?
 SYMBOLISM

 What is said about the angel vs. Reality

▪ Neighbor
▪ What is said- he is an angel.
▪ Reality - “[His wings] seemed so natural on that completely human
organism that he couldn’t understand why other men didn’t have them
too” (Marquez 4).
▪ Elisenda
▪ What is said- he is a nuisance.
▪ Reality - he is the reason Elisenda and her husband have so much money
at the end of the story.
▪ Father Gonzaga
▪ What is said- he is not an angel.
▪ Reality - He performs several miracles, and Father Gonzaga bases his
reasoning on the angel’s appearance and inability to speak Aramaic.
 THEME

 Exclusion of those who are dif ferent

▪ Elisenda, Pelayo, and the rest of the people react cautionary to the
angel and treat him like an animal because he is different.
▪ “Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his
bailiff’s club” (Marquez 1).
▪ “…put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days
and leave him to his fate on the high seas” (Marquez 1).
▪ “the whole neighborhood…without the slightest reverence, tossing him
things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren’t a
supernatural creature but a circus animal” (Marquez 1).
 THEME

 People are selfish

▪ After the angel allows them to become very wealthy, Elisenda and
Pelayo still resent the angel.
▪ They never even upgrade the chicken coop when they remodel their
house.
▪ People stop visiting the angel when they realize he will not cure their
diseases, heal their wounds, etc.
▪ People selfishly listen to the spider’s sad tale in order to feel a sense
of catharsis, but this does not do anything to help the spider.
 THEME

 People are too easily swayed to exploit others.

▪ Elisenda and Pelayo exploit the angel for money.
▪ The people exploit the angel and the spider for their own amusement.
 THEME

 People are hypocritical

▪ Father Gonzaga should be a moral representation for the people, but
once he concludes the winged man is not an angel, he does nothing
to help the poor man or ease his sufferings.
 ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLISM

 What people say about the angel vs. the reality

▪ Supports the theme of ‘otherness’
▪ Instead of trying to decipher what the winged man/angel is, the
angel just needed some compassion.
▪ The people did not need to know where/who the man was in order to
know he was suffering.
 ANALYSIS OF TONE/MOOD

 The bleak tone and sympathetic mood throughout the story

are used to support the many themes within the story.