Structural Analysis of Gabriel García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”

In this occasion, I will analyze a short story that is written by Gabriel García Márquez. This short story uses magical realism elements. Click here to read the short story.

1.       Characters and Characterization

a.       The Old Man

·         He has human body and huge buzzard wings.

·         He is unhealthy and weak man.

·         He has only few faded hair.

·         He was dressed like a ragpicker.

·         He has antiquarian eyes.

·         He has very few teeth in his mouth.

·         He has human reaction to the people who watched him.

·         He had an unbearable smell of outdoors.

·    The back of his wings was strewn with parasites and his main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds.

·         He has incomprehensible dialect with a strong sailor’s voice.

·         He has sidereal bat wing.

b.      Pelayo

·         He is the discoverer of the old man.

·         He is an ordinary villager, kind man.

·         He is Elisenda’s husband.

·         He and Elisenda become rich from showing the angel to the crowd.

c.       Elisenda

·         She is Pelayo’s wife.

·         She is a practical woman.

·         She is charging five cents admission to see the angel.

·         She felt awful when the angel reproducing himself all through the house.

d.      Father Gonzaga

·         He is a parish priest.

·         He is a former robust wood cutter.

·         He is a well organized and careful man.

e.      The Neighbor Woman

·         She is Pelayo and Elisenda’s bossy neighbor.

·         She is a wise woman.

·         She knew everything about life and death.

f.        The Spider Woman

·         She is cursed into spider because disobeying her parents.

·         She is from traveling show.

·         She was a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of sad maiden.

·         She has sincere affliction.

g.       Pelayo and Elisenda’s Child

·         He is sick.

·         He went inside the chicken coop before he got his second teeth.

2.       Setting

a.       Setting of Place

·         Inside Pelayo’s house.

·         In the rear of the courtyard.

·         In the chicken coop.

b.      Setting of Time

·         On the third day of rain.

·         On March nights.

·         Since Tuesday.

3.       Theme

The theme is, “The coexistence of cruelty and compassion.”

4.       Plot

a.       Incentive Moment: Pelayo found an old man with a pair of enormous wings in the rear of the courtyard.

b.      Rising Action: Elisenda got an idea to charge the admission to see the old man after the news spread. A debate also appeared whether or not the old man is an angel. Elisenda earned much money from it.

c.   Climax: The people who watched the angel mistreat him. Elisenda and Pelayo didn’t pay attention to him and used this situation to earn more money.

d.   Falling Action: A carnival comes to the town and the crowd vanishes. The old man’s condition getting worse.

e.     Resolution: The old man practice runs and flaps. Finally, he and fly an disappears into the horizon.

                                          

5.       Point of View

The short story used third person point of view.