Narrating From Outside
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: Narrating From Outside
The story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez entitled “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” is a very strange tale. It is set within the courtyard of the two characters’, Pelayo and Elisenda’s, house. It seems as if everything happens in this area, and that we, like the man with wings, are held captive there as the narrator tells the tale. The narrator’s voice is not one you would expect from such a magical tale. It is blunt and almost in tuned with something as strange as this. He does not seem as if he is surprised by the fact that there is a winged man amongst people. He goes on and tells the story, he even gets side-tracked with other bits of information. The narrator’s voice in “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” is very straight forward, one of a magical realist, which is very ironic.
The narrator in the story seems to mix everyday events with ones that pertain to magic or unusual happenings. He does not seem surprised with anything that happens, and talks about everything as if they are usual. This is seen in the first paragraph when Pelayo first witnesses the man with wings in his courtyard:
“ it was 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” (qtd. Marquez 1).
The narrator himself was not shocked by the scene, and he described the image as if he has seen in already. He mixes non-magical descriptions with magical ones as if these things were usual in everyday life.
This distinctive blend of fantasy and realism is common in other Latin American literature. It is consistent with true-to-life stories, and this is because of its established folklore storytelling connection. This kind of genre is consistent in Latin American storytelling within rural environments, which could explain the setting of the story and the characters. The genre that Marquez uses tries to connect the two types of literature, which is low folkloric as well as high literary. By doing this, he embraces the two extremes used to tell Latin American tales, which is a big part of their culture (Kutzinski 133). This kind of formula works well around the world.
The homely details of Pelayo and his wife mixed with very fantastic events is a great example of magical realism. The way he describes their life, their house and everything happening to them is very ordinary. They were an ordinary couple who had a sick child. The fact that the child got better after the winged man appeared wasn’t dwelled upon as I expected. It was as if, by magic, the child got better as soon as the winged man entered the premises of their home and landed in their courtyard. No one says why he got better or if the winged man had anything to do with it. This ordinary family and the winged man coexisted and they, after a while, started treating the winged man as a pesky, but beloved pet. Even in the ending when the winged man got better, Elisenda just watched him fly away, like that sort of thing was normal. The mingling of fantastic descriptions is quite curious in this tale.
The narrator in this story has a voice that is somewhat laced with irony because he himself seems to be watching from a distance. He does not necessarily tell the story as if he knew the characters. He didn’t get in their heads and it was as if he was just guessing what they were thinking. He did not offer any rational explanation as to why they acted the way they did. If he did do this, it would suggest that he knew them to some level. However, he would just explain what they did in the best possible way that he could. There is a sense of limited omniscience when it comes to the narration.
This was evident in the part where Elisenda was watching the winged old man fly off on to the horizon (Marquez 5). Along with the description of her watching such a majestic and fantastic image, she was cutting onions, as if this was a normal thing – to watch men fly while doing housework. It was as if the narrator knew what she was thinking for a few seconds, then decides to mention what she is doing, just to keep a distance from the characters.
We are not sure if the narrator knew what the characters were thinking. At times, like in the example above, it would suggest that he could get inside their heads. However, he did not like to stay there. We would just get a little glimpse of maybe what they were feeling, but nothing more. This way, we are not emotionally attached to the characters, and we, too are watching from a distance. This kind of storytelling leaves us curious for more details. By leaving these descriptions, we would want more information on what the characters were like and why they acted the way that they did.
The last paragraph of the story shows a bit of what Elisenda was thinking, however it was more of an outward description (Zwan 241). Probably what her body language was suggesting. These words leave us wanting more of a description, or even an explanation as to why she felt the way she did. Why did she want the old man to leave? Why was she glad that he was gone? Weren’t they curious as to what he really was and why he was there?
Being placed in this type of outside view, we are like other characters in the story, maybe like the neighbors of Pelayo and Elisenda. This way, we are like the towns people and our different reactions and our curiosity would be like those seen of the neighbors watching by from a distance. Therefore, what you see is what you get, no explanations.
The narrator is seen to disapprove some of the events (Zwan 241). It could be said that he did not want to mingle too much with the people, and he was being a bit critical as to how an angel should be treated. He showed that the thoughts of the townspeople were silly, and the fact that they were amused by another curious being (the spider girl) suggests that he thinks they were all very simple-minded.
This was seen when the narrator was describing what the people wanted to do with the winged being. He said the individual who had the most simple mind wanted the “angel” to become mayor of the world, while those who had their head on straight wanted otherwise. He also mentioned that the townspeople wanted to “stud” the being (Marquez 5). He says this with disapproval.
In this description, he lightly judges the people on what they thought of the being. You can feel him scoffing at them, or rolling his eyes when he explains this. Just because the narrator is outside the action, or not amongst the people, doesn’t necessarily mean that he is nice. He is watching from a far, yet he is also judging the characters on his own. You can say that he has pre-conceived ideas of what the characters were thinking, therefore he doesn’t really have an insight, and he is just quick to judge.
Although this short story might seem as if it were written for children, through subtle satire, we are told that it is not (Dijkstra, Katinka, et al 139). Instead, it is a bit of a toungue-in-cheek way of telling adults that they should not act in this sort of way while dealing with such a majestic being. The way it is narrated suggests that it is definitely not for kids (Munk and Cruz 62). It is sort of like a warning on what not to do when facing such a majestic being. The audience or readers are more inclined as to what happens to the winged man, instead of wondering what the people choose to do with him.
However, the narrator reveals very little about the man, leaving the readers on edge. We wonder where he has come from, what he feels and why he cannot communicate well. Readers also wonder if he is going to survive throughout the night as he seems to be in a very bad condition. The narrator seems to empathize very little with the winged being. Although, at the same time, he does not seem to connect with the townspeople or Pelayo and his wife.
The narrator’s style combines both magic and realism as well as both beautiful descriptions and sad undertones. Although we are not directly told what kind of story it is, the descriptions were very sad. We can picture a forlorn, muddy courtyard, and we feel bad for the winged creature waiting inside the chicken coop. There were very bleak conditions, and everything seemed very gloomy. This can be seen in the first page where the dark, gloomy ash-gray day was described. Everything seemed magical, yet so sad at the same time. It was as if the narrator was describing an emotional day in a fairy-tale.
It is a big generalization to say that the world had been sad for days. Everything was cold and dark. You would think that after a winged creature, that they thought was an angel, appeared that everything would be bright and sunny. However, the days became longer and sadder. Instead of looking up, things got worse before they got better. It was only towards the end that anything started looking a tiny bit more cheerful, however the narrator did not dwell upon this.
The tale entitled “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” is an interesting mix of literary styles which is seen as consistent in many Latin American literary pieces. This particular piece is quite curious and leaves the readers asking more questions. Nothing is really answered from the beginning, and the narrator just tells the story as an outsider, maybe limited from what he or she can see. However, this kind of storytelling is just right for this type of tale as it leaves the fantasy close enough to touch, but too close as to ruin the magic.
Works Cited
Dijkstra, Katinka, et al. "Character and reader emotions in literary texts."Poetics 23.1 (1995):
139-157.
Kutzinski, Vera M. "The Logic of Wings: Gabriel García Márquez and Afro-American
Literature." Latin American Literary Review 13.25 (1985): 133-146.
Marquez, Garcia. "A Very Old Man with Enorm0us~ Wings." (1988).
Munk, E., and N. Cruz. "The children are the angels here: Interview with Erika Munk
(Adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's story, A'Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings)'." (2003): 62-63.
Zwaan, Rolf A. "Toward a model of literary comprehension." Models of understanding
text (1996): 241-255.
