In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings,” an angel is found in a courtyard! And the people of the town use him as much as possible to help themselves. Marquez uses satire to make fun of the behavior of people in the story as they decide what should be done with the angel. With satire, Marquez demonstrates the human tendencies towards selfishness and arrogance.
Marquez uses satire first by telling of Pelayo and Elisenda’s response to the angel.
Pelayo and Elisenda hear from their neighbor that they should club the angel to death, but they are nice and decide to send him to sea on a raft with three days’ provisions. However, when they see the attention their neighbors give the angel, they begin to treat him worse and worse, starting by putting him in their chicken coop. Pelayo and Elisenda selfishly charge admission for the public to see the angel and therefore become very rich. Despite the money that the angel earned them, Pelayo and Elisenda upgrade every part of their house except the chicken coop, where the angel stays. Marquez uses satire again to tell of Father Gonzaga’s response to the angel. Father Gonzaga decides to test the angel by asking him if he speaks Latin, which Father Gonzaga thinks is the “language of God.” Father Gonzaga is arrogant to think that he could test an angel of God.
Pelayo and Elisenda hear from their neighbor that they should club the angel to death, but they are nice and decide to send him to sea on a raft with three days’ provisions. However, when they see the attention their neighbors give the angel, they begin to treat him worse and worse, starting by putting him in their chicken coop. Pelayo and Elisenda selfishly charge admission for the public to see the angel and therefore become very rich. Despite the money that the angel earned them, Pelayo and Elisenda upgrade every part of their house except the chicken coop, where the angel stays. Marquez uses satire again to tell of Father Gonzaga’s response to the angel. Father Gonzaga decides to test the angel by asking him if he speaks Latin, which Father Gonzaga thinks is the “language of God.” Father Gonzaga is arrogant to think that he could test an angel of God.
Humans do tend to be selfish and arrogant. In several situations in life, people do not consider anyone but themselves. People look at how they can best benefit themselves and get the best out of every situation.
Reading Marquez’s story might make us look at Pelayo, Elisenda, and Father Gonzaga like they are selfish and arrogant. However, imagine if we were to have an angel appear in front of us. Would we treat the angel the same way?
Good job on the blog Phillip! People do thing about theirself rather than others in almost all situations. Made me realize to be less selfish and more towards helping other. Stay gucci!
ReplyDeleteI agree that people are selfish and arrogant. We think more about ourselves than others99.9% of the time. Good Point!
ReplyDeleteI agree that most people are definitely arrogant and selfish. I think that he should have been treated like a normal human, but is he really human? They might have thought he was amazing and wanted to emphasize that and show him off to everyone.
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