Learning about Humanity
When one reads “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, a tale for children, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one thinks that it is just a fantasy story that has as main character a very old man who looks, at the same time, as an angel fallen from the heaven. However if one analyzes the attitudes of the main characters of this tale, it has a very rich content that can help us reflect on our daily lives and enrich ourselves in order to always maintain respect for our fellow beings and their humanity.
The story shows the main character to be “a very old man with enormous wings” (Garcia Marquez 399) who was found in the “rear of the courtyard” (399) of the house belonging to a couple, Pelayo and Elisenda, and that seemed to be fallen from the heaven. Moreover, “[t]here were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull…, very few teeth in his mouth, dressed like a ragpicker and talked in an incomprehensible dialect” (399-400). Because of his physical aspect; Pelayo, Elisenda and the people of their town do not respect the old man. They think that “nothing about him measured up to the proud dignity of angels” (400). It is unknown if the very old man is an angel or a human being, but what is certain is the fact that people find him different, that they cannot understand him and his humanity and mistreated him.
In the story, Pelayo and Elisenda are a poor couple that, by the time the angel appears, has a baby who is very sick and who “had a temperature” (399). When the angel is in the courtyard of their house, the couple “watched him…dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop” (400). Instead of reacting quickly and giving the old man assistance, they “held him captive” (400) not taking care of this human being at all. Even worse, “[Pelayo and Elisenda] drive him out of the bedroom with a broom” (403), not having any compassion for him while he is “dragging himself about here and there like a stray dying man” (403). Sadly, the couple also uses the very old man as an instrument of production of money. They “charge five cents admission to see the angel” (401) and, “[w]ith the money saved, they built a two-story mansion…Pelayo…gave up his job as bailiff for good, and Elisenda bought some satin pumps with high heels and many dresses of iridescent silk” (402). The couple does not respect the human dignity of the poor man because, although they have money, “[t]he chicken coop, [place where the angel lived], was the only thing that didn’t receive any attention” (402). Finally, Pelayo and Elisenda “thought he was going to die and, [because nobody] had been able to tell them what to do with dead angels” (403), they are more worried about where to bury the angel than saving his life. As the reader can see, the couple, instead of being happy and grateful to the old man, because of his contribution to their economical situation, just obeys their stinginess and indifference. Since we, human beings, have dignity any of us should be treated as a slave; as such, the attitudes of Pelayo and Elisenda should not be followed by any of us.
The lack of humanity can be seen one more time in the attitudes of the neighbors of Pelayo and Elisenda, who do not treat the old man as “a supernatural creature [,] but a circus animal” (400). Because of their ignorance and their prejudices, these people want the old man “[to] be named mayor of the world, some visionaries hoped that he could be put to stud in order to implant on earth a race of winged men who could take charge of the universe” (400); but even worse, these people happily contemplate the old man captive in a coop like an animal and “burned his side with an iron for branding steers” (401). As we can see, it is very sad to have these kinds of reactions in front of the suffering of a human being. That is why, it is very important to be aware of our behavior and responses to our surroundings, in order to avoid guiding ourselves by appearances that impress our senses. But that is not the reality that lays under the surface. It is certain that if the very old man would have been dressed differently and his wings would have been cleaned, he would have been honored as an angel. In this sense, it is always important to remember that “things are not always what they seem” (Eiseley) and that not all that bright is gold.
Pelayo, Elisenda and the people of the town have such pettinesses towards the angel because of their socio-economical condition, prejudices and ignorance. For example, it has been seen that there are many circumstances, such as poverty, that undermine our sense of humanity because they do not help us to develop our human capacities such as the capacity of love. Socially, nowadays, it has been seen that the shortage of resources has led to civil wars. Spiritually, poverty, misfortune and suffering have made people insensible and lacking of humanity. The poor has been generally mistreated because he/she has always struggle for resources to survive and, because of that, they do not think that they have the moral obligation to help their fellow beings. Since they consider that they have short resources for themselves, they become egoist, selfish, ignorant and, finally, bad people.
As such, in our story, we have Pelayo and Elisenda whose vision of “[t]he world has been sad” (399), that survive by “kill[ing]…crabs” (399) and that are such a poor people that do not have money to take their child to the doctor; that is why Elisenda “[just put]…compresses on the sick child” (399). The couple has been mean to the pitiful very old man because their unhappiness and suffering cannot bring joy and love. As we can see, there is a strong relation between poverty and egoism. We should change this relation and always help and share with people that surround us. It does not matter if we are poor, because if one is going to wait to have a better economical situation to help our fellow beings, it might never happen. Finally, the most important is the love that is involved in our attitudes because life is mainly summarized in sowing and harvesting. If one sows good actions, one will harvest good actions.
The conditions of suffering and misfortune which many of us might be living should not make us unhappy and pessimistic, but we should change our negative perceptions, see life from an “inverted angle” (Eiseley). We should also convince ourselves that each difficulty we might experience, should be an opportunity of learning and growing personally because, finally, the beauty of life “will come to the eye of those who have retained a true taste for the marvelous” (Eiseley) and those “who are capable of discerning in the flow of ordinary events,…another dimension” (Eiseley). Unfortunately, in the story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, the people that surround the angel do not appreciate that he is a marvelous human being who needs their help. If they had seen the life from an inverted angle, meeting with the angel would have been an opportunity of fortifying and nourishing themselves internally. If they had treated the angel in a different way, they would have been happier with themselves and they would have felt internal satisfaction. If they had followed “another dimension” (Eiseley), they would have enjoyed the miracles of life.
Eiseley argues also that life becomes beautiful if “we…have faith in the miraculous” (Eiseley). For instance, he “made one…observation upon life [in] New York” (Eiseley). He says that, “standing under a suburban street light, [he] was standing under the shadow of an orb-weaving spider” (Eiseley) and he appreciated how the spider “ignored [him] and went on tightening and improving her web” (Eiseley). Moreover, he appreciates how the spider perseveres, how “she has found herself a kind of minor sun and is going to upset the course of nature”. This fact shows us how the spider upset the human world and enjoy of the world created by her. The same way, we human beings, should build a world of happiness for ourselves. The attitude of perseverance of the spider is seen in the story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” as well because the angel is patient and has to persevere to survive among people without humanity. However, as the reader can see, the attitudes of Pelayo and Elisenda are opposite to the attitude of Eiseley. Pelayo and Elisenda do not appreciate of the marvelous being that was the angel, while Eiseley enjoy appreciating the spider and her world. Finally, while Pelayo and Elisenda do not get any positive lesson from their experience with the angel, Eiseley, just by appreciating the spider, discovers the miracle of life.
We can appreciate also how Eiseley enjoys of the simplicity of life and invites us to realize that “[w]e rush to and fro…all the time imagining our surroundings to be dull and ourselves quite ordinary creatures” (Eiseley 1) and, although “[t]he world… is a very queer place… [,] we have been part of this queerness for so long that we tend to take it for granted” (Eiseley 1). As such, it is not necessary to “go apart from [our] fellows and live for a time in the wilderness” (Eiseley) as “all religious thought” (Eiseley); but humanity is expressed in appreciating our surroundings and helping our fellow beings.
In Eiseley’s essay, one can see also that there are expressions of love for nature, compassion and moral help, feelings that were missed in the attitudes of Pelayo, Elisenda and the people of the town towards the very old man. Eiseley says that “on the extended branch sat an enormous raven with a…nestling in its beak” (Eiseley) and that in front of that sad situation, it was perceived “the outraged cries of the nestling’s parents [and that t]he sleek black monster was indifferent to them. [S]uddenly, a soft sound of complaint [from a big variety of birds] began to rise” (Eiseley). The birds were “drawn by the anguished outcries of the tiny parents” (Eiseley). Although “[n]o one dared to attack the raven” (Eiseley) they showed compassion and gave emotionally support to the parents by “cry[ing] there in some instinctive common misery, they fluttered as though to point their wings at the murderer” (Eiseley). As it is seen, birds, that do not have the rational capacity as we humans do, can show more humanity and empathy toward the suffering of others.
Human beings are different from birds and from any other living being because we are political animals that are in constant interaction. We are influenced by our environment and by the rules and norms of the society in which we live. For example, it has been seen that human beings love following laws and traditions without being aware to the fact that norms or laws, created by the Judiciary or institutions such as the Church, are just abstract standards. When accurately interpreted and applied to different cases of reality, they seek to reach a common goal such as justice, human well- being, peace or love. Consequently, the law, as an abstract creation, is not an end in itself but, by applying it, its aim is to facilitate the accomplishment of the common well-being. For instance, in the story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, we have Father Gonzaga, a catholic priest, who just follows the norms of his catechism. The story says that father Gonzaga “viewed his catechism” (400) in order to discover the nature of the old man and argues that the man might be an imposter “when he saw that he did not understand the language of God, [Latin], or know how to greet His ministers” (400). Father Gonzaga also “reminded…that the devil had the bad habit of making use of tricks in order to confuse the unwary” (401). Father Gonzaga just followed the rules of church and what his catechism said, disregarding what Jesus taught and what his eyes showed to him, a pitiful old man that needed high consideration and love.
Although our environment, rule and norms of the society influence our actions, like was scene in the case of father Gonzaga, we are also influenced by our education. This fact makes us act irrationally because we just follow our fears without listening to what our heart and mind tell us. For instance, society has imposes us the idea that snakes are bad, that “black snakes are innocent [while] the gold are venomous” (Lawrence) and that they have to be killed before they kill us. As such, D.H. Lawrence in his poem “Snake” tells us that once he met with a snake and he listened “[t]he voice of [his] education” (Lawrence) that said to him: “He must be killed…if you were a man [,] you would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off” (Lawrence). He has this ideas in his head, although he confesses: “how I liked him, How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough [a]nd depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless, [i]nto the burning bowels of this earth” (Lawrence). One can appreciate how Lawrence is afraid of the snake, but, at the same time, he enjoyed looking at it, showing love for nature. Consequently, the reader can realize how people feel afraid of interacting with living beings that are different from us although they are not harmful. In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, we see that the old man is different to the rest of the people and, because of that, he is rejected and mistreated although he is a peaceful being. In the poem “Snake”, we see how Lawrence has a feeling of rejection towards the snake although it is not harmful. For these reasons, it is very important to put aside what our education and traditions impose us to do and just follow what our mind and our feelings tell us.
As we can see, our humanity and the nature that surrounds us are beautiful. Each of us, just because of the fact that we are humans, deserves respect, consideration and love. It is very important to observe our attitudes when we interact with our fellow beings and not to allow ourselves to be influenced by tradition, laws or prejudices because they only drive us far away from what our humanity and heart tell us to do. More important, one should not ever forget that, as the world rotates every single day, our lives are rotating also and our destiny might change drastically from one day to the other, either in a positive or in a negative way. As such, one should treat the other, as one wants to be treated.
Work Cited
Eiseley, Loren, “The Judgment of the Birds”. Available online at: http://myweb.shu.edu/@@BEAEFD127158A977030CA63F0E6781ED/courses/1/2009SPRING_ENGL1202SL/content/_1495060_1/The_Judgment_of_the_Birds__Loren_Eiseley.docGarcia
Lawrence, D.H. “Snake”. Literature. Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 6th Ed. Robert Di Yanni. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1150-1152.
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. Literature. Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 6th Ed. Robert Di Yanni. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 399-403.