Jennie Graham INTL 3111 Mr. Arnold 6-10-2011 Micro Theme #5: Hidden Blessings

With in several of the stories we have read for class I have noticed a reoccurring theme of hidden messages or blessings. A great example of this is from A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. The main characters do not realize the blessings the old man brings them. They seem very greedy and ungrateful for the winged man and what he helped them to accomplish. When they first encounter the old man they are very judgmental and mean to him just because he is different, which is a bad way to live life. The family exploits the man, earns money from their curious neighbors, then uses the money out of selfishness to build a new home and buy unnecessary luxury items. This shows how ungrateful they are to the man, they use the money he made them to better their lives and do not give anything back to him.

The family doesn¶t realize how much the µangel¶ helped them. Without him their child would have probably died, and they would still be stuck in their small home trying to keep the crabs out. I also think that the µangel¶ was responsible for the few mini miracles that happened to the people of the town, who were also ungrateful and saw the things he did for them as jokes. I think that if the community would have treated him as an equal instead of an outcast, the old man would have actually helped the people of the community. I also feel that the family should have realized the man was a blessing to their family, instead of a burden, and treated him as a member of the family and not just as a way to make money at his expense.