Amang, Jyrell Pearl Solas, Gabrielle Anne STEAM-F Sy, Jillian Patricia A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children Interpretation * A Formalist Interpretation: New Criticism Interpretation ‘A number of irony can be found in the story. One is that in the story, the villagers are considered religious but when they saw a very old man with enormous wings which they believed is an angel, they treated him badly. Which is kind of ironic as angels are seen as holy in Catholic belief yet they didn't treat him right because of his outside appearance. Another irony seen is found amongst the lines of “thought that he should be named mayor of the world,” “he should be promoted to the rank of five-star general in order to win all wars,” “implant the earth a race of winged wise men who could take charge of the universe,” echo the idea that the angel is idolized as a leader amongst the villagers but the conditions and treatment the angel receives go against their statements. The angel is also expected to heal or treat ailments, as stated in the line, “the most unfortunate invalids on earth came in search of health.” but his own health is not treated and starts to deteriorate. ‘* APsychoanalytic Interpretation The story holds congeniality as it displays the ways that energy of the sexual drive is channeled through other means. Similar to the Freudian ideas of sexuality, the couple's lack of sexual passion has instead lead their energy to be expressed through their pursuit of money. This lack of sexual drive can also be reflected in the lack of sexual innuendos or allusions amongst the lines of the story. * AReader's Response ‘Any man with wings looks miraculous but Pelayo and Elisenda treated the old man badly as if they had found a stray dog one of these can be found in the line,“dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the chickens in the wired chicken coop”. This shows how some people can be single-minded. They seem to ignore that there is an old man with wings, whether he is an angel or not, The couple took advantage of the old man, “charging five cents admission to see the angel” but still mistreated him regardless of the money it brings them. The supposed angel has given them the ability of living a leisure life, but they give the old man anger and disrespect instead of decency and this just illustrated their greed. Everyone, including the couple's neighbors, benefits from the old man except the poor man himself. ‘* AFeminist Interpretation A feminist interpretation would see Elisenda, the greedy and uncaring wife, as compliance to the trope in media and literature of female characters, often wives or ex-wives, as greedy and power-hungry. This is because she saw a good opportunity to gain wealth and charged admissions to those people who wanted to see the angel, found among the line, “then got the idea of fencing in the yard and charging five cents admission to see the angel”. A one-sided thought where the woman is accused of being the one wronged when their wholefamily mainly benefited from their oppression to the old man. Both the wife and the husband severely mistreat the man who brought them fortune. But only the wife is highlighted as the one who find the old man annoying and a disturbance to their household and, “shouted that it was awful living in that hell full of angels", while the husband extend charity to the old man, This also adds to the trope in media that women in power are often callous or unempathetic. ‘* A Political - Economic interpretation The story partially revolves around the matter of money. Similar to the economic boom experienced by Columbia between 1902-1967, Pelayo and Elisenda experience a massive financial increase. The line the money they saved they built a two-story mansion with balconies and gardens and high netting so that crabs wouldn't get in during the winter,” also echoes Colombia's resilience to the Great Depression that struck in 1929. Both the story and Colombia rise from their low economic statuses and reach financial superiority when they happen upon a wildly marketable trade, Colombia with coffee and the couple with the angel. However, capitalism often spares no mind to those who service it and instead is the source of oppression for its workers. This is mirrored in the way Pelayo and Elisenda earn more but do not spare the angel a second thought (“only then did they notice that he had a temperature at night"), the one whose services are being paid for. Similarly, the workers who do the manual labor are often paid very little while those in positions of power in the company are paid more. ‘* ACultural Interpretation The villagers didn’t act according to their claim of being a religious village. They saw an angel which is a holy representation of catholicism and a symbol of faith but they treat the so called angel as a minority in their neighborhood because of his physical incapabilities. This shows that there is a decline of moral values in Latin American culture during the time this story was written, The story was written and published around the time of major cultural and political revolutions amongst the Colombian people, one of which is the challenging of the established ideas of the Roman Catholic Church. ‘* AHistorical Interpretation Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a Colombian writer, mostly his stories depicts the state of affairs in Latin America. The time the story was written was when Catholicism was widespread around the nation and any criticism or satire directed toward the Catholic Church was discouraged. This is especially true since the story was written and published around the start of “La Violencia’. This war served as the backdrop for many of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ stories, La Violencia was a time of societal unrest as the liberal and conservative parties battled over political power. Later, the conservative party won the election. The conservative party favoured the strong inclusion of the Roman Catholic in affairs of the state, which was often challenged by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This can be observed in the story as the angel, a famous symbol in Roman Catholicism, is depicted as weak and incapable. The ways in which the villagers idolized the angel but mistreated him could also be interpreted as the commentary on the way Colombians revered and idealized religion but opposed its role as authority.