In Gabriel Marquez's short story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Pelayo, while

cleaning up the crabs in his yard, stumbles upon a very old man with buzzard wings. After a

neighbor confirms that this man is an angel, he is placed in a cage with the chickens and

becomes a sort of sensation. Pelayo and his wife, Elisenda, quickly monetize the "exhibit", which

helps them to make a lot of money and eventually move to a mansion. The supposed angel is

never confirmed by the church, but everybody seems to believe that he is so. The angel moves

with Pelayo and his family to the new home, but the angel eventually becomes healthier and flies

away, albeit shakily. By the end of the story, it is still unclear whether he is actually an angel.

No matter his angel status, though, it is astonishing how "abnormal" creatures are treated

in this story. Throughout the story, it is portrayed as somewhat common that there are people

who have different features, such as a person with bat wings and a girl who had the body of a

spider but the head of a maiden. While this contributes to the reason why many people weren't

necessarily shocked by the angel's appearance, it doesn't explain the people's behavior to these

types of people. For example, even when they think that the old man with buzzard wings is

supposedly an angel, they still throw food, scraps and rocks at him and brand him. Even with the

spider with the lady's head, who the village people feel sorry for because of her sad life story,

they treat her as some sort of charity case and exhibit. This is also shown through the fact that

she, as well as the person with the bat wings, was part of the circus, which is designed to draw

the people's attention and monetize said attention. While the angel wasn't part of the circus, he

was also treated as an exhibit and monetized. This brings up the values of the people. Is it

morally right to treat people as objects in order for monetary gains and just because they are

different? In my opinion, this isn't right as these "creatures" still have human qualities to them.
 I think that the use of an "angel" isn't actually for religious purposes; instead, I believe it

is supposed to symbolize misfortune. In the beginning, the angel is described with words we

typically associate with negativity, which seems to be the antithesis of the typical symbolism of

angels. As the story progresses, the "angel" is kept in this state of misfortune, and only truly

seems "free" and happy at the end where he leaves Elisenda and Pelayo's mansion. So, based on

the story, I think that it is safe to assume that this old man isn't actually an angel, but that he

represents misfortune. We often feel desperate and broken when misfortune of a grand scale

occurs, and it is hard to get out of that state. Yet, we also see instances where some people try to

monetize their misfortune, either for positive or negative reasons. Based on the light that

Marquez portrays it in, I think that Marquez disapproves of people who try to turn misfortune

into a money-making scheme. I also think that, with the end of the short story, Marquez is

implying that we won't be plagued with misfortune forever, even if it seems like it. So, we need

to do our best to stay afloat and better ourselves and our situation to get out of our misfortune.