Literary Analysis: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

The phrase “actions speak louder than words” has never been more true in the short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. This short story, by Gabriel Marquez, is one that points a magnifying glass toward human nature through strong characterization. Though Gabriel Marquez does not provide extremely detailed physical descriptions of his characters, other than the very old man, he does paint the characters through their actions and not their thought processes. In this story Gabriel Marquez uses the very old man as a catalyst for the development of Pelayo, Elisenda, their child, and Father Gonzaga’s characters mainly through their actions.

Save for the physical descriptions of the very old man, Marquez glosses over the other character’s

Once the Pelayo and Elisenda had made their fortune off of the very old man, they built a mansion for themselves all the while completely ignoring the rundown chicken coop that was the home of the very old man. Once the chicken coop was demolished due to the rain the very old man would drag himself into Pelayo and Elisenda’s mansion and would then be driven “out of the bedroom with a broom” (Marquez). Marquez truly builds Pelayo and Elisenda’s characters through their actions as they neglect and dismiss their blessing in disguise which brings out the selfishness and hate within these two characters.

Unlike the parents, Marquez builds the character of innocence in the child that resonates with the very old man. In the story, before the “child got his second teeth he’d gone inside the chicken coop to play”; this provides the evidence of innocent curiosity the child portrays. In contrast to the curios spectators who “pulled out feathers to touch their defective part… [and] threw stones at him” (Marquez). The child who only played with the very old man had shown only joy and no sense of fear, the innocence the child shows the divide between those with prejudices and those who should tolerance and