Realistic and Magical Elements of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

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Realistic and Magical Elements of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is a renowned short story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was published in 1955. Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born and spent his childhood in Colombia but has lived in Paris and Mexico. As for the work that made him famous, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is considered by most an archetype of Magical Realism.

When reading "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings," one comes across many elements of Magical Realism. A good specimen of Magical Realism is the old man with wings. An old man is normal and earthly. However, when wings are applied, what was once mundane becomes stereotype of Magical Realism. What is most important about they old man with wings is not actually the old man himself, but, more importantly, the fact that the characters interacting with the old man view him as just a old man with wings. Unlike the society that most live in, this society would never accept the old man as ordinary. The woman who was turned into a spider as a child for disobeying her parents is also a good model of Magical Realism. Things in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's works are classified as Magical Realism. The woman who knew of all things living and dead is a type of Magical Realism. How many people know everything? For that matter, how many people actually know anything? The point is that no one, no matter whom, is capable of knowing everything.

Realistic elements are tossed into the melting pot of Magical Realism just as fictional elements are so commonly done. Capitalism is a realistic element that is never forgotten. No matter what any writer creates, it will more then likely have at least some kind of capi...

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...hat it is a work of Magical Realism. Over all, "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" is a perfect sample of Magical Realism.

Works Cited

Chanady, Amaryll. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed.Louis Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C: UP, 1995: 125-144.

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." The Norton Introduction Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty.N.Y. : W.W. Norton and Company, 1996.525-529.

Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Louis Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris.Durham, N.C: UP, 1995:119-124.

Roh, Franz. "Magical Realism in Spanish Literature." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Louis Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C: Duke UP, 1995: 15-31.

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