A VEry WEird Story With A DEep meaning

I chose to interpret A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children. This story is about a family, Pelayo and Elisenda, and their encounter with a creature that they think is an angel. The family does not know what to do with the angel so they put him in a chicken coop. They call in a Father, named Gonzaga, to help determine what to do with the angel. When the Father speaks to him in Latin and the angel does not reply, the father takes it as a sign that he is an imposter possibly sent by the devil. He decides to write a letter to the Papacy in Rome to ask what he should to with the angel. The family then decides to charge a fee to see the angel and they accumulate an enormous fortune that they use to build themselves a mansion. There is a part in the story when a circus comes through and there is a girl who has been turned into a spider because she disobeyed her parents. This is the part of the story where readers go WHAT? I indeed went WHAT when I read it. While in the cage, people plucked out his feathers thinking that they would heal them but instead weird things happened. The story ends with the angel growing back his wings and flying away which causes the mother, Elisenda, to let out a sigh of relief.

I believe this text needs to be interpreted because I do not believe people really understand what this story is about. This story, to me, has a deeper meaning than what most readers think. I think people read this story and go “wow that was weird.” But I think otherwise. Although it is weird, it had a deeper meaning to me. You have to really think and focus to really get its meaning. The true meaning can be missed if the reader of this story isn’t reading it deeply. This story is about recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself, or a blessing in disguise.

I believe this story is about how we take things for granted. The angel, I believe, was there for a reason and the family failed to learn and understand why he was there. Early in the story the neighbor says, “He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down.” Maybe he was there to heel their child and I think he did because he got better after the angel arrived. I also believe this story is about appreciating things more than we do. This family had an angel come visit them and they treated him like he was an animal. They put him in a chicken coop for heavens sake. I would like to believe I would have taken him inside and taken care of it but instead they charged money to see him. He was an attraction to them not a celestial being to be honored and revered. The end of the story is probably the most important to me and to the story as a whole. The angel is flying away and Elisenda lets out a sigh of relief. She thought the angel was nothing but a nuisance, although he had provided a way to build a bigger house and healed their child of his cold. Maybe this was one of the reasons he was there – so that they could build a nicer house to keep out the craps. I think this is part of the story but not the full reason. People say that blessings come in disguise. Sometimes we may not realize that what we think is a nuisance is actually a blessing in disguise. Maybe this is the true meaning of the story.

I also found similarities between this story and the story of Job. They both endured pain and suffering. They both endured to the end. The author writes, “The angel was the only one who took no part in his own act.” It’s like Job. He had no control over what was happening to him but he endured. Just like the angel. They were both actors in a cruel situation but refused to be provoked.

I was doing some research on this story and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and found out why he incorporated the spider girl. He was attempting to show our human nature and our desire for attention. Marquez writes, “A spectacle like that, full of so much human truth and with such a fearful lesson, was bound to defeat without even trying that of a haughty angel who scarcely deigned to look at mortals.

I think my interpretation allows for further understanding of this story. I think most people would read and go wow what the heck did I just read, but if read slowly it has a deep meaning to it. Like I wrote earlier, the story is about appreciating things and not taking them for granted. It’s about realizing that things that seem like an annoyance could be a blessing. You have to understand why the angel was there to understand the deep meaning. By staying in the cage he allowed the family to raise enough money to build a bigger house. He also healed their child. My interpretation helps to appreciate the story for more than just a story. It’s a kind of philosophy. It’s something we should all take to heart. God puts people or circumstances in our life for a reason and we might not know why at the time. I think we need to live with more focus.

We, like Job and the angel, have to learn perseverance and endurance through tough situations. I think we can all learn a lesson from A Man with Very Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children.