This week I read pieces by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. They were very similar. The first short story I read was "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings". In this story a winged man appears near a family’s house. They put him in their chicken coop and basically make a profit off of him as if he were a carnival creature. There are suspicions that the man is an angel. In order to determine this however, Father Gonzaga must consult with the hierarchy of the church because they could not determine it themselves. Marquez criticizes the church in this way. Marquez says belief is clouded by what we think we should believe. Because the church determined the man not an angel, the villagers too agreed he was not. I believe there is strong possibility that the man was an angel. Because he didn’t speak Latin and he was tattered and torn he could not possibly be, according to the church. The divine is obscure and incomprehensible, therefore how can someone who is not divine determine what is or is not? You must have your own faith.Similar too "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” Marquez’s other short story, "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World," a theme was faith, or belief. A dead body is rescued from the sea and the woman of a village fawn over it. They imagine how handsome he was, and how powerful he would have been. When it was time to bury the man, the women cried and were heartbroken. They treated him as a god. The fantasy of the most handsome man became this town’s reality. This is another example of magical realism. The had faith that this man was amazing.
The two stories show two different ways of greeting a stranger, and two different ways to treat the “divine.” On one hand you have the man with wings who was abused for being divine. The family that found him used him to create a fortune. On the other hand there is the handsome man who was greeted with welcome and awe. When the family found a “divine” figure, they definitely took advantage of him. When the villagers found the handsome man and claimed him divine, they celebrated him by creating his entire existence.
These two stories may share similar themes however they are very different. They were a lot lighter than the short stories I have read so far, but equally as unique.
You make an interesting point about how Marquez suggests that we treat or use strangers. Perhaps he is suggesting that we be more discriminating in our treatment of guests, and perhaps we might see them for who they are rather than who we want them to be.
ReplyDeleteI think it is all about looks. The "angel" was old and decrepit, so because he was ugly they despised him, not because of anything he had done or not done--simply because he was ugly.
ReplyDeleteThe dead man however was handsome, and although he was dead and so they could not possibly know anything about him, they treated him as a divine creature. Why? because he was handsome, no other reason.
This is how the world is and even when it is stuck right in their faces as with these two stories, they still didn't get the fact that the people's whole reaction was based on appearances, nothing else!
It won't happen but the people of the world need to wake up and stop treating people based on no other quality than their looks!