A Story with Great Meaning

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a story that causes one to think…to think again…and to think your thoughts over yet again.  Why do these events happen in the story?  What is the meaning?  How is it that a man has wings?  These questions raced through my mind as I was reading.

I am still trying to think of a meaning for this story.  This story could be something of Marquez’s personal life…the true, original meaning being only one that he knows.  This story, however, I believe can have several meanings.  I’m just trying to figure them out.  I am having several thoughts and one is that the “angel” was sent to this household for a reason.  Maybe God was sending the family a message.  The angel gets there all battered and torn, his wings beaten and his age has caused him to be fragile.  Perhaps the road that Pelayo and his wife, Elisenda, were traveling down lead to destruction and death and the angel was sent there to help them realize it.  The angel went through torment and was tested with extreme patience.  After having that done, after quite some time, he began to grow new feathers.  Feather’s like a crow’s in which he tried to hide.  Once the feathers were grown, he began to practice flying and then flew off into the distance.  Perhaps the family learned something.  Perhaps the family needed to learn patience.  Elisenda sighed in relief once she saw him fly off.

I struggle with this meaning to be completely honest.  Thoughts come to mind and I keep thinking there has to be some greater meaning.  The story just seemed so magnificent and so thought-provoking that the meanings I come up with seem to fall short of the standard I have created for the meaning of this story.

This creature was treated like an animal, caged and fed scraps.  People expected to see him do marvelous things.  Why?  Because of his wings.  What was the purpose of his wings?  Was he really an angel or is he something else?

I want to know something though.  What if Pelayo, Elisenda, and the town would have cared for the fallen angel?  What if they would have taken him into their home, washed him up, fed him, and gave him a nice warm bed to sleep in?  What if?  Would the angel then have flown off when he grew new feathers?  Or did he have some reward that the family and town missed out on because of their response to him being there?

A passage of Scripture comes to mind when reading and thinking about this story and that comes from Hebrews 13:2:  “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”  In verse three, it goes on to say, “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”  “Angels,” “mistreated,” “suffering.”  It kind of sounds like this story doesn’t it?