" A very old man with enormous wings" is a story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1955. There are a number of similarities between the area in which Marquez lived as a young boy and were he sets up his story. In both instances, there is a small coastal town and not a lot of wealth. Many of his stories seem to deal with life in an isolated environment, physically or emotionally; this might be a reflection of his childhood days. Marquez uses the angel to represent Jesus though the cruelty of the townspeople, the disbelief in the holiness of his deity, and the miracles that he performs.

First, Marquez focuses on the cruelty that is inflicted upon the angel. This is illustrated by the fact that "... he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop." This is not the behavior that is typically thought to be acceptable when greeting strangers and certainly not the prescribed treatment for angels. However, this seems to be friendly behavior compared to what the town folk are willing to force upon God's angel. For days later when the angel had been motionless for quite a while"... they succeed in arousing him when they burned his si

de with an iron used for branding steers..." branding him with a fire like cattle. The implication that this presents is that they considered the angel beneath them and that they could set fire to his body just to see if he was still alive. This is similar to the treatment of Jesus in the days of his trial after the chief priests and members of the Sanhedrin questioned him on whether he was in fact the Son of God. Upon Jesus' answer the crowd had then spit in his face, beat, and otherwise abused him. However, it did not end there, after the mob of Jews agreed to have him crucified he was then scourged, whipped, crowned with a crown of thorns, all the while being spit upon. However, the torture was not over for he was still nailed to the cross were he died. This was the way the lord our savior was treated by the very people he tried to save.

Finally, we look toward the miracles that the angel performs, and how they parallel the ones that Jesus performed. While the angel was held captive, many people came from miles around to be healed by him. Two such people included a man with leprosy and a blind man. The angel grew flowers from the sores of the leper and three new teeth for the blind man. Jesus also was followed by many

Some common words found in the essay are:
Garcia Marquez, God Finally, Father Marquez, God Jesus', Collection Atrocities, father marquez, Son God, angel represent jesus, angel represent, son god, short sight, represent jesus, disbelief holiness,
Approximate Word count = 832
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)