magical realism in An Old Man with Wings

A detailed Summary of magical realism in An Old Man with Wings


Gabriel Marquez is accomplished in the use of magical realism. Marquez makes use of magical realism to blend reality and fantasy with the intention that the distinction among the two obliterates. Magical realism enlarges the categories of reality to include myth, magic and other events in nature which are left out in realism. Gabriel Marquez examines the existence of magic in daily life and our concept of divine intervention in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings."

An example of this technique comes from the story when an angel falls to the Earth because of a violent rainstorm. In the story's opening paragraph, we can see Marquez's merging of commonplace information with magical elements. The utilization of magical elements is highlighted by the characters' attitudes regarding the magic. When the angel is found by Pelayo and Elisenda, they are surprised to see an angel, and yet by no means, do they question its existence. The reality of the situation is ne


ver mistrusted; however, the angel is an astounding manifestation. Even the neighbor lady is not shocked: "He's an angel," she told them. "He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down". The fact that the old man had wings in the first place seems very acceptable to the characters, and this nonchalance is conveyed to the reader. To take an idea or an object that one is familiar with and distorting that image into something unfamiliar is called defamiliarization. This use of defamiliarization is an especially significant feature of magical realism. An angel is something with which most are to some extent familiar with; yet, Marquez's angel is an entirely unusual sort of angel. One expects an angel to have attractive, light wings. Conversely, the old man has a mite infested, shabby set of wings that the chickens investigate to find parasites.

An additional illustration of magic is the excess of crabs, an infesta

Some common words found in the essay are:
Pelayo Elisenda, Gabriel Marquez, Enormous Wings, Wings Marquez, magical realism, gabriel marquez, magical elements, lady- spider, enormous wings,

Approximate Word count = 654
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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