A Drowned Man and An Old Angel
Although both short stories, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, were written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez there are many other not so obvious similarities and differences between the two tales. Both stories were about men who arrived in foreign places and how these men were treated by the people who found them. The first of the similarities between the old winged man and the drowned man is their strange appearances. Both men not only looked strange compared to the people who found them, but they both looked strange compared to what a winged man and a drowned man would be thought to look like. The old winged man looked different than the villagers because he obviously had wings. The old winged man was assumed to be an angel. An angel is usually pictured as a clean, glowing figure in white robes with beautiful full wings. This winged man was dirty, weak, covered in parasites, and his wings were almost all plucked. Similarly, the drowned man was abnormally shaped compared to the villagers in his story. He was taller, heavier, and handsomer than any man in the village. A drowned man would usually look bloated, disfigured, or decomposing. This d
Both these stories show how people react to the miraculous and new. Both villages are curious about their new visitor and want to know where the men came from. The villages both make up stories about the visitors and their origins. The villagers of both towns believed that the men had extra special abilities. The winged man was thought to have healing power and the drowned man was thought to have the strength enough to do a lifetime's worth of regular work in one night. These two stories show how people react to the new and miraculous. People enjoy the curious and the unknown, but they lose interest fast. People also, in these stories, create stories in their minds and do not see the men for what they are. The similarities and differences between these two stories show the folly of human nature. The drowned man was treated with much more reverence and respect than the old angel. The old angel was kept as a captive in an old chicken coop. People gathered around the coop to throw things at the old man as if he were a circus attraction. Everyone in the village where the old winged man was found had a opinion on what should happen to him, such as making him mayor of the world, a five-star general, or starting a new race of winged men by putting him to stud. One priest even accused him of being a fake and possibly a trick sent by the devil. On the other hand, the drowned man was cleaned and taken care of. The villagers respected him by giving him a name and sewing special clothes so he could go in to death with pride. The woman admired this man because of how strong he looked. The people respected this
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Approximate Word count = 1097
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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