Character Review: “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a fascinating narrative that can be enjoyed as a captivating tale for children as well as intriguing fiction for the adult reader. This children's tale develops in a mixture of fantastic and realistic scenario, which characterizes the style of the author of this story, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Norton 428). The story tells of the appearance of an old man, with the physiognomy of an angel, who appears in the garden of Pelayo and Elisenda, a poor couple, from a village near the coast. Despite appearances, the fundamental aspect of this tale is not the supernatural gaze of this old man, but the attitude of the community towards the unknown. This can be observed as news of the arrival of an "angel of flesh and blood" spreads quickly among Pelayo and Elisenda's neighbors, and it does not take long for comments and judgments to appear (Marquez 270). While the villagers consider him a true angel, the pastor is wary of his celestial nature, since the creature does not speak “the language of God” (270). Therefore, in this tale, Marquez uses the characters in this story as a way to criticize the way people think without looking beyond what they are facing. The anti-hero role of the old man, or angel, serves to shape the ideas behind the central theme of this tale. Aside from his strange arrival in the story, the reader cannot learn more about the old man's outlook than his personality. The first concise description of the main character is found in the title of the story, he speaks not of an angel, but of "a very old man" (269). The only thing that allows us to recognize this mystical creature as an angel are its "enormous wings", because without them I...... middle of paper ......according to the wisdom of the wise neighbor, the food prescribed to the angels (270). This ignorance into which they fell was later a subject of disappointment, for they believed that the angel would respond to their requests, which did not happen. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a social critique of people's mentality towards different ideas. It is also a story that provokes many discussions about symbolism, which allows for many interpretations, but the main message of the social criticism presented by Márquez comes mainly through the attitudes and actions of the characters. The angel then serves as a representative of the unknown world and the treatment given to his hosts and spectators shows their way of not accepting the unknown. In other words, the role of the angel in the story is to reflect the limits of human reasoning about things different from everyday life..