In Some Stories, Characters Come Into Conflict with the Culture in Which They Live

Annotated Bibliograph

Prompt #2:  “In some stories, characters come into conflict with the culture in which they live.”

Working thesis:

A major fault in the characters would not be that they fail to understand the angel himself, rather it is their failure to acknowledge the importance of their role in the process of understanding the significance of particular elements in their lives.

Janes, Regina. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: Overview.” Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

The Writer’s objective is to explain that Garcia Marquez has an unclear point or moral of his short story.  The story has a narrative line that is simple that complicates the resonant or insignificance with the political and social repercussions.  This story begins with a family in the world of the poor dealing with the sickness of a newborn child, crabs, and rain. The heart of the story would be the invention of a reinterpret angel comes to place.  The theory of the old man as an angel is being rethought after seeing the angel's wings having parasites, few hairs, few teeth, dirty and smells.  The villagers wonder if this man is supernatural or just a circus animal.  Eventually the town’s attention shifts from the angel to a more interpretable story, the tale of the girl who changed into a spider.  The ending of the story happens years later when the angel’s wings grow back and can fly away.  The villagers are still unsure why the angel, was it to either take the child or save the child.  Garcia Marquez is accused of not showing proper moral or a not having a clear moral which leaves many questions.

Goodwin, John. “Marquez’s ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ and Bambara’s ‘The Lesson.’” The Explicator 64.2 (Winter 2006): p118-121. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

The objective is to suggest that both stories effectively uses a narrative voice.  The readers of “Enormous” see Father Gonzaga as a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church.  The villagers in “Enormous” represent Columbians and the “angel,” religion, as opposed to the church.  The villagers at the beginning suggest that the angel should rule the village and be the mayor or general, but when Pelayo and Elisenda go out to their courtyard, the whole neighborhood was having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence.  The opinions of the villagers reveal an idealized view of religion as government.  The villages treatment of the angel betrays the village's reaction to rule by the religious authorities.  By using a different approach,  Garcia Marquez in “Enormous,” utilizes the standpoint of an outside person witnessing the events and not to focus on the internal journey of any character.   Which is important to Marquez’s audience and does an overall great job on capturing the right narrative voice.