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A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

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A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and Ovid’s “Daedalus en Icarus” use magical realism to teach true-to-life narrative in a magical, often symbolic, fantasy described in a matter-of-fact tone. These true-to-life narratives cover things like: an “Icarus Complex,” fraudulence, “Disobedience and consequences,” and unnoticed miracles.

Magical-realist fiction consists of mostly true-to-life narrative punctuated by moments of whimsical, often symbolic, fantasy described in the same matter-of-fact tone.

Paper Outline:

I. Introduction
A. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and Ovid’s “Daedalus en Icarus” use magical realism to teach true-to-life narrative in a magical,
…show more content…
Rather than having mechanical wings made from feathers and wax, the wings are a part of his body.
2. “Disobedience and consequences” is a shared theme between the two works.
i. Icarus Disobeys his father, and drowns in the sea. ii. The spider girl disobeys her parents, and is turned into a horrifying spider.
D. W. C. Williams wrote the poem “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” to an artists depiction of the Fall of Icarus. The artwork is named the same.
1. In the poem, and the painting, it is depicted that no one is attentive of Icarus’ fall into the Icarian sea.
i. The Farmer still plowing in spring. ii. Only a small leg is seen in the painting, as the rest of Icarus has already sunk into the sea.
2. In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” Marquez also envisions this.
i. The angel, after being shown like at a carnival, is left utterly alone after crushed by the spectacle of the spider girl. ii. The angel suffers in silence.
3. Both Icarus and the angel are viewed as a fraud.
i. The angel is not believed to be a real angel.
a. The priest questions the authenticity of the angel due to:
a. whimsical miracles
b. the angels decrepit state ii. Icarus is viewed by spectators as a god, but this is not the case.
a. Icarus is human.
b. Icarus drowns.
III.

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