"A very old man with Enormous Wings" and "Yellow Woman"

Native and Latin American Texts

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Marquez is perhaps most noted for his writing style described as "magical realism" -

"Magical realism expands the categorizes of the real so as to encompass myth, magic and other extraordinary phenomena in Nature or experience which European realism excluded" (Gabriel García Márquez, eds. Bernard McGuirk and Richard Cardwell, 45).

   

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" demonstrates Marquez's ability to tell a fairy tale or folk tale in a realistic manner while incorporating the magic of the angel. The angel is the catalyst for the family's recovery from destitution. Before the arrival of the angel, they are a simple, poor family with a dying son. Once the angel is captured, the son recovers and the family uses the angel for financial gain. Marquez shows us true human nature. An incredible being falls to the Earth and the humans use it to make a fast buck. Eventually, the family grows to resent the angel and they wish it would vanish. Instead of the simplistic, happy ending of the ordinary fairy tale, the characters are allowed to exploit Nature until it flies off without a word. Consequently, the angel is never allowed to fulfill his destiny which was to take the soul of the dying child.

"She kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot of the horizon of the sea" (210).

Questions to Consider:

A number of years after "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" was published, a movie was made for Spanish television based on the story with the screen play written by the story's author.  The movie begins with a biblical quote from Hebrews 13:2:  "Be careful when you entertain strangers as you may be entertaining angels unawawares."  The movie ends with a shot of the old man taking off his wings.  Does knowing this context contribute to or possibly change your interpretation of his written text?

This Bible quote definitely contributed to the text because so often people, especially outcasts in society, are judged based on their appearance before one gets the chance to know and understand who they truly are, and are unaware of  their meaning (example: the angel). This parallels a possible theme for the story, being the selfishness of people and to "not judge a book by its cover." When the "very old man with enormous wings", or "the angel" arrive he is automatically seen as an outsider, because of his lack of communication with the people, thus he is placed into a cage by Pelayo and Elisenda where he remains as people stare and poke at him, as though he was an animal. Another "outside attraction" came when the "spider girl" who was apparently struck by lightning comes and takes some of the fame from the angel, only because she is a newer "object" to look at.  Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" truly depicts that one should not profile people just because they are different from the norm of society.

Leslie Marmon Silko

Is from a Pueblo Native American community where gender roles were often reversed.  Yellow Woman often assumes a role traditionally associated with men, exhibity courage in the world reserved for male action.  At the same time she embodies an aggressive sexuality, also considered masculine behavior, but with a traditonal object of female desire--a strong sexy male.

The Yellow Women tales generally have two components:

·         female fantasies in which the wider sphere of male activity and the admired qualities related to it are appropriated by the woman and . . .

·         her desire for sexual freedom is given voice

Silko's "Yellow Woman" is also considered to be an addition to the many yellow woman and kachina stories in Native American literature.  In these stories, a woman is abducted by a kachina, a nature spirit and/or trickster figure, but she does eventually return home.  In Silko's story, a modern woman goes for a walk along the river where she meets a stranger and seems to participate in a yellow woman story, reminiscent of the stories she heard from her gradfather as she grew up.

Questions to Consider for Silko's text:

1.        What happens to the narrator in "Yellow Woman"--is it reality, fantasy, or something else?

The narrator has such a strong influence with the stories of the yellow woman that she assumes the role in the story portrayed in "Yellow Woman" by Leslie Marmon Silko. She becomes so enthralled in the story that she pictures herself in control of what happens to her, so she can adapt it to the stories her grandfather told her. It seems to be a fantasy because, though she is on the outskirts of Laguna Pueblo (Native American) societies and it seems normal for her to be away from her family, as she returns at the end of the story and goes back to her family as if nothing had happened.  In addition, the Yellow Woman is supposed to protect the Pueblos with her great courage and her open sexuality, which does not occur.

2.        How do the characters of "Yellow Woman" possess both the roles of male and female archetypes (prime examples)?

In Silko's "Yellow Woman", the male and female characters clearly play their role as typical of their gender. Beginning with the narrator (round or dynamic character), she takes all that she has heard from her grandfather and tries to turn it into a reality, just as a modern day girl might try to become a princess. The grandfather (flat character) depicts the stereotypical role of comfort in his stories, as they are meant to have lifelong lessons. Silva, the man whom she believes is the ka'tsina (static character), also depicts this role as he strong urges her to do what he wants, which even causes her to ask, "do you do this to all the girls." This Native American tale has another spectrum that is opened with these characters.

3.        Who is the story of Yellow Woman about?--Silva, the narrator, the culture?  Explain why.

I believe the story is beyond the idea of Silva and the Yellow Woman, but rather to make a point that women are strong, which is often the focus of Native American stories. In addition, it posed the ideas of a story to help one better understand Native American lessons.