Let’s celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting a short story by Colombian-born Gabriel García Márquez.
Many stories can be put into one of two categories when talking about how the ball gets rolling: (1) someone comes into town or (2) someone goes on a journey.
Coming or Going
In the fairy tale “The Three Little Pigs,” a wolf comes to town. In The Hobbit, the wizard Gandalf comes into the shire and sets the story on its course, which, in turn, pushes Bilbo into his journey. In the movie The Princess Bride, Westley goes on a journey to make his fortune so he can marry. Even Jesus’ story of the prodigal son begins with the son leaving home.
In the case of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Márquez, a old fellow with wings blows into town during a storm and lands in the courtyard of a young married couple who are nursing their sick child. His wings are muddy, parasite-ridden, and “dirty and half-plucked.” From there, village folks and the priest try to figure out who he is and what he is doing there.
You and your children can read the whole short story here.
After reading “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” you and your family can discuss these questions:
1. Is it possible to see angels?
2. In the Bible, are angels described as male or female?
3. When we see evidence of the divine or miraculous in our lives, are we always positive about it? Give examples.
4. In what ways is this story realistic? In what ways is it not realistic? Do you like your stories to be strictly realistic or to have some supernatural/unrealistic elements in them?
Family Writing Prompt
A person with wings has landed in your yard or neighborhood. The person can be a child, teen, man, or woman in form. How does he or she arrive? What does he or she look like? How do people react? What is this creature? What is it here to do? Write a short story based on Márquez’s premise of the arrival of a winged person.
Note: Fiction often uses symbolism to tell deeper truths about life. These symbols stand for deeper meanings, not just for the item itself. Therefore, a candle becomes a symbol of knowledge or human kindness. A thunderstorm can be symbolic of a troubled heart. In the same way, Christians can write about winged people (or angels) and have them be symbolic of something else, as Márquez’s story of the old-man angel can show how humans sometimes profane the divine. But don’t get hung up on it. Your story does not have to be symbolic. Just have fun with it!
Yours for a more vibrant writing class,
.
