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English 10: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings - Theories On Who He Is

The winged man is the central focus and namesake of the story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The winged man appeared in the backyard of Pelayo's house on a third continuous day of a downpour (1). The profile of the winged man has not been confirmed by the author, though characters within the story itself refer to him as an angel and a carnival trick. After reading, I have developed a theory on who this winged man is to help me better understand the story. I believe that the man, is indeed, a fallen angel. In some documentations of Christianity, there is an archangel named Raphael, the angel of healing. St. Raphael is described to be wearing a simple cloth tunic tied at the waist with a sash and has feathered wings darker in colour compared to other archangels with clean, white or beige wings in Christianity. The appearance of St. Raphael could be compared to that of the old man, who "was dressed like a ragpicker. [...] His huge buzzard wings [(which are wings of hawklike birds with darker feathers)] [...] were forever entangled in the mud" (2). A typical ragpicker would wear something similar to what Raphael wears, and they were also dirty and covered in smudges as a result of rag-picking, which could symbolize the colour difference in Raphael's wings and the mud in the old man's. His appearance could be an altered version of St. Raphael's used to add impact to the story development.

Another reasoning I have for my theory is because of what Pelayo's neighbour told the couple: "[h]e's an angel. [...] He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down" (3). Recall that St. Raphael is the angel of healing, and coincidentally, Pelayo and Elisenda's child was sick when the old man, who in my theory, symbolizes St. Raphael, appeared in their backyard. Judging by this coincidence, I think what the neighbouring woman told the couple could've been correct, and the old man was here to help heal the child. The child was healed, the night the angel came, when Pelayo allowed him inside the house where the child was. And although angels are known to be ageless, because of the effects needed to impact the story, the old man had to be aged, so that the rain could knock him down and result in being a captive to Pelayo. When "the most unfortunate invalids on earth came in search of health" (7), a few of those were "a poor woman who since childhood has been counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers; a Portuguese man who couldn't sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him, [and] a sleepwalker who got up at night to undo the things he had done while awake" (7). These people who came were looking to be healed of heart disease, insomnia, and parasomnia. If the old man were really the angel of healing, he would be able to help them all and send them back home, cured.

The last reason why I think the old man is an angel is that he existed to so many people around the world and performed many odd miracles that they all believed in. The old man granted a "blind man who didn't recover his sight but grew three new teeth, [a] paralytic who didn't get to walk but almost won the lottery, and [a] leper whose sores sprouted sunflowers" (9). Angel Hamied, the angel of miracles, is only visible to those who believe in miracles and allow their minds to be open to light and hope. Visitors also lit sacramental candles by his cage, which in Christianity represents something presented before it should be a cherished and preserved heirloom. If the people didn't believe in angels and hope that he could heal and bring about miracles to make their lives better, they wouldn't be lining up at Elisenda and Pelayo's doorstep and leaving religious gifts to someone they didn't wish to preserve for the future.


- Sources:
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Márquez