“When he finally spreads his wings and leaves, Elisenda manages to feel nothing but relief” (Tornaritis, 3). This statement from the short story “A Very Old Man With Wings” illustrates how helping someone will not always end up having a positive effect on you. Gabriel Garcia Marquez lets the reader realize how badly an angel, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, makes an unexpected journey into a stranger’s home. In “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the power of kindness is overtaken by ambition.
Some conclusions about kindness in “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” are that Pelayo and Elisenda are not being kind at all. “They neglect the chicken coop and the angel, merely washing it occasionally to lessen its horrible smell” (Tornaritis, 1). This quote shows interest; Elisenda and Pelayo only help the angel so that he can help them. To be kind means to be generous, helpful, and to think about the other individual’s feelings. The couple from the story are kind but they expect something in return.
The power of kindness described in this short story between Pelayo, Elisenda, and the angel is expected to soon encounter the character’s trait, and Chantaca 2 show inconsiderate feelings. Elisenda acts horribly towards the angel once she has taken advantage of his grace. The angel did not cause trouble instead, he was too busy being an angel. Elisenda and Pelayo did not appreciate the miracles the angel was doing, because they were too busy being avaricious. “He’s like a cow, kept in a pen and milked for money and miracles”(Tornaritis,2). The violent acts and the way they described the angel were traumatic.
They treated him with such undignified carelessness towards his feelings. They did not care what he felt, they just thought about humiliating him and stripping him of his kindness. The angel was so sad and disappointed that he began to get sick, as of in depression. He made so many miracles, but he was still being humiliated. Not one person cared about his wellness; they were just being self centered. The way they treated the old man contradicts the people’s perspective on kindness.
He was sent to that place e for a purpose, but not to be humiliated the way he was in the story. Giving kindness does us as much good as receiving it”(Ferrucci, 2). This statement from, “The Power Of Kindness” illustrates how an individual’s life may change if they become affectionate towards others. Generosity is the key to contentment. If one person is struggling to get things out of the car, the most obvious thing to do would be to help that person. Many people would probably keep on doing their own thing, because not everyone was taught to be kind. Real life situations where people don’t help someone has to do with the way they were raised.
If their mother or father never taught them to be kind they would not practice it. This story is full of ambition and interest, because the old man is being used as bait to attract money. However, he ends up finding out that he is being used to bring in Chantaca 3 money. Sometimes kindness requires to forgive and be honest. For example, if your brother spills chocolate milk on your homework; you will be angry with him. To bring peace among your brother-and-sister relationship, you will have to forgive him. In another real life situation, a man runs over your dog.
You are arguing with him for about an hour, and you still don’t have the strength to forgive him for the accident. You finally let him explain the situation and decide to forgive him. This teaches individuals to not always take everything for granted. You must always keep an eye out for those who are trying to hurt you, and don’t have good intentions towards you. The angel is no longer the life of the party. The spider girl shows up and takes all of the audience. She brags about how she was turned into a spider, and the crowd is going crazy.
She is described as a “spectacular life lesson,” but she is the one that is a curse. All of the people judge how the old man is an angelic but he has more good in himself than the people judging him. The old man was mistreated and judge strongly. Face those people can’t even realize that the an angel was sent with the purpose. Maybe he was going to save all of the people from a dark storm, but they chose to admire the Spider Girl. Most people don’t realize what God has planned for them, but they choose to shade under the dark trees.
The old man is thinking so many kinds of good things for the people. In the short story the narrator describes the various things that are changing, “A blind man regained not his sight but three teeth” (Marquez, 1). Many individuals believed this was very odd. A scientific fact is that people only receive one pair of teeth after your baby teeth fall out. It was very strange thing for an old man to gain his teeth; it Chantaca 4 is scientifically impossible. Another unexplainable situation is, A lame man came close to winning the lottery after visiting the angel” (Marquez,1).
A general opinion is that the people from the story don’t realize that instead of being savages and randomly punishing the old man, they should treat him like a god. The old man’s purpose is not to be something the people make fun of. The people should show stranger love to the old man. People should love others as themselves and not discriminate based on looks or things they like. Just like Martin Luther King Jr. when he gave his speech about equality. You have to treat everyone equally so that they are kind to you in moments that are difficult. Father Gonzaga is cured of his insomnia” (Marquez,1). The old man’s presence cures the father of a dangerous sickness. The poor old man is doing so many great things for people he doesn’t even know, and he is being treated like an animal. This is an embarrassing and sad thing that the people do. These people are just so cruel. What these people don’t realize is that at some point the saying, “you get what you give” will be applied to them at an unpredictable moment in their life. The old man is just so humble that it’s not understandable to even think about all the bad ways he is being treated.
Those cruel people are just so caught up in the moment that they don’t realize the sadness they are putting the old man through. At a certain point the old man starts to realize how being too kind to the people that surround him and make him doubt his abilities will waste him away. The people waste his kindness and he starts to become utterly sad and make the old man not eat. He Chantaca 5 is going through a hard complication after suffering all of the cruel things. “He starts to go through a depression, where his wings start to become empty” (tornaritis,3). Kindness should be applied in our everyday life; it will make our lives a lot easier.
Elisenda and Pelayo act extra mean to the angel. “They humiliated him to the point where he becomes sad and sick” (tornaritis,3). In many real life situations being kind is the way to show you are thankful to that certain individual. Most people believe that the things that you go through in life affects your perspective and the way you act towards others or yourself. Some people find the answer by hurting themselves. They think they are doing something that will help them. They only truth behind hurting yourself is that you are just going deeper into thinking about why you’re doing the things you do.
At a certain point in life you don’t even know what to do or who to ask for help. You are just so afraid to come out into the world and be judged. If you look for help you will have to explain everything to that individual. Many people want to skip that part, but it’s unhelpful. What if you don’t want to explain? What if they might misjudge you? These questions form like rain in a sunny day. The old man begins to go through something tougher, and it takes over his strength. “The angel won’t drag himself like a stray dying man” (Marquez, 3). Those unusually cruel people weren’t even helping the old man.
They just wanted him out of their lives, because he wasn’t even useful anymore. The poor angelic creature, full of good, was eaten alive by those savages. The pain he must have been feeling is unexplainable. It was something greater than sadness, nothing less. He was changing so Chantaca 6 quickly and drastically; he even looked like he was on the verge of expiring. “He would scarcely eat and his antiquarian eyes had also become so foggy” (Marquez,3). He stopped eating, he began to get sick, and his appearance began to drastically change. His sadness is reflected upon his aging. Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents; later in life, when facing the sufferings of disease and old age, we are again dependent on the kindness of others”(Ferrucci, 1). This quote from the book review, “The Power Of Kindness,” means that when you start to loose energy, you regain it with the kindness of other individuals. Happiness and kindness are two very similar things that both deal with people’s feelings. If you practice kindness to someone who has just lost their job, you will make them feel appreciated. You will make them laugh and become content.
When you receive kindness it changes your perspective on most difficult situations. You will no longer be stressed. Instead, you will have another perspective on the situation. The old man realizes he should get another perspective and eventually his sad appearance begins to change in a positive way. “He grows his feathers back in secret and sings mournful shanties to the moon” (Marquez,3). He gets a different perspective and realizes he should see things for what they really mean. He is over the fact that they use him. In the story, they tease him because he is in a chicken coop and insists that his sickness is chicken pox.
This is a rude opinion coming from Elisenda and Pelayo. Everyone should just not care about other people’s rude comments. The angel finally gets better and focuses on growing out his beautiful feathers on his wings. Chantaca 7 This story, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” contradicts the power of kindness with people’s ambition. Some people are born kind,others are not. This story teaches a very contradicting feeling towards kindness. Many people from the story practice kindness only to gain something out of it; they don’t do it to be nice.