Running head: LITERARY ANALYSIS 1
Literary Analysis of a Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Dominique Gilmore
Ashford University
Instructor: Stephen Rogers
Date: 28 Feb 2017
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1. Literary Analysis of a
Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings
Dominique Gilmore
Ashford University
Instructor: Stephen Rogers
Date: 28 Feb 2017
This page is perfectly done!
[Stephen Rogers]
LITERARY ANALYSIS 2
Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
In some stories, characters come into conflict with the culture in which they live. Often, a
character feels alienated in his/her community or society due to race, gender, class or ethnic
background. In “A very old man with enormous wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author
weaves human beings with supernatural abilities that are depicted in an unexpected twist yet
exciting way. One is left asking themselves how they would have responded if they were to be
confronted with a supernatural being.
A creative tone and a unique style are used by Marquez to create the narrative. He blends
the prosaic and repugnant parts of life extraordinarily. The elements are used to create a story
that conveys the everyday lives, yet repudiate it. The narrative invites the reader to have a close
view of the events that unfold in their lives and actuate how they respond to the prosaic they
face. The story is an inspiration for people always to take another glance at the unordinary events
that sometimes may mean something deeper. The tale is an exhibition that the blending of
mundane with extraordinariness could make a difference to life when people look at them from
the right angle.
The tone used by Marquez at the beginning of the story is natural and unwelcoming for
the occurrence that follows after that. That is; a sick child in the midst of a drab and inclement
weather (Marquez, 2004). The first sentences indicate a writing style that grabs the imaginations
of Marquez. He writes that the globe had been unhappy since Tuesday (Marquez, 2004) which
brings in an extraordinary element by introducing a dreamlike character of a senior man with
large wings. However, he immediately smashes any mindset that the reader has a powerful and
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1. The narrative invites the
reader to have a close
view of the events that
unfold in their lives and
actuate how they respond
to the prosaic they
face.
Great use of the active voice
here! The passive voice is not
as appealing to the reader as
the active voice. Active voice
sentences place the subject
doing the work, and they are
appealing to your reader
quickly indicating to them the
action happening. Sometimes
we have to use the passive
voice. For example, if we do
not know who robbed the
liquor store, we might say,
"The store was robbed."
However, we could make this