Reading Response to A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

   Out of all of the short stories we have read, I find A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez to be the strangest. Like most children's stories, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings has a very simple plot. Basically, a poor family finds an angel lying on the shore. The angel becomes like a circus animal to the rest of the town. One day the angel finds the strength to fly away. Due to its lack of plot, this story has a very interesting and significant mood. The atmosphere is dark and gloomy. The weather, colors, and life of the characters all portray a depressing mood. The only light in the story is the angel itself. I feel like the ending could have been more powerful. I was not shocked by the angel's departure, and I was let down at how anticlimactic the story was.
   A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings also has some different characters. Pelayo and Elisenda are very greedy and unkind to the innocent angel. They treat him like a circus animal, and even charge a fee to see him. This is very greedy and disrespectful. Elisenda even calls the angel, "a nuisance." I would not recommend this story to anyone over the age of ten. It is a good children's story, but does not make sense to those who attempt to unravel it.