Sunday, November 1, 2009

A Very Old Man #3

Is the old man with enormous wings an angel? Or is he just an old man with enormous wings?
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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 3, 2009 at 10:21 AM

    There is no clear answer to this question given. The author titled the text “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” so that may be the answer, but the question posed throughout the text is, Is he an angel? The question is never answered, it seems as though the answer is left to be decided by the reader. The answer may depend on the readers cultural and/or personal beliefs. I do not believe there is a definite answer; the answer is whatever the reader wants it to be.

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  2. dtwelve89November 3, 2009 at 7:51 PM

    I agree with Blogstalker and I like your observation of the title. Yes, the question is up to the reader and it reflects the idea in prompt #7. Your way of thinking based on how you view the world determines the answer to this question.

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  3. chaperonesNovember 5, 2009 at 11:06 AM

    The old man with enormous wings has only one thing in common with how angels are define. He has wings. At first gleams, no one can tell if he is an angel or a man but a trial examination gives an idea of who he is. Father Gonzaga said “if wings were not the essential element in determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane, they were even less so in the recognition of angels.” Upon Father Gonzaga examination of the old man, we learned that the old man can’t speak Latin which he think is God’s language and he smell like outdoors in which he don’t think angels do.
    Angels are known for their perfection, halo on their head, wings on their back and their strong power to do good deed. The old man with enormous wings seems to have much more similarity to human beings than an angel.

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  4. wayneNovember 5, 2009 at 9:02 PM

    By the definition from WIKI, “Angels are spiritual beings found in many religious traditions. They are broadly viewed as messengers of God, sent to do God's tasks. Traditions vary as to the precise nature and role of these messages and tasks. Notions regarding the appearance of angels also vary, they are often perceived to have a human-like appearance and are usually depicted with wings.”

    In the story, the creature has huge wings, human-like appearance, so he should be an angel. But if he is an angel, what message does he deliver to us? Or what tasks does he do for God? Does God send him to the earth to measure the sympathy of the people?

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  5. Daniel FreemanNovember 6, 2009 at 3:22 PM

    interesting questions, wayne-- does anyone see a connection between the angel and the sick boy who eventually gets better?

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  6. kalNovember 6, 2009 at 6:42 PM

    It is written on the book,”… before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. In the middle of the night, when the rain stopped, Pelayo and Elisenda were still killing crabs. A short time afterward the child woke up without a fever and with a desire to eat. Then they felt magnanimous and decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas.” This might have been a big coincidence, but Pelayo, Elisenda and the neighbor who knew everything about life and death did think he was an angel and the reason for him coming to earth might have been to safe the child’s life. Even before and child got better the neighbor who knew everything about like and death said, he might have been coming for the child but got knocked out by the rain. Therefore, if he did come from heaven, that would be the reason.
    As for him being a real angel or not, well we can’t be sure but what I know is that we cannot decide that based on his features, his odor, or any parasites that he might have had on his wings. For those of you that are Christian you know that not only an angel but Jesus Christ, son of God himself was tortured bruised and speared with no indication of who he really is on his body so we can’t judge him based on his external features. I personally can’t decide what the old man is because in the world where a girl can be changed to a spider, anything can happen. If something like this were to happen in our world it would have been something really out of the ordinary but in their world it was just a bit different so it’s very hard to say.

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  7. Tsegu KahsayNovember 7, 2009 at 2:10 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Tsegu KahsayNovember 7, 2009 at 2:13 AM

    This is an essay based on pure fantasy. It is the writers fantasy to make us imagine a man with a wing or a woman who is changed to spider and we have to accept it as it is without experimenting the existence of a man with a wing. Therefore, the old man with a big wings is just an old man with big wings not an angel.

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  9. Isaac7600November 25, 2009 at 8:24 PM

    It seems that this story points out to the fact that there are no angels with miraculous powers and devine strenght sent by a god. Just like the woman who was turned into a spider is just a woman who was turned into a spider, this is just a man with wings.

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