Sunday, November 1, 2009

A Very Old Man #5

How do you conceive of an angel? Do you have a certain picture in your head? Where did that picture or conception come from? Is it at all similar to the way the very old man with enormous wings is described?
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13 comments:

  1. Benson O.oNovember 2, 2009 at 3:30 PM

    To me, an angel is a kid who has little wing with a cute looking. The picture come from the fairy tales that i have read. Angel should know all the languages because they are from the heaven. They should be clean and always neatly dressed. They are cute and fancy. They can play all kinds of magic to help the people.Compare with the old man with enormous wing, there is almost nothing in common.

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  2. gabrielasedovaNovember 3, 2009 at 12:41 PM

    Reflexion. This is the way a picture an angel. Rather than thinking about how it looks, acts, or how much knowledge posses, I see human beings' character and behavior as result of how much we are or would like to be in "touch" with an angel. So I guess, I could say angel is equal to the way of thinking. We all surely have moments which could be described even worse than "bad days". However, this feeling should not be passed on other people around us meaning, no purposely made harms, hates, and crime. Individuals should find enough strenght within themselves to fight with this. This is the point when the "angel" steps in. It is important to look for the angel in ourselves in order to help and please others. Hearing "you are an angel,"addressed to our person is a simple proof of being successful in an not easy search.

    The article itself states that we tend to make decision based on appearance. It could not be an Angel because it did not look heavenly, interesting. In my opinion it was an Angel (in the way of help) because this synonym tried to open our eyes, to wake us up. Marquez's home country was Colombia. Here the character of Angel was Colombian innocent people while being politically and economically oppressed by leading rich elite. "...and he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop,"
    Marquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", p.929. Here again, the coop is a synonym for a prison. Colombian must have felt like prisoners. They were too weak and could not improve their stand in the society.

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  3. dtwelve89November 3, 2009 at 7:16 PM

    My image of an angel is a young woman with wings dressed in cloth. I've developed this conception from movies and books throughout my life. I don't know why, but that has always been my image of an angel similar to those from Baroque paintings and sculptures. My image of angels are the complete opposite from that of the story from a beautiful elegant young woman to an old dying man infested with parasites.

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  4. DeweiNovember 3, 2009 at 7:37 PM

    In my mind, angel is a coordinator between god and human. It communicates god's intention and gives a hand to someone who needs help. An angel not only has a good looking exterior -- a beautiful wings and a halo above the head, but also it has a rich of knowledge and a kind heard. Additionally, angel has a magical power which can satisfy people's wish. That conception came from a movie that I watched. Compare with the angel in the article 'A very old man with Enormous Wings', whatever in their exterior or character are totally difference. So I agree with Benson 'there is almost nothing in common.'

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  5. Kok YingNovember 4, 2009 at 4:40 PM

    Angel, in my mind, has a shining ring above it's head. That is definitely the most attractive things. Then we can see a bright body with a pair of pure white feathered wings and in simple white clothes. Also, we can find it is a young male with a lovely face. Next, we can feel a warm stream flowing into our bodies as it gives us a kindly smile. I think all of us have the similar conception of angels as we met angels on movies, TV, books, paints... The appearance of angels in my conception is extremely different from that in "The Very Old Man".

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  6. AnonymousNovember 4, 2009 at 9:32 PM

    I think Angel almost gives the same impression to most people. Angel is a kid with beautiful wings and shining halo above its head. Its hand always holds a fairy stick and use magic power to help people, even meet people's demand and dreams. It punishes the bad guys and aids kind-hearted people. Most of this image comes from fairy tale and animation. Angel gives me a beautiful hope and wish, while it does not have some in common with the old man.

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  7. UnknownNovember 5, 2009 at 12:14 AM

    I personally believe that angel does exist. to me angel should have two white beautiful wings and a golden halo above their heads. the image of angel is mostly come from fairl tale and kid story books that we used to read. angel is a person who brings hope and happiness to everyone. whenever there's an angel, there should be nothing to worried. but the old man conceive angel as something totally different then what i have in mind.

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  8. MingTaoNovember 5, 2009 at 5:00 PM

    In my opinion, angel don't have wings, might be they have supernatural power, so they don't need wings to fly. Angel wearing a long white robe, covers their hole body, and their head also covers by the cap of the robe. Moreover, We can't see their face, and the hole of the cap shimmering. I think my image a little different than other people, but I actully got this image from a cartoon show about bible stories when I was little kid. It's not a very good first image of angel, because in the show, God think that human did something wrong, so he sent an angel as a messenger to announce the punishment from God(if I remmber correctly). I believe that image of angel in each person's mind depend on his religion，education and life experience. An old man with enormous wings is different than my image, but I think an old angel is acceptable.

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  9. AndcliuNovember 5, 2009 at 11:20 PM

    An angel is a person dressed in all white draping down to his feet with two enormous white dove-like wings behind his shoulders along with blinding sun light shining behind him. This image was implanted in my head since I was in elementary school. Since I attended a Bible school, I always read books or childrens' version of the Bible, and whenever it comes to the angel part there would be drawing similar to what I've described. However, when I read the story about the very old man with enormous wings, I was stunned to see the description of the "angel" in the story doesn't even come close to the image painted in my mind.

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  10. prettyleungNovember 6, 2009 at 2:23 AM

    In my point of view, I conceive an angel is a little girl who dressing with all white long dress,socks and a pair of enormous wings with no shoes wearing. In my mind ,an angel are always singing merry christmas songs. Moreover I have a very clear picture in my mind. These concepts are all come from the church in East Oakland.

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  11. DecembrielNovember 6, 2009 at 3:17 PM

    If I were to paint a picture of an angel it would probably look like a person wearing rags and wings with feathers falling. My reasoning for this is that if my religious training has any truth and god is supposed to be a compassionate being who wants his children to also be compassionate he wouldn't have his angels look like the most except-able members of a society but instead the outcasts. This way if he needed to send an angel down to earth to test the faith of the people he would be able to get a more truthful answer.

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  12. Daniel FreemanNovember 6, 2009 at 3:26 PM

    thought-provoking response, alexis.

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  13. Dev[PM]November 6, 2009 at 5:57 PM

    I hope I don't get flamed here for posting this, but my ideal image of an "angel" is very different than the cliché Christian version.

    Angels have been mentioned in early history, but not in the image of a human-like figure dressed in white clothing with a halo ring above his or her head. Instead, they have been depicted as extraterrestrials, where they themselves are the angels, and heaven is space. Personally, I do not believe in Creationism, however, I do believe that some superior omnipotent being forged the universe in ways we cannot fathom. Despite the fact that the discussion of extraterrestrials is controversial, the evidence that I have found acknowledges their existence. The definitions of Heaven, afterlife, or any spiritual beliefs are unique to each individual person. If extraterrestrials in fact do exist where some of their goals are to pursue spiritual enlightenment banishing things, such as war, prejudice, and greed, then it would certainly be one of the things that would make life worth living.

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