A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings Short Summary

By the Author Gabriel García Márquez, the story is as the title, about an old man with enormous wings. Below is a complete synopsis of the story.

A Short Plot Overview

On a rainy day, Pelayo is outside killing crabs when he comes across a homeless man who seems confused. The man has enormous wings. He is also dirty and speaks a strange language. Pelayo fetches his wife Elisenda, and they attempt communicating with him only to fail. They consult their neighbor, a woman. She tells them that the man is an actual angel, she says that the angel was on its way for their child.

They keep the angel in their chicken coop. In the night, the fever of their child vanishes. The couple decides to let the man go. When they get to the courtyard early in the morning, the whole community is there waiting to see the mysterious angel. Father Gonzaga arrives and claims that the man was a fraud and declares that he will get to the bottom of the issue by consulting the church’s courts.

The news about this angel quickly spreads, and the courtyard starts to resemble the market place. Elisenda gets the idea to charge people to see their angel, and they become rich. The city takes much time deciding whether the man was, in fact, an angel or not. Father Gonzaga restrains the crowd as everyone waits for the verdict.

The crowds start diminishing gradually. Soon, a Carnival that has a spider girl goes through town, and the residents are bewildered. They were allowed to ask her questions. She claims to have been turned into a tarantula one night after she disobeyed her parents. This becomes more popular than the old man who just ignored the people. The curious crowd abandons Pelayo’s court for the sight of the spider, leaving it deserted.

Pelayo and Elisenda construct a mansion with the money they had received. They leave the angel neglected in the coop and warn their child against getting close to him. He becomes part of their life, and hence, they no longer fear the angel. The child pays frequent visits to him. The coop breaks after some time, and they allow the angel to move around in their house. The angel becomes sick and frail, and it makes them fear his impending death. However, he later recovers. Elisenda sees him fly off one day and feels relieved.