1. “A Very old man with enormous wings”
Gabriel Marquez

2. Tone/mood
Tone- how does the speaker feel about the subject they are writing about? Mood- how does the reader feel about the subject they are reading about? Remember that the tone/mood are created by the diction (word choice).

3. TOne
Bleak
“The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish” (Marquez1).
“There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away the sense of grandeur he might have had. His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked were forever entangled in the mud” (Marquez 1).

4. Mood
Sympathetic
“The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to get very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings”(Marquez 1).
…[H]ens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers…even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing…they burned his side with an iron for branding” (Marquez 2).

5. Setting Temporal setting- when a story takes place.
Physical setting- where a story takes place.

6. Temporal setting The story begins at noon on a Friday.
“On the third day of rain…the world had been sad since Tuesday” (Marquez 1).
“The light was so weak at noon…” (Marquez 1).
The story ends several years later in the morning.
“On morning…” (Marquez 4).
“When the child began school…” (Marquez 4). “…because the newborn child had a temperature all night…” (Marquez 1).

7. Physical Setting The story takes place in a small village by the sea.
“…Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea…” (Marquez 1).
“On the following day everyone knew that a flesh-and-blood angel was held captive in Pelayo’s house” (Marquez 1).

8. Conflict
Internal conflict- (man vs. self) This is when a character has a conflict within themselves. This is usually a moral conflict.
External conflict- (man vs. man, man vs. society, man vs. nature) This is when a character has a conflict with some aspect of nature, society, and/or with another character(s).

9. Internal conflict
Elisenda and Pelayo- Both characters are conflicted because they do not know what they should do with the angel.
“Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club…they decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate… (Marquez 1).
…what to do with dead angels” (Marquez 4).
“Elisenda let out a sigh of relief, for herself and for him…” (Marquez 4).

10. External conflict (man vs. man)
Man vs. man- the couple vs. the angel
“With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion with balconies…” (Marquez 3).
“They would drive [the angel] out of the bedroom with a broom and a moment later find him in the kitchen…the exasperated and unhinged Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in that hell full of angels” (Marquez 3).

11. External conflict (man vs. society)
The people vs. the angel
The angel is mistreated and unwanted/seen as ‘the other’
…[H]ens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers…even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing…they burned his side with an iron for branding” (Marquez 2).
[I]t is awful living in a hell full of angels” (Marquez 4).
No one understands the angel.
“He spent most of his time trying to get comfortable…the hellish heat of the oil lamps and sacramental candles...they tried to make him eat some mothballs…” (Marquez 2).
“…he only lifted his antiquarian eyes and murmured something in his dialect..” (Marquez 2).
The angel vs. the spider
People like the spider better than the angel.
“[T]he woman who had been turned into a spider finally crushed him completely” (Marquez 3).
“A spectacle like that, full of so much human truth and with such fearful lesson, was bound to defeat without even trying that of a haughty angel who scarcely deigned to look at mortals” (Marquez 3).

12. External conflict (man vs. nature)
Pelayo and Elisenda vs. the crabs
“On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench” (Marquez 1).
The angel vs. the elements
“[H]is main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds…” (Marquez 2).

13. Point of view
First person- (I, me, my, us, we, our) The story is told from one character’s perspective.
Second person- (you, your) The narrator is directly addressing the audience.
Third person limited- (he, she, it, they, them) The person telling the story is not a character in the story. The person telling the story can only see into ONE character’s mind
Third person omniscient- The person telling the story is not a character in the story. The person in the story can see into EVERY character’s mind.

14. Point of view Third person limited
The story is third person limited because the person narrating the story is not a character in the story. Furthermore, the narrator cannot see into EVERY character’s mind.

15. Analysis of point of view
The story is third person limited because the person narrating the story is not a character in the story, and they cannot see in the mind of the angel.
Because the narrator is not a character in the story, they describe the angel in a way they will make us feel sympathetic; they seem to see how much he is suffering, which the villagers would not do because of their biases.
Because we never see inside the mind of the angel, we never know where/who he is, or how he feels. This is important because it adds to the mystery of the angel, and it helps make the angel seem even more misunderstood by all those around him.

16. Imagery
Imagery occurs when there is so much description/figurative language that the audience can see, hear, smell, taste, and/or feel what the speaker is describing.

17. Imagery
“He awoke with a start, ranting in his hermetic language and with tears in his eyes, and he flapped his wings a couple of times, which brought on a whirlwind of chicken dung” (Marquez 3).
“With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion with balconies and gardens and high netting so that crabs wouldn’t get in during the winter, and with iron bars on the windows so that angels wouldn’t get in…Elisenda bought some satin pumps with high heels and many dresses of iridescent silk…the chicken coop was the only thing that didn’t receive any attention. If they washed it down with creolin and burned tears of myrrh inside it every so often, it was not in hmage to the angel but to drive away the dungheap stench that still hung everywhere like a ghost” (Marquez 4).

18. Characterization
Direct characterization- This occurs when the narrator tells you the personality of the character.
Indirect characterization- This occurs when the narrator shows you the personality of the character (actions, effect on other characters, speech, looks).

19. Direct characterization
The angel
Patient- “His supernatural virtue seemed to be patience” (Marquez 2).
Crazy- “The few miracles attributed to the angel showed a certain mental disorder” (Marquez 3).
Angel- “’He’s an angel’” (Marquez 1).
Sickly- “[H]e found so much whistling in the heart and so many sounds in his kidneys that it seemed impossible for him to be alive” (Marquez 4).
The neighbor
Knowledgeable- “And yet, they called in a neighbor woman who knew everything about life and death to see him” (Marquez 1).

20. Indirect characterization
Elisenda (selfish and ungrateful)
“With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion…the chicken coop was the only thing that didn’t receive any attention” (Marquez 3). “Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in a hell full of angels” (Marquez 4). “[The angel] was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea” (Marquez 4).
The angel (hopeful and cautious)
“He remained motionless for several days in the farthest corner of the courtyard, where no one would see him, and at the beginning of December some large, stiff feathers began to grow on his wings…he was quite careful that no one should notice them, that no one should hear the sea chanteys that he sometimes sang under the stars” (Marquez 4).

21. Magical Realism Real-world setting Open-ended conclusion
No explanation given for magical being
Realistic description of the magical being
Meant to be a critique of society

22. Analysis of genre Magical realism
Instead of telling the audience that they are selfish, hypocritical, self-serving individuals who fear anyone who is different, Marquez chose to show the audience this with a magical character we could connect to/feel sympathy for. This allows the audience to take any bias they may already have out of the equation and focus on the story’s message.

23. Plot
Exposition- the beginning of the story when the characters, setting, and conflict are introduced.
Rising action- the events that take place before the climax
Climax- the turning point of the story (the point when the central conflict either allows for the protagonist to be the winner or the loser).
Falling action- the events that take place before the resolution
Resolution- the end of the story when the conflict has been resolved and life goes back to normal

24. Protagonist/antagonist
Protagonist- the main character/ the story revolves around this character
Antagonist- the character in conflict with the protagonist/ the conflict in the story revolves around this character.

25. Symbols/theme Symbol- When something represents something else.
Theme- This is the central message of the story. Ask yourself: what is the story trying to say about people/life in general?

26. Symbolism What is said about the angel vs. Reality Neighbor Elisenda
What is said- he is an angel.
Reality- “[His wings] seemed so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn’t understand why other men didn’t have them too” (Marquez 4).
Elisenda
What is said- he is a nuisance.
Reality- he is the reason Elisenda and her husband have so much money at the end of the story.
Father Gonzaga
What is said- he is not an angel.
Reality- He performs several miracles, and Father Gonzaga bases his reasoning on the angel’s appearance and inability to speak Aramaic.

27. theme Exclusion of those who are different
Elisenda, Pelayo, and the rest of the people react cautionary to the angel and treat him like an animal because he is different.
“Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club” (Marquez 1).
“…put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas” (Marquez 1).
“the whole neighborhood…without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal” (Marquez 1).

28. theme People are selfish
After the angel allows them to become very wealthy, Elisenda and Pelayo still resent the angel.
They never even upgrade the chicken coop when they remodel their house.
People stop visiting the angel when they realize he will not cure their diseases, heal their wounds, etc.
People selfishly listen to the spider’s sad tale in order to feel a sense of catharsis, but this does not do anything to help the spider.

29. theme People are too easily swayed to exploit others.
Elisenda and Pelayo exploit the angel for money.
The people exploit the angel and the spider for their own amusement.

30. theme People are hypocritical
Father Gonzaga should be a moral representation for the people, but once he concludes the winged man is not an angel, he does nothing to help the poor man or ease his sufferings.

31. Analysis of symbolism What people say about the angel vs. the reality
Supports the theme of ‘otherness’
Instead of trying to decipher what the winged man/angel is, the angel just needed some compassion.
The people did not need to know where/who the man was in order to know he was suffering.

32. Analysis of tone/mood
The bleak tone and sympathetic mood throughout the story are used to support the many themes within the story.