Paragraph Assignment: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Pelayo stumbled upon a very old man with wings buried deep in the mud.  This angel stumped the man and his wife.  The winged man took refuge in the family’s chicken coop, the towns people began to take notice.  They demanded of him answers and miracles.  They all had different explanations for his existence; he must prove himself to the masses.  The angel did not pass the priest’s tests of divinity.  The winged man stayed with the family and regained his strength.  One day, the old man sloppily flapped his wings and flew away.  Just as quickly as he appeared, the townspeople forgot about their sideshow angel.

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

While reading A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (A Tale for Children) I kept expecting for the end to have some sort of lesson, like most children's stories and fairy tales do.  

Such as: one would maybe be to not believe false prophets/or people that claim to be something extraordinary.  Or maybe the inverse of that would be to always have faith in the powers above, etc.

Neither of those lessons, nor any of your "cookie cutter" child hood lessons (don't touch a hot stove, don't play with guns- you'll shoot your eye out, etc.) were taught.  And the more I sit with this story, the more I'm okay with it.

When I first began to read I automatically thought of the story of Icarus (a greek character who made wings out of wax- his father warned him not to fly close to the sun, Icarus (of course) did fly too close to the sun and fell.) Lesson: Don't be careless and over-ambitious. Done.

The Lament for Icarus H.J. Draper

This story, however, left me with a slight sour taste in my mouth.  I started out very skeptical of the winged man, but was soon convinced that this man did in fact have real wings and maybe even "magical" powers, "the child woke up without a fever (Marquez 270)" once the old man arrived after all.  And because we weren't left with this beautiful little lesson tied up in red ribbon at the end, I felt slightly disappointed.  I wanted my fairy tale ending!  The old man eventually flew away and Elisenda was relieved to be rid of the nuisance.

I believe this story illustrated the idea that blessings are usually misinterpreted by others- even the people these "blessings" are happening to.  The family eventually made money off of having the angel in their coop (this "angel" lived in a chicken coop!) but they really didn't grow close to him at all.  The towns people, once he didn't produce any obvious miracles, were disenchanted and had reduced him to a side show act.  It shows how differently people perceive something quite unique and wild.

 I mean, a man with wings?! Come on!  

Sonny's Blues: Music and Flashbacks

(http://students.cis.uab.edu/leshay07/Mainprojectpage.html - Harlem Renaissance)

James Baldwin in Sonny’s Blues frequently employs the use of flashbacks to propel the story further, give background information, and to clarify and complete certain characters’ personalities and what drives them throughout the story.  There is also the theme of music throughout the plot- it’s what eventually helps the narrator understand and accept his brother.  I made the connection between the music theme and flashbacks because I feel that music has the unique ability to immediately transport people to different times in the past- to seamlessly cause that person to flashback to the first time they heard the song, or a huge event in their life while the song was playing, etc.  Smells, pictures, and other sensory experiences can also cause a person to relive an event for flashback to their past- but they only last a few moments where as the flashback caused by familiar music lasts the entirety of the song or longer!  I’m not sure if that connection is really all the obvious (or necessary, really) but it’s one that my brain went to almost immediately after finishing.

Charlie "Bird" Parker- Sonny mentions him as being one of the greatest jazz musicians alive and someone that he admires