A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is magical realism? Can you name any works of fiction from the magical realism genre? If you’re unfamiliar with the term, what comes to mind when you hear it? What characteristics might a story from this genre include?

Teaching Suggestion: Magical realism is an advanced genre of literature that includes magical or fantastical elements. Understanding magical realism as having multiple layers of truth and perception is important so students can understand the metaphors in this story.

• Magical Realism in 6 Minutes – A YouTube video from Curious Muse that identifies the elements of magical realism and differentiates between magical realism and fantasy
• Salman Rushdie on Magical Realism – An interview with famous author Salman Rushdie on the genre of magical realism and the limitations of true stories

2. What do you know about the country of Colombia? What do you know about rural/country life in general? What images come to mind when you think about Colombian country life?

Teaching Suggestion: It is possible that students have pre-conceived notions of Colombian country life, which can be used to analyze Márquez’s criticism of small-town dogmatic thinking.