A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

The crux of magical realism is its blending of the supernatural with the natural, familiar, and mundane. “A Very Old Man” contains several fantastic elements: the old man with wings who may be an angel, the talking spider woman, the carnival acrobat with wings of a “sidereal bat,” the “unfortunate invalids” with strange illnesses, and the “consolation miracles” that ruin the angel’s reputation (Paragraphs 7, 10). These characters give the story a fairytale-like tone, which the narrator’s observations strengthen. When the story notes that the angel’s “only supernatural virtue seemed to be patience” (Paragraph 8), it is teaching a moral lesson the way a traditional fairytale would.

However, this fairytale doesn’t rely solely on fantasy to make its points; instead, its supernatural elements appear alongside more realistic ones, like the old man’s baldness, or the chicken coop the family imprisons him within. What’s more, the story approaches its outlandish plot from a psychologically realistic angle. For example, the old man’s plight as a captive outsider is made even more tragic by his apparent resignation to his fate; he remains reticent and unresponsive, highlighting his mystique but also his depressing isolation.