Eng242 Final Essay

Week 7 Final Essay

Marquez/Kafka

Shelley Burks

Tiffin University

4/29/16

Marquez/Kafka

        This essay will explore how the old man from “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (1955) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the hunger artist from “A Hunger Artist” (1924) by Franz Kafka are put on display to the public and the ways that the audience views the characters’ suffering as curiosities rather than tragedies. The old man with enormous wings crash lands in the yard of Pelayo and Elisenda, who are suffering from an invasion of crabs in their home during a storm; as well as, trying to nurse their son back to health (Marquez, 1955). Pelayo decides to keep the old man in the chicken coop which draws a crowd of onlookers; much like that of the crowds who came to see the hunger artist “perform;” however, both were overshadowed by other more active displays.

        The hunger artist’s art is suffering; whereas, the suffering of the old man is caused by those who do not understand what he is. Even though the hunger artist is confined to a cage, he has complete control over his pain and hunger, pushing himself past human limits with his art of starvation. The old man with wings is treated as an oddity, but not a supernatural oddity, more like a freak of nature than an angel from the heavens, which led Pelayo to lock the old man in the chicken coop (Marquez, 1955). The hunger artist’s audience comes to watch him suffer as part of his show; however, eventually the crowd begins to suspect that the artist may not be truly starving himself and begin losing interest in the artist’s performance in favor of lively caged animals. The old man with wings’ audience sees him as nothing more than a frail man with wings, which leads to endless debate by the audience to what he really is, as he does not meet the angelic criteria of Father Gonzaga and after some time the audience loses interest in the winged man after a Spider-girl becomes a popular attraction (Marquez, 1955).

        In the short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (1955) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, there are two major supernatural occurrences in the story: the old man with wings and the girl who was turned into a spider. The people of the town treat the old man as an oddity, but not as a supernatural oddity; more like a freak of nature than something beyond nature (Marquez, 1955). The old man appears to be nothing more than a frail old man with parasite ridden wings, which led to debate of his status as an angel. Due to his lack of dignity and splendor, Father Gonzaga think he cannot be an angel (Marquez, 1955). This begs the question of whether he lacks dignity intrinsically or if he lacks dignity because of the way he has been treated; i.e., locked in a chicken coop and put on display for the townspeople. Perhaps it is the audience who lacks dignity for the way they treat the caged old man with wings.