43 pages 1 hour read

Gabriel García Márquez

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1968

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Symbols & Motifs

The Chicken Coop

Considering Pelayo and Elisenda were ready to send the old man off on a raft with food and supplies, their subsequent choice to instead lock him in the chicken coop as a kind of circus attraction is significant. They want to be rid of him and at first feel magnanimous at the idea of setting him free, but when they see he can help them turn a profit, they keep him captive. The chicken coop becomes a symbol of this greed. It also solidifies the old man’s status as a dehumanized animal; he becomes just another chicken that Pelayo and Elisenda “farm” to survive. Even the chicken coop receives more care than the angel himself: “If they washed [the coop] down with creolin and burned tears of myrrh inside it every so often, it was not in homage to the angel but to drive away the dungheap stench that still hung everywhere like a ghost” (Paragraph 11).

The literal barrier of the chicken coop that keeps the angel locked in also keeps the surrounding world out. The people who come to see him can only access him through the coop’s holes, which they penetrate with sticks and other devices to garner some reaction from the angel.

Related Titles

By Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon

Gabriel García Márquez

Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel García Márquez

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

Death Constant Beyond Love

Gabriel García Márquez

Death Constant Beyond Love

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

Eyes of a Blue Dog

Gabriel García Márquez

Eyes of a Blue Dog

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

In Evil Hour

Gabriel García Márquez

In Evil Hour

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

Innocent Erendira

Gabriel García Márquez

Innocent Erendira

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

Leaf Storm

Gabriel García Márquez

Leaf Storm

Gabriel García Márquez

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Gabriel García Márquez

Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

News of a Kidnapping

Gabriel García Márquez

News of a Kidnapping

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

No One Writes To The Colonel

Gabriel García Márquez

No One Writes To The Colonel

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

Of Love And Other Demons

Gabriel García Márquez

Of Love And Other Demons

Gabriel García Márquez

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

One Of These Days

Gabriel García Márquez

One Of These Days

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary
logo

Strange Pilgrims

Gabriel García Márquez

Strange Pilgrims

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

The Autumn of the Patriarch

Gabriel García Márquez, Transl. Gregory Rabassa

The Autumn of the Patriarch

Gabriel García Márquez, Transl. Gregory Rabassa

Study Guide
logo

The General in His Labyrinth

Gabriel García Márquez

The General in His Labyrinth

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Gabriel García Márquez

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide
logo

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Gabriel García Márquez

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Gabriel García Márquez