A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Literary Analysis

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Many authors write lavish, entertaining stories with two purposes in mind. One purpose, clearly, is to entertain their readers and the other purpose is to convey a deeper meaning and inspire or educate their readers in an entertaining way. By doing this, the authors usually leave hidden messages or double meanings behind their literature. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez both depict stories of towns and how people act towards events as a society. Both authors use extensive themes and symbolism to show the effects of influence in societies and pressure from outside sources to achieve a goal.
In Shirley Jackson’s story, “The Lottery” she sets the scene in a small, rural town …show more content…

In “Enormous Wings,” the author is making a point to make fun of religion and how people will truly believe anything they hear. Also, how people are so religious but will jump at doubting an angel and killing him instead of helping, which would be the right and godly thing to do. In Jackson’s “The Lottery” people in the town hear other places have stopped participating in the lottery and are doing fine without it, but the older people in this town said quitting the lottery is foolish and will only cause trouble. People then and now will just ask someone older something and quit when they are turned down once. People have basically stopped leading and only follow just because someone older is afraid of change. Also in “The Lottery” Tessie Hutchinson was all for the lottery up until the point where she was the one being stoned, which seems to happen a lot these days. People are all supportive of a certain punishment happening to someone else, but are suddenly against it when it falls upon them. No one sticks to their beliefs when it could harm them and that is such a problem. This relates to the angel in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, how at first having an angel around was frightening but also slightly exciting since angels are known to cure every problem known to man. However, once the people found out the angel could not help them right away and do everything their hearts could ever desire, they suddenly wanted the angel dead. People are not willing to work for their rewards and expect everything handed to them. Both authors did an equally great job at picking fun at how society reacts to and deals with

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