Reader?Response?Essay???A?Very?Old?Man?with?Enormous?Wings??by?Gabriel?Garc?a?M?rquez

Description
Read A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garc a M rquez (in the course textbook and attached
below). Reflect and respond to the story in a 3 to 4 page reader response essay.
Remember that reader response essays are less formal than other types of academic writing. You may use the
personal pronoun I and may write about whatever strikes you from the story. You may also choose to write
from one of the following prompts:
Explain how good and evil co exist in this story, and which one you think wins out in the end. Use specific
lines of text from the story to support your assertion.
Was the old man with the enormous wings truly an angel Why or why not Use specific lines of text from the
story to support your assertion.
Gabriel Garc a M rquez is said to have fathered the genre of magical realism with this story. What parts of the
story felt magical to you and what parts felt real How do they work together to convey the overall message of
the story Use specific lines of text from the story to support your assertion.
Does the fact that M rquez is a South American writer have any influence on the developments of this story
Does its international setting have any impact on the reader s potential understanding of the story
For a successful paper:
Have a strong thesis statement at the end of your introduction paragraph.
Use a hook in the introduction paragraph to grab your readers attention.
Use specific textual support from the short story in the body of your paper.
Finish with a strong conclusion that summarizes your main points, restates the thesis in some way, and possibly
returns to the initial hook.
Proofread for errors in spelling, grammar, and writing mechanics. Vary sentence structure and sentence length to
add interest.
Follow correct APA guidelines found in CSU Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements with regard to
font style, size, margins and spacing.
Use APA when citing the text; include a reference page citation at the end of the paper for the short story in the
anthology. See the tutorial in Module 1 or consult the CSU Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements

CourseSmart – Instructors – Print http://instructors.coursesmart.com/print xmlid=9780495904557/628&pa…
UsernametessbaderBookCompactLIteratureReadmgReactmgWrItmg2009MLAUpdateEdItIon7thEdItIonPage628
No part of any book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the publisher’s prior permission. Use (other than qualified fair use) in violation of the law or Terms of
serv’ce’sl mh’b’te jV’ ’at r5″”‘ bepmsewte jwthefu EXtent fthe’aW

628 CHAPTER 20 0 FICTION FOR FURTHER READING

her across that gleaming space of wood at the front of the room. But just as she bent
down to scoop the toy to her chest, a neat black boot slashed, inches from her nose.
Sister Mary Anita had whirled, the chalk fixed in her hand. Daintily, casually, she
had lifted her habit and kicked the toy dinosaur into the air. The thing ascended,
pedaling its clawed feet, the scarf blown back like a sprung umbrella. The trajectory
was straight and true. The toy knocked headfirst into the ceiling and came back
down in pieces. The children ducked beneath the rain of scattered tin. Only Dot
and Mary Anita stood poised, unmoving, focused on the moment between them.

Dot could look nowhere but at her teacher. But when she lifted her eyes this
time, Sister Mary Anita was not looking at her. She had turned her face away, the
rough cheek blotched as if it had borne a slap, the gaze hooded and set low. Sister
walked to the window, her back again to Dot, to the class, and as the laughter started,
uncomfortable and groaning at first, then shriller, fuller, becoming its own animal,
Dot felt an unrecoverable tenderness boil up in her. lnwardly she begged the nun to
turn and stop the noise. But Sister did not. She let it wash across them both without
mercy. Dot lost sight of her unspeakable profile as Mary Anita looked out into the
yard. Bathed in brilliant light, the nun s face went as blank as a sheet of paper, as the
sky, as featureless as all things that enter heaven.

are a: are

GABRIEL GABCiA Miinourz (1928-
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (1968)
A Tale for Children
Translated from the Spanish by Gregory Habassa

On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo
had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the new-
born child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench.
The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and
the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had
become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish. The light was so weak at noon that when
Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for
him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He
had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down
in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn t get up, impeded by his
enormous wings.

Frightened by that nightmare, Pelayo ran to get Elisenda, his wife, who was put
ting compresses on the sick child, and he took her to the rear of the courtyard. They
both looked at the fallen body with mute stupor. He was dressed like a ragpicker.

ragpicker: Someone who makes a living collecting rags and other refuse.

Copyright 201 l Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
1 of6 6/20/2011 10:23 AM