What is the irony of A very old man with enormous wings?
Irony is displayed in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"
through the audience's reactions and perceptions of the Old Man who
is believed by many to be an angel. When Elisenda and Pelayo, the
owners of the house where the Old Man landed, notice the
fascination of their neighbors at the man's wings, the decide to
lock him up and exploit him, putting him on display and charging
admission to see the "oddity" that crashed in their backyard. The
irony lies in the fact that the man was, as far as they could tell,
an angel; yet he was treated no better than a farm animal. Angel or
no, the Old Man was a wounded, majestic creature who deserved the
townspeople's reverence and compassion. When the Old Man regains
his strength and is able to fly away, Elisenda lets escape a sigh
of relief, not recognizing that the Old Man's presence in their
home was what brought her and her family out of poverty and enabled
them to build a crab-proof, and "angel-proof," mansion. She
exclaims, "it was awful living in that hell full of angels."
Although the angel brought her family wealth, she only thought of
the Old Man as an annoyance. Elisenda's ironic relation of the
"Angel" with hell eximplifies all of the characters' perceptions of
the Old Man. The people of the village are not elated, as they
should be, with the appearance of a possible angel; but instead
seem to be burdened by the arrival of a freak. It is also ironic
that the man is even thought of as an angel, while the sole
differentiating factor between him and the villagers is his wings.
Most people expect him to be and angel, and therefore generally
benefit the entire town. However, the Old Man disappoints. He
performs no extraordinary miracles; in fact, his only power seems
to be his unwavering patience with audiences' abuse. Perhaps the
author is trying to convey to readers that patience is not merely a
virtue, as the old saying goes, but true patience may be a miracle
of its own. Through the author's combination of what is expected
and reality, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" leaves the
impression that most people's learned perceptions often do not
coincide with the truth. What actually happens can sometimes be the
antithesis of what should be because people often allow their
judgment to be clouded by their own greed.