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The Sketch |
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"[Pelayo] had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man," is the introduction of the Angel. As a trait, his age contributes to an image of helplessness mingled with pity. The reader gets the impression that the feeble figure needs a great deal of care taken of him. (Though, to live in a chicken coop without dying of an infected sore makes him seem pretty hardy to me) |
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The old man's entrance is ambiguous, but the impression is that he crashed into the mud, instead of perhaps merely falling asleep there. He is stuck in the mud of a three-day storm, and can't get up. Yet again, harmless and feeble. But also, without dignity, which will affect the opinion of him, as an angel or as a norwegian with wings. |
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Then we're informed that the old man has wings. The wings are there to be marvellous and astounding; such that the reader would think right off, "Well, it's an angel!" and set against this are numerous other characters who doubt the nature of the old man. the way the wings are described, also, casts doubt upon the reader as well, and brings the reader into the story just as if they'd come to see the old man in the chicken coup.The reader must decide for themself whether the character is a mutant or an Angel. |
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Aside from the old man's wings being less than immaculate, when they speak to him he, "answered in an incomprehensible dialect with a strong sailor's voice." Again, not what would be expected of an angel. Most of the people who hear this think that because of his dialect, the old man is less of an angel and more of a Norwegian. |
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The priest comes to see the angel, and it's written that the old man has the "unbearable smell of the outdoors." I wonder if this is a translation error, and was meant to read "had the smell of chicken feces. Either way, I don't know how an angel should smell, but this old man certainly doesn't smell like an angel. |
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He eats nothing but eggplant mush. |
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Eventually a gigantic spider comes to town, and everyone forgets about the angel entirely. He spends a few years living with the family in the chicken coop. They clean it out with some frequency, but eventually the thing comes apart, and the old man wanders, "here and there like a stray dying man." After some more winters, he begins to develop fevers at night, and the family puts him up in the shed with a blanket. This is perhaps the kindest the angel has ever been treated, and it's still just living in a shed with a blanket, after he made the family a fortune. And yet, it's not written that he complains about his treatment. |
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But the old man doesn't die. After reaching his lowest of lows from years of living in chicken coops, and outdoors, and eating only one thing in his diet, one summer he more or less gets better, and grows some new feathers. He chooses to hide, sensing that there might be trouble for him if it's seen that he's getting healthier. Certainly, he has every reason to expect as much. |
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In the end, the old man flies away over the ocean, if not from whence he came years ago, then at least to somewhere new. Or perhaps, like old birds will do, he merely flew away to die. Over the course of the story the angel doesn't have a single line of dialogue; we're told he sings sea chanteys, though. He reacts much the same way a human might to being poked with a hot iron. What's more, the narrator always describes the angel from an exterior viewpoint. Pelayo and Elisennda may be described as feeling familiar with the old man, the feelings of the old man are never approached in the same way; only his actions are described. It's the narrative style and characterization that make me thing the story is not actually about the character it's titled for, but the characters around the old man with wings, and how they act. |
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Front to Back. |
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