Class 12 English Guide A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings By: G.G. Marquez Summary Exercise Question Answer With Solution

 Class 12 English Guide A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings By: G.G. Marquez Exercise Question Answer With Solution

      7. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings                      By: G.G. Marquez

Main Summary

                     Pelayo encounters(meets suddenly) a homeless, frightened elderly man with enormous wings in his yard one day while hunting crabs in a rainfall that had lasted for days. The elderly old man is unclean and feeble, and he speaks a language that is difficult to understand. In the end, Pelayo and Elisenda assume that the elderly man was an angel who had attempted to save their ill kid by attempting to take him or her to paradise. Pelayo's next-door neighbour urges him to kill the angel with a wood, but once their kid heals, he and Elisenda forgive their visitor. Having the elderly guy living in their chicken coop attracts a lot of attention from interested onlookers. Priest Father Gonzaga, a local priest, informs the villagers that the elderly guy, who seems to be untidy and does not speak Latin, probably isn't an angel. As a result, Father Gonzaga decides to seek the advice of his bishop.     

          Despite Father Gonzaga's best attempts, the old man's presence quickly spreads, and pilgrims from all over flock to seek his wisdom and treatment. A lady who had been counting her heartbeats since she was a child came because she couldn't keep up. An introvert arrives because he complains that the stars in the night sky are too loud.

          Elisenda has to start charging entry since the gathering becomes so huge and noisy. Even when they pluck his feathers and toss stones at him in an attempt to get him to get up, the elderly guy mostly ignores the onlookers' complaints and moans. However, when the visitors use a branding iron to test whether he's still alive, he becomes enraged.

            While he awaits the Church's judgement on the elderly man, Father Gonzaga tries his best to keep the crowd in control. When a travelling clown show comes into town, the audience begins to depart. People go to hear the legend of the "spider lady," a woman who, after disobeying her parents, was converted into a big spider with a human head. People rapidly forget the elderly guy, who had only done a few worthless semi-miracles for his visitors, because of the popularity of the spider woman's tragic story. Despite this, the entrance fees which is charged to watch that old man have made Pelayo and Elisenda become very rich. Pelayo resigns from his work and begins construction on a new, bigger home. As the child becomes older, the elderly old man continues to live with them in the chicken coop.  At night, he sings sea songs to himself. Elisenda looks in wonder as the elderly man spreads his wings and flies away into the sky.

Answer the following questions.

a. How does the narrator describe the weather and its effects in the exposition of the story?

➜ It had been raining for three days in the starting part of the story, and Pelayo was throwing the crabs from his house into the sea- water. The sea and sky had become like a grey thing, and the beach's sands, which had shined like powdered light on March nights, had turned into a mixture of mud and decaying shellfish.

b. Describe the strange old man as Palayo and his wife first encounter within their courtyard. (VVI)

➜ When Pelayo and his wife Elisenda came across the strange elderly man in their courtyard, they discovered him dressed as a rag picker (a person who collects and sells rags). Only a few faded hairs remained on his bald head, and he was in the terrible condition and looked like a great-grandfather, his large wings  which were dirty and half-pulled out and mixed up in the mud.

c. Why did Pelayo and Elisenda imprison the old man in the chicken coop?           (VVI)

➜ Pelayo and Elisenda imprisoned the old man in the chicken coop after discovering that he was an angel who had come with a plan to take their sick child.

d. Why was Father Gonzaga not sure about the old man being a celestial (God) messenger?

➜ Father Gonzaga was not sure about the old man being a celestial messenger since he noticed that he didn't even understand God's language, Latin or how to greet his ministers (Father).

e. Many people gathered at Palayo’s house to see the strange old man. Why do you think the crowd assembled to see him?

➜ Many people gathered at Pelayo’s house to see the strange old man. I think the crowd assembled to see him as they found him inside the chicken coop and wanted to have fun with the angel as a circus animal.

f. Some miracles happened while the crowd gathers to see the strange man. What are these miracles?

➜ Some miracles happened while the crowd gathers to see the strange man. These miracles are:

·         The blind man who didn't recover his sight but grew three new teeth,

·         The paralytic who didn't get to walk but almost won the lottery,

g. State the irritating things that the people did with the strange old man.

➜ The crowd began to irritate the strange old man since he was unable to impress them. They pulled his feathers and threw stones at him to get him to stand. They poked him with a branding iron and burned him. The old man did not react to them at first, but he eventually got aggressive due to unbearable pain.

h. How and why was the woman changed into a spider?

➜ Because she had come out of her parents' house without permission to dance and had disobeyed her parents, the lightning bolt of brimstone came through the fearful thunderclap in the sky, and the woman was changed into a spider.

i. Describe how Elisenda saw the strange man flying over the houses.

➜ Elisenda was cutting some bunches of onions for lunch when she felt a wind coming in from the high seas and ran to the window, where she observed an angel making his first attempts at flight. He kept his balance and made it through the last few houses, surprisingly holding himself up with the risky flapping  like a vulture. She kept looking at him until she couldn't see him anymore.