From the story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, explain the lines: "He awoke with a start, ranting in his hermetic...

The late
Colombian author and journalist Gabriel Garcia Marquez was known for his surrealistic style of
writing, as well as for his journalistic nonfiction depictions of his native land. His short
story "" fits neatly into his surrealistic fictional style. This particular story,
however, also fits into something of an unofficial genre involving themes wherein the general
populace is in dire need of spiritual rejuvenation or in need of a heroic figure onto which to
cling for security or salvation and believes, incorrectly, that it has discovered some such
figure. Films like Being There and Down and Out in Beverly
Hills, to name just two, successfully depicted these situations, the former
illuminating the perceived need for wise leadership, the latter for purity of soul. "A Very
Old Man with Enormous Wings" is about the discovery of an old, decrepit man with wings in
whom the local population invest their hopes for some sign of divine presence. There is nothing
save his wings to suggest anything magical or mystical about him--the popular perception is
that, because of his wings, he is an angel--but he quickly becomes a symbol of hope and the
elixir for the myriad ills brought before him.

The old man, it turns out, is
apparently lacking in the mystical or spiritual powers that the local population assumes on his
behalf. As Marquez's narrator notes, the old man's "only supernatural virtue seemed to be
patience." In short, the masses are growing disillusioned, and the old man is growing
increasingly irritable and lethargic. The narrator notes concerning the increasingly contentious
relationship:

"The only time they succeeded in
arousing him was when they burned his side with an iron for branding steers, for he had been
motionless for so many hours that they thought he was dead."

It is this passage that is immediately followed by the reference to the old man being
awoken "with a start...." What, then, is the meaning behind Marquez's description of
the old man's hermetic language and teary eyes and the flapping of his wings? The author is
emphasizing the old man's weariness and frustration with being perceived as a form of deity to
be exploited and, after the onset of disillusionment among the people, to be ridiculed and
harassed.

Stories such as those referenced above and Marquez's invariably
display the disillusionment of the populace when the hoped-for deity or hero is revealed to be
imperfect. The proverbial idol with feet of clay has proven a resilient theme for many stories
over the years, beginning, obviously, with the Bible. Marquez's very old man with enormous wings
is just that: an old man with wings, and, apparently, nothing more.