After reading the short story of Gabriel Garcia Marquez we are left with the question what happened to people and their sense
of
humanity? This fictional tale seems to be, however, extremely realistic as it is possible to find ourselves in similar situations every day. The figure of angel, the main protagonist of the story, who once appears in the village thus causing many problems to the
inhabitants, may be understood as any striking difference between people, strangeness, not following the suits, individuality, religious or cultural differences or any other features that for the majority are strenuous to accept or tolerate. This short story treats the subjects of humanity and faith using the foundations of magic. This helps us to understand the real meaning of the motifs and thanks to it we are left wondering what would we do if an angel landed on our own courtyards…Gabriel Garcia Marquez through his story shows that the sense of humanity in people can easily collapse. Through his story people are pictured as hypocritical and full of fear towards those which are unknown or different.
It seems that the humanity has always been connected with love towards others, hospitality, helping those who need it, being pious and thankful. These virtues are widely propagated by Christian religion. This picture of Christian village, presented in the story, where we expect the inhabitants to treat angels as divine creatures with all the respect and honors, clashes with their real response to meeting the angel. The townspeople are not only unwilling to help the unexpected quest, but they treat him with hostility and even aggression. Their humanity leaves much to be desired. What is more, such mindlessness is demonstrated not only by ordinary people but also by the clergy- the priest is very reluctant when it comes to the newcomer. He neither wants to make any decision, nor advises Pelayo and his wife, putting the responsibility on others. The lack of humanity is also connected with fear, lack of ability to think clearly, insufficient knowledge, lack of logic and hypocrisy. The stranger- although he is an angel, does not fulfill the elements of traditional representation of divine anointed- he is old, dirty and does not understand the Latin which is thought to be the language of God. It all leads to people’s concerns and apprehension. What is also worth mentioning is the use of motifs in the story. The old age of the angel might be read as a symbol of wisdom which people are unwilling to accept. Something unknown is treated with hostility, because it requires cleverness to understand it. Although the angel looks like the inhabitants there is something which underlines the difference- wings. They can be seen as the symbol of standing out of the crowd, escaping from the ordinary life. For townspeople his language seems extremely odd- it may make us think if it is really a strange language or maybe the angel speaks their language but he is not understood, because he speaks about things which are totally unfamiliar for the vulgar people. Therefore, one of the reasons for the collapse of humanity in the inhabitants is their lack of knowledge and fear towards those which is new and difficult to define. (Part 1)