Omg thank you so much, I read the story in Spanish & English and I was still completely lost haha...but your video was my life saver. You explained perfectly! Thank you so so much!
I really like your posts. I especially like how you admit that you might not be correct and that you are still working on your understanding of the story.
Rebecca you're amazing! I sort of hated this story because it was so messed up and I was forced to read it for my exams, but this really made me think. Thanks.
I agree. I think a lot of authors when they write things they want us to have our own thoughts on what the story is about and get us confused. Because when college students have to look at their work for example then it gives them chances to write their original thought on the story and what they think it is about or their multiple thoughts on what they think it can be about.
I THINK THE STORY'S MORAL IS: SOMETIMES WONDERFUL THINGS COME IN YOUR LIFE. DO YOUR BEST TO TREAT IT WELL AND USE IT WELL, DO NOT HURT IT AND DO NOT TURN AWAY FROM IT SIMPLY BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING DISGUSTING AND USELESS. IF YOU DO NOT TREAT IT WITH CARE, IT WILL GO AWAY AND LEAVE YOU. THE WONDERFUL THING CAN BE AN OPPURTUNITY, A FRIEND, A LOVE, A HELPFUL GUIDE ETC. YOU SHOULD TREAT IT WITH KINDNESS, OTHERWISE YOU WOULD LOSE IT. AM I CORRECT?
larry lovehandle you are missing the point, the wonderful thing about the angel is that he is AN ANGEL, but the villagers were treating him badly just because he didn’t look like the kind of angle people expected
One of my kids ran off to school with Leaf Storm and left me surfing the web looking for a reading and there you are again. I commented on Shooting an Elephant about a month ago. Thank you for posting these. Normally I never post replies but thought you hit on something with our inability to recognize Gods work when we are staring right at it. That's how I understood Marquez when I read this story. Granted it was many years ago but that's how it stuck. He didn't look or act like an angel after all. He didn't speak Latin ( the language of God ) and didn't fit any of the preconceived notions we have of the divine. Must be something else. I remember loving the ending as this not so divine being struggled to gain flight. I guess life is a struggle no matter who you are. So funny that the church needed to know how many of him would fit on the head of a pin. My favorite story was The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World. I'm sure your students would love it as well. Once again, thanks. This made me smile
Yes, you're so right about the preconceived notions of the people. I will have to find "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World." Thanks for the suggestion!
U r such a lovely teacher i really like your thoughts :) ...please keep uploading these vids especially of rabindranath tagore ....his stories are the best but confusing too.....
Leaf Storm is a novella. The story is the third chapter. While it may stand alone as a short story-originally published under the name of a sailor who survived a shipwreck-I think it makes more sense in context. But the title explains that it’s a tale for children. It requires a child’s imagination to fly like the very old man with the enormous wings.
I think it says much about our frenetic and superficial exploitation of the "freakshow".. . the concept that once a new freak show arises we move straight, leaving the last freak show in obscurity... Human nature seeks the strange, but we get bored easily and need something stranger... to me its a story about the nature of exploitation
I wonder if you can also explore the theme from the angel's perspective, as in, you have this godly being that has this apparent divine role to play in these peoples lives, but does so most effectively when not subject to their mercy, just staying a subtle background player in shaping the meaningful world we live in as opposed to getting front center stage like and being subject to the assumptions and resulting behaviors of others? My literature teacher assigned this story along with the hunger artist, which has me suspicious that she might have some sort of connection with vanity or being at the mercy of folks' appreciation/validation. Thanks for the video! just so happened to be on my list after going over the hunger artist, funnily enough :D
I like to add few things for your interpretation of Marquez's "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings". In this story, Marquez, as a magical realist expresses an exaggerates preferance for fantasy and absurdity. The story is full of enigmas, and the its power lies on its ability to raise questions instead of 'absolute truths'. It helps one look at the world with new eyes free from the mundanity and familiarity of the real world. Usually, Marquez's stories break the 'absolute truth' and paves the way for free-thinking. Therefore, we are unable to offer an absolute definition for the situation in the story. Additionally, you have missed one important point in your analysis. There is an underlying satire of religion and religious ministers in this story. Thank you
Absolute truths is what allows for free thinking. If there is no absolute, then there is nothing for a person to base anything on. This means that all forms of logic, facts, and knowledge lose what makes it objective and true. This leads to a stagnation in philosophy. However, absolute truths can be broken in fiction, and Marquez's writings do this very well. This makes them a very interesting thing to read.
Good question! I don't have a simple answer, but the spider woman's story fulfills people's expectations about God. Lightning struck her for going dancing without her parents' permission. It's easier to grab this simplistic idea of God-as-punisher than to grapple with the uncertain message revealed by the angel. Marquez uses a fairy tale quality in his work that makes the spider (an ugly insect whose web traps creatures) a vivid distraction from the angel. People would rather ask about this woman's "horror" than learn about the angel. Hope this helps!
I really lit up at the idea that Marquez identifies with the winged man. After researching about es history, I found that Marquez didn’t like the fame that came with being a well known writer, and wasn’t comfortable with the fact that he didn’t know anything about all the thousands of people who were now honing in on es work. Marquez didn’t feel very nobel, e saw eself as a very ordinary. A person who “did not participate in his own act”.
The story was written as a children story.What most fell to understand is that it is indeed a poltical story.Mr.Marquez is speaking about political corruption in his country columbia and or latin America.
Although they do exploit the angel, there definitely is curiosity and interest in the beginning that brings all the pilgrims and townsmen to visit the winged man. They only resort to violence because the Angel wasn't so cooperative. So I'm gonna have to disagree with you there Prof.
I knew John. The mystery-recluse. I knew of him 10-14yrs every week-end back-stage.I was always up on the bridge. Not in the workshop making puppets ever. I was too close to out-shining his daughter. for Lyndie to allow that. Old soul's always win the race of the hare& the tortoise fable. Time tells.I don't give a shit. Even in older age, I'm still better looking&shit-hot dancer&more sounder than those shallow fame-seekers like his son&wife. Juliet&Gren: The Puppet Barge continues John's legacy for real.Not Them.
There is more. Chris Leith ran the Little Angel for years after John's death. He has known the family for 50 years, Yet i notice on his web-site, because he is dying...why ASK /appeal to someone to collect his puppets from Lyndie Wright's storage ? Why ask another to ask Lyndie for his puppets back? Because he can't bear have anything to do with her because it indirectly condones Joe's film theatrics that make real artists WINCE.. So he lost contact with Lyndie. Why couldn't call up himself.why ever not?
keep editing lady..i can dance John's puppets taught me it. I am a self-taught person i taught myself around John who didn't like talking. 6 minute scholar about sums u up
How about there is no meaning, kind of like how in real life events have no meaning. Why do we need a story to tell us things we already know and everyone already believes, like you should welcome strangers, wouldn't it be more subversive and worthy of consideration to point out that strangers in fact are frequently ill-intentioned and dangerous, and need to be confronted and purged before they take root within a community?
larry lovehandle In Persian culture, they say "The guest is God." That is, the stranger is a divine soul, just as we are. The challenge is to see the similarities, to see that we are all human and should not fear each other. That's what literature can teach us. We are all one family. I am disturbed by your word "purged." What we do to others, we do to ourselves. When you extend love, however, you allow for exchange and understanding. As for the few broken or obsessed people who would harm you, give them even more love from a distance, while keeping out of harm's way. If you die while loving someone, as Ghandi did when he was shot, then it is a good death. Don't let fear of others rule your life, narrow your life, or warp your sense of decency.
By your picture ur my age but i look a hellava lot younger...must be doing something right. Edit out keep editing. I knew John Wright well and will give his real transmission not the corny arty one of folk pretending to be making a living
Lyndie Wright+her sychophants cobbling together a story that tries to explain why Joe never got an oscar for his Hollywood films. Plenty of nominations. Even youngest director award that was due to John, his father, in any case..Joe could have been as talented as John but ruined by being turned into a show-off at too early an age by his mother.. Now she makes a puppet show to condone how making her son into a show-off was not her fault=PATHETIC
This women doesnt know what she is talking about.The story is about politics and corruption which many latin American countrys suffer from.I believe Mr.Marquez was in exile in Mexico when he wrote this story.He had to write the story as a children tale, simply bcs he critiqing the corruption in his country columbia and or latin America.
5:23 that's the point of the story. "You are an Angel, but, not the kind of Angel that we want to have".
This was the most well spoken and helpful video I have ever referenced on RUclips for academic help! Thank you so much
thanks mom
Thank you! You've helped me so much when it comes to my English 102 class. :)
100%
csu-g?
Exactly I'm taking it right now
Alternative Hannah me rn😭
@@DetrickROS English 102 sucks! I come to RUclips for all my short story essays and just listen to them
in my classes we are starting to read alot of short stories and i've heard so many of your "understanding" and they help me so much! THANK YOU!!!
fact
Now I can understand clearly the message of the story. Thank you for your great analysis!
Omg thank you so much, I read the story in Spanish & English and I was still completely lost haha...but your video was my life saver. You explained perfectly! Thank you so so much!
Debora Romero I was lost wen I looked into ur eyes😙
@@sanambhutia3309 bro i know i'm 4 years late but this is a book report
Helped me at the last minutes of my exam :3 I don't know why but I cried watching this video, anyways thank you ma'am !
I really like your posts. I especially like how you admit that you might not be correct and that you are still working on your understanding of the story.
mc stafford Thanks. :-) It's true -- I'm always learning and changing how I see the story!
Rebecca you're amazing! I sort of hated this story because it was so messed up and I was forced to read it for my exams, but this really made me think. Thanks.
This was actually a really solid explanation of stuff... the point of indifference hits home for me.
I agree. I think a lot of authors when they write things they want us to have our own thoughts on what the story is about and get us confused. Because when college students have to look at their work for example then it gives them chances to write their original thought on the story and what they think it is about or their multiple thoughts on what they think it can be about.
I THINK THE STORY'S MORAL IS: SOMETIMES WONDERFUL THINGS COME IN YOUR LIFE. DO YOUR BEST TO TREAT IT WELL AND USE IT WELL, DO NOT HURT IT AND DO NOT TURN AWAY FROM IT SIMPLY BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING DISGUSTING AND USELESS. IF YOU DO NOT TREAT IT WITH CARE, IT WILL GO AWAY AND LEAVE YOU. THE WONDERFUL THING CAN BE AN OPPURTUNITY, A FRIEND, A LOVE, A HELPFUL GUIDE ETC. YOU SHOULD TREAT IT WITH KINDNESS, OTHERWISE YOU WOULD LOSE IT. AM I CORRECT?
PRINCE KRAZIE what was wonderful about the angel, the sunflowers sprouting from leper sores?
larry lovehandle you are missing the point, the wonderful thing about the angel is that he is AN ANGEL, but the villagers were treating him badly just because he didn’t look like the kind of angle people expected
i have to explain this story plot to my class tomorrow and this is exactly what i need
thankyou
I'm glad I could help! I hope your class went well!
This save my day! Thank you! You have ton's of ideas that I didn't even think about.
Jeff Gocoyo Cool! You're welcome. :-)
Thank you soo much , I have my 12th grade exams coming up , this helped me alot
Damn bro I’m doing the same thing rn for my senior year except u graduated college now, I bet bringing u back to this vid gives u major nostalgia
This help me with my literary class! Thank you. and I'm so pleased to find this video.
Thanks, Rebecca! Your thoughts helped me in understanding the story better. Well done!
its just touched me what you said.. you are really GOOD !!! Thanks! tomorrow's my xam and you helped me a lot!! love you
Prima Mondal I'm so glad! Good luck with your exam!
thank you!
One of my kids ran off to school with Leaf Storm and left me surfing the web looking for a reading and there you are again. I commented on Shooting an Elephant about a month ago. Thank you for posting these. Normally I never post replies but thought you hit on something with our inability to recognize Gods work when we are staring right at it. That's how I understood Marquez when I read this story. Granted it was many years ago but that's how it stuck. He didn't look or act like an angel after all. He didn't speak Latin ( the language of God ) and didn't fit any of the preconceived notions we have of the divine. Must be something else. I remember loving the ending as this not so divine being struggled to gain flight. I guess life is a struggle no matter who you are. So funny that the church needed to know how many of him would fit on the head of a pin. My favorite story was The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World. I'm sure your students would love it as well. Once again, thanks. This made me smile
Yes, you're so right about the preconceived notions of the people. I will have to find "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World." Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks a lot. It really help me understand deeper about the story. God bless you!
I found you today. It is a good day.
Thank you! Very insightful!
U r such a lovely teacher
i really like your thoughts :)
...please keep uploading these vids
especially of rabindranath tagore ....his stories are the best but confusing too.....
Aww, thanks!
your welcome :)
can u plz take up this story ?
Lost Jewels by rabindranath tagore.....plz
anthony A prusty Ooh. I'm not familiar with that one. But I could do some research. We'll see!
SixMinuteScholar
Cool :)
itll b fun cause im sure ull enjoy the story too
thank you....your thoughts cleared my doubts about this story
I'm about to do a seminar about this story for my college class and this really helps, thanks!
So glad it helped!
Leaf Storm is a novella. The story is the third chapter. While it may stand alone as a short story-originally published under the name of a sailor who survived a shipwreck-I think it makes more sense in context. But the title explains that it’s a tale for children. It requires a child’s imagination to fly like the very old man with the enormous wings.
Thank you so much ! Videos are simple and easy to understand.
Very interesting ideas thank you for sharing them with us! This definitely opened my eyes to a lot of the underlying themes of the story
OMG! I love your explanation! Now I understand it, thank you very much!
You're welcome! Glad this helped!
I think it says much about our frenetic and superficial exploitation of the "freakshow".. . the concept that once a new freak show arises we move straight, leaving the last freak show in obscurity... Human nature seeks the strange, but we get bored easily and need something stranger... to me its a story about the nature of exploitation
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
Hii
You have 6 subs now
Bethany Chell lmao thx
Keep making videos! They're so helpful
you're amazing!
pretty much what I thought when I read the story. Instead of assuming the person of who they are, why not just ask and talk to them to truly know.
I wonder if you can also explore the theme from the angel's perspective, as in, you have this godly being that has this apparent divine role to play in these peoples lives, but does so most effectively when not subject to their mercy, just staying a subtle background player in shaping the meaningful world we live in as opposed to getting front center stage like and being subject to the assumptions and resulting behaviors of others?
My literature teacher assigned this story along with the hunger artist, which has me suspicious that she might have some sort of connection with vanity or being at the mercy of folks' appreciation/validation.
Thanks for the video! just so happened to be on my list after going over the hunger artist, funnily enough :D
Thank you so much madame... I really understood!
Excellent explanation!
Somdev Basu Thank you so much!
Thank you so much I had a panel discussion on English for this
thank you! you are great and I love your word choice!
xoxo2021 Thanks!
Thank you very much ma'am
Thanks! I'm doing an exam about this story and these ideas sure will come in handy.
You're welcome! Good luck with your exam!
Really interesting interpretation, thanks for uploading!
Jimmy Rustler You're welcome! Thanks for your comment!
I like to add few things for your interpretation of Marquez's "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings". In this story, Marquez, as a magical realist expresses an exaggerates preferance for fantasy and absurdity. The story is full of enigmas, and the its power lies on its ability to raise questions instead of 'absolute truths'. It helps one look at the world with new eyes free from the mundanity and familiarity of the real world. Usually, Marquez's stories break the 'absolute truth' and paves the way for free-thinking. Therefore, we are unable to offer an absolute definition for the situation in the story. Additionally, you have missed one important point in your analysis. There is an underlying satire of religion and religious ministers in this story.
Thank you
nice🌸
Absolute truths is what allows for free thinking. If there is no absolute, then there is nothing for a person to base anything on. This means that all forms of logic, facts, and knowledge lose what makes it objective and true. This leads to a stagnation in philosophy.
However, absolute truths can be broken in fiction, and Marquez's writings do this very well. This makes them a very interesting thing to read.
Wow. You're brilliant! That was pretty great and such a different approach to the story. Thanks a lot.
Thank you! Really helping with my advanced english😊
Thanks a bunch for helping me understand this!
god bless you
you are amazing! thank you!
thank you！it helped me a lot
Thanks you so much!!!
but quick question what would the spider woman symbolize? I am not understanding the symbolism in her physical description :(
Good question! I don't have a simple answer, but the spider woman's story fulfills people's expectations about God. Lightning struck her for going dancing without her parents' permission. It's easier to grab this simplistic idea of God-as-punisher than to grapple with the uncertain message revealed by the angel. Marquez uses a fairy tale quality in his work that makes the spider (an ugly insect whose web traps creatures) a vivid distraction from the angel. People would rather ask about this woman's "horror" than learn about the angel. Hope this helps!
SixMinuteScholar
It does Thank you!!!! :)
Wow this is really awesome. Muchas gracias de Mexico :)
Great post
Still watching in 2018!
you are the best. now i understood the story thank u
You're welcome!!
Great video! Thank you so much :)
This was very helpful! thank you!
Maybe the message is don’t judge a book by it’s cover
Thank you so much you helped me with my English class
Thank you very much!
Randy Zambrano You're welcome!
Thank you very much!!..
It helped a lot !!!
I'm glad!
thanks alot your great
Beautiful!
ur voice is soothingggg ^^
Can someone answer me.what is the relevance of the story in a very old man with enormous wings?thank you
It helped thanks so much
I love the story
you're freaking awesome!!!
thank you very much! very helpful
Thanku from saudi Arabia,you helped
Ooh dear hajar ، Ms Eman will be proud if you
Wow! Njoud the بونس girl!
Are u from K.A.U ?
yes, i'm lol
Thank you ur an helpful lady
Thank you it helps me in my homework 😊
I really lit up at the idea that Marquez identifies with the winged man. After researching about es history, I found that Marquez didn’t like the fame that came with being a well known writer, and wasn’t comfortable with the fact that he didn’t know anything about all the thousands of people who were now honing in on es work. Marquez didn’t feel very nobel, e saw eself as a very ordinary. A person who “did not participate in his own act”.
Warning - Study from this at your own risk as you might get diverted towards the beauty of the madam. ♥️ Thank you!
Aarsh Sahai Aww, you are sweet. I'm glad you did also study!
I concur
Thanks! For the help ^.^
Thanks 🙏
The story was written as a children story.What most fell to understand is that it is indeed a poltical story.Mr.Marquez is speaking about political corruption in his country columbia and or latin America.
Thank you, it really helped
helpful! thank you!
RIP Gabriel.
Yes!
Although they do exploit the angel, there definitely is curiosity and interest in the beginning that brings all the pilgrims and townsmen to visit the winged man. They only resort to violence because the Angel wasn't so cooperative. So I'm gonna have to disagree with you there Prof.
👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌
Who are the main characters
But you missed the obvious: the child survived and thrived while the angel was there.
THANK U SOOOOOOO MUCH
aboalzoz1980 You're very welcome!
I knew John. The mystery-recluse. I knew of him 10-14yrs every week-end back-stage.I was always up on the bridge. Not in the workshop making puppets ever. I was too close to out-shining his daughter. for Lyndie to allow that. Old soul's always win the race of the hare& the tortoise fable. Time tells.I don't give a shit. Even in older age, I'm still better looking&shit-hot dancer&more sounder than those shallow fame-seekers like his son&wife. Juliet&Gren: The Puppet Barge continues John's legacy for real.Not Them.
This story Very Old Man With Enormous Wings is a story about Latin America's political corruption.
There is more. Chris Leith ran the Little Angel for years after John's death. He has known the family for 50 years, Yet i notice on his web-site, because he is dying...why ASK /appeal to someone to collect his puppets from Lyndie Wright's storage ? Why ask another to ask Lyndie for his puppets back? Because he can't bear have anything to do with her because it indirectly condones Joe's film theatrics that make real artists WINCE.. So he lost contact with Lyndie. Why couldn't call up himself.why ever not?
keep editing lady..i can dance John's puppets taught me it. I am a self-taught person i taught myself around John who didn't like talking. 6 minute scholar about sums u up
Lock me in
omgmgmgmgm thank you
How about there is no meaning, kind of like how in real life events have no meaning. Why do we need a story to tell us things we already know and everyone already believes, like you should welcome strangers, wouldn't it be more subversive and worthy of consideration to point out that strangers in fact are frequently ill-intentioned and dangerous, and need to be confronted and purged before they take root within a community?
larry lovehandle In Persian culture, they say "The guest is God." That is, the stranger is a divine soul, just as we are. The challenge is to see the similarities, to see that we are all human and should not fear each other. That's what literature can teach us. We are all one family. I am disturbed by your word "purged." What we do to others, we do to ourselves. When you extend love, however, you allow for exchange and understanding. As for the few broken or obsessed people who would harm you, give them even more love from a distance, while keeping out of harm's way. If you die while loving someone, as Ghandi did when he was shot, then it is a good death. Don't let fear of others rule your life, narrow your life, or warp your sense of decency.
Thank you! Jesus saves!
By your picture ur my age but i look a hellava lot younger...must be doing something right. Edit out keep editing. I knew John Wright well and will give his real transmission not the corny arty one of folk pretending to be making a living
ELlSA
Lyndie Wright+her sychophants cobbling together a story that tries to explain why Joe never got an oscar for his Hollywood films. Plenty of nominations. Even youngest director award that was due to John, his father, in any case..Joe could have been as talented as John but ruined by being turned into a show-off at too early an age by his mother.. Now she makes a puppet show to condone how making her son into a show-off was not her fault=PATHETIC
This bullshit story is in our class XI syllabus. In West Bengal, India.
This women doesnt know what she is talking about.The story is about politics and corruption which many latin American countrys suffer from.I believe Mr.Marquez was in exile in Mexico when he wrote this story.He had to write the story as a children tale, simply bcs he critiqing the corruption in his country columbia and or latin America.
Can you explain how politics is linked to the text?
Do you want to add on to that or..
u could just comment nicely and not be rude to someone who gave their honest interpretation of the story. No story is meant to be interpreted one way.