A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings Log

Quote 1

"Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish"

A man, Pelayo, and his wife, Elisenda, are taking care of their sick child by sweeping up the crabs that have gotten in their house. They think that their child is sick because of the stench created by the crabs. This quote is a description of the third day of rain where the sand, sky, and sea all fused into a murky gray. I chose this quote because I really liked how the author described how the environment was impacted by the rain because it implies that it rained really hard without bluntly stating it in the text. The sand that "glimmered like powered light" on a March night turned into the same ash-gray color as the sea and sky. I also really like the concept of the sea and sky being one. I think this quote sets the scene of a colorless place that foreshadows a dream-like experience. This is the setting where the the couple discovers the fallen angel.

Quote 2

""Those consolation miracles, which were more like mocking fun, had already ruined the angel's reputation when the woman who had been changed into a spider finally crushed him completely"

The center of attention will shift when people are tired of it or when something triumphs it. When the old man fell to earth in the beginning, word spread quickly about him being an angel. The fallen angel was the center of attention when they were deciding what to do with him, "...they did not have the heart to club him to death...decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas". The angel was a new and extraordinary thing so everybody was worked up about him. There wasn't another angel or out-of-the-norm person at this moment, so the old angel was in the spotlight. Many people came to see the angel; however, the angel did not care to be seen, "[t]he angel was the only one who took no part in his own act". Because the angel had been in Pelayo's chicken coop for an extended amount of time, many people have already visited him. When Pelayo and his wife first encounters the angel, they stared at him for so long that they "very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him familiar". Even over that short period of time, the couple adapted to the fallen angel. Society tires of things very quickly due to their skill of adjustment. The people felt no need to visit him anymore because he was not responsive to people. When the spider-lady arrived at the town, everybody left the fallen angel to see the spider-lady. The spider-lady told the tale of her becoming a spider while the old angel did not announce to the public anything. Essentially, the spider-lady stole the old angel's spotlight that was already fading due to the time factor.