I chose to rewrite, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” written by Gabriel Marquez. It was by far my favorite piece of the semester. The idea of Magical Realism fits directly in with my world view and I would love nothing more than to see a dragon land in the parking lot of a grocery store.
I felt that the original was successful in making a statement about not only the church, but about society as a whole. I just don’t think he was willing to, “push the envelope.” I wanted to take the story farther than Marquez did. I think that in a story that revolves around a mostly silent character that the burden of storytelling falls on the other characters. That is what led me to the decision to make Michael the main focus of the story. Michael is likeable, honest and has a strong sense of right and wrong. He is the real angel in the story, not the feeble old man with wings. In regards to the other characters, they were all named after and based on angels from a wide variety of faiths.
One of the other things that really irked me about the original was the lack of closure. When I finished the story I felt like the author stopped early because his printer ran out of ink. I am aware that this is a distinctly American perspective, but as Popeye says, “I ams what I ams.”Admittedly, there is more room for character development in my version of the story, but since this was only my third attempt at fiction; I thought it prudent to not get too carried away.
The specific message I am trying to convey with this work is something that I am not willing to go in to specifics on. I feel that it is my duty as an artist to leave some things open to the reader’s interpretation, so as not to deprive them of the chance to discover something other than what I had intended.
-Kristian Smith
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