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Metaphors
Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Mood
Explanation and Analysis:
The mood of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is simultaneously bleak and lighthearted. This conflicting mood has to do with the fact that the story depicts the agony that the angel experiences (at the hands of the cruel and exploitative townspeople) alongside the enjoyment that the townspeople get from such cruelty. The lightheartedness comes from both the townspeople's enjoyment of their harmful behavior (since the narrator channels their cheerful moods), as well as the irony of such enjoyment. In juxtaposing these different moods and orientations to the angel's suffering, Marquez is encouraging readers to feel the pain of the angel while also laughing at the absurdity of the supposedly pious townspeople’s cruel behavior toward him.
The tension between ironic and earnest moods comes across well in the final lines of the story:
Elisenda let out a sigh of relief, for herself and for [the angel], when she watched him pass over the last houses, holding himself up in some way with the risky flapping of a senile vulture. She kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea.
Here readers are meant to sense the silliness of Elisenda’s self-centered relief about the angel’s departure (as she reflects on how “he was no longer an annoyance in her life”), as well as the earnest significance of this moment, when the angel finally has the strength he needs to fly home and ends up “an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea.” By weaving these two moods together throughout the story, Marquez helps readers to experience both the sacred and the mundane in a way that the townspeople (like Elisenda) are unable to do.
Related Themes:
