Article 15

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GabrIel Garcia Marquez

The Short Stories

Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (1968; from The [llcredible alld Sad Tale of Inllocent Erbtdira and Her Hearl1ess Gnllldmother).

she recalls matters, but her own husband denies the accuracy, and even the reality, of some of her observations. In another example. in "Baltha~ zar's Marvelous Afternoon," there are two forces represented by social and economic class, the rich and the poor. In "Big Mama's Funeral," Big Mama is placed m opposition to the townsfolk. In "Tuesday Siesta" as well as In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," an outsider distuIbs the peace of the town. All five stories are also characterized by the pervasive presence of the irrational and the supernatural. In "A Very Old Man with Enonnous Wings," for example. the old man not only has wings, but also uses them to fly. Another characteristic 15 that each short story depicts. in some detail, the daily life of a Hisparuc rural town, with its sacred rituals and secular celebrations. induding Sunday-morning church attendance and the almost spontaneous appearance of a small fair or carnival as a way to mark the unusuaL The following 15 a brief synopSiS of the five stories based on their narrative structure.

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PLOT DEVELOPMENT

The plot of a short story, such as the five Ul this chapter, will arouse the reader's interest over the duration of the narrative but cannot control the reader's emotional responses. For example, among a dass of students. there will likely be many different responses to stories such as "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." All five of the short stones discussed in this chapter begin with a character or scene. which precipitously mitiates the plot. However, the plot in Garda Marquez's short stories appears ambiguous, not only in its creation of mood (the creation of a state of mind based on the narrative's information), but also in the way in which the story is told. Although the plot IS seen as the plan of the short story, representing the order in which events are told, the reader must also pay close attention to causality (what incites the characters to do what they dOl. Although the main characters playa unifying role, the omniscient narrator and the reader are the ones who must put the plot together. Cer· ta1n.i:y Garda Marquez's writing seems to challenge the reader with puzzle~like plots where the pieces do not fit together easily, or at all. In each of the stories the setting is similar: a small. rural town, wtuch IS geographically far enough removed from other villages so as to seem to constitute an entire Isolated world. Readers may think of the towns as being near or around the Atlantic Colombian coast on the Caribbean Sea. Frequently, the climate is oppreSSive: tropical, Windy, hot and hu~ mid. and plagued by frequent and heavy raInfalls. Macondo, the fictional Colombian village of many of Gabriel Garda Marquez's works, is identified specifically in two of the short stories examined in this chapter: "Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo" (hereafter "Isabel's Monologue"), and "Big Mama's Funeral." In the other three stories. the town where the narration takes place. the reader may assume. is also Macondo or a town like it, but the place name is never mentioned. Without exception the short stories all have an o1TU1.isoent narrator. located outside the story, who narrates in the third person Singular. This narrator knows everything there is to know about the characters. As many critics have observed. Garcia Marquez's short stones often depict a narrative structure where there are at least two forces in op~ position, as is the case in "Isabel's Monologue." Isabel tells her story as

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"Monologue of Isabel Watcbing It Rain in Macondo" ill "Isabel's Monologue" the reader is agam introduced to the character of Isabel, who is one of the main characters in Leaf Stann (see Chapter 3). "Isabel's Monologue" can be read as a story that was lntentionally not included in Lenf Storm or that was deleted from it. ill "Isabel's Monologue," she does not mention the doctor, whose corpse is a focal po.int for the other characters' mediations and actions in Lenf Storm. The strained relationship between Isabel and her husband. Martin. a relationship alluded to in Leaf Stann, Is dramatized in "Isabel's Monologue." Her father the colonel, who was a dominant character in Leaf Storm, appears in this story without his military title. Isabel also never refers to the major role he played in marrying her to Martfn. Unlike Lea! Storm. where she is the mother of a precocious ten-year-old. in the short story she is five months pregnant with the child. The time frame of the narrative can be measured by four consecutive days and nights of torrential rain. The persistence of the rain 15 central to the narrative. As 10 Leaf Storm. time in "Isabel's Monologue" is marked by the sounrl-

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1 dedicate this bool Gerald A, Lamb. my ad and to the memory of

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PubliCiltion Dala Pelayo. Rubl!n. 1954Gabriel Gl\rda Marquez. ; a critical companion / Rubl!n Pelayo. p. cm._{Crltica! complU\.lons 10 popular contemporary wrilers. ISSN 1082-4979) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-313-31260-5 (alk. paJ'erJ 1. Gl\rcia Marquez. Gabriel, 1918- -CritiCism and interpretation, 1. Title.

11. Series PQ8180.17.A73Z665 2001 863'.64-dc21 2001023337 British LIbrary Catalogumg tn publicahOn Data is available. Copyright

e 2001 by Rub!!n Pelayo

All righls reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique. withoul the express written consent of the publisher. Library oC Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001023331 ISBN: 0-313-31260-5 ISSN: 1062-4979 First published in 2001 Greenwood Press. 88 Post Rand West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group. Inc. ,,,ww.greenwood.com Printed in Ule UnIled Slates of America

The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper StiUldard issued by the National lnfonnation Standards Organlzall.on (Z39AB-1984). 10981654321

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CdUcal CompmloM 10 Populu Conlempor;uy Wrlll:r5 Second Serlu

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