Compare of Marquez Big Mama and Old Man

Big Mama’s heirs, like circling vultures, surrounded her waiting to feed on her financial carcass. Marquez gives us a glimpse of this when he says, “nine nieces and nephews, her sole heirs standing around her bed.” Clearly Big Mama knew the true nature of her attendant family when she refers to them as, “Highway robbers” and when she warns Nicanor to, “Keep everything of value under lock and key, because many people come to wakes only to steal.” Just as vultures tear scraps off a rotting carcass, so too the nieces and nephews scavenged for bits and pieces of Big Mama’s property, evidenced by, “dismantled the doors, pulled the nails out of the planks and dug up the foundat

ions to divide up the house.” This last act shows the exploitive nature of Big Mama’s family.

The community members who surround the old angel even at the earliest stages of his arrival speculate about three ways the angel can be used. They suggest that he can become, “mayor of the world…promoted to the rank of five-star general in order to win all the wars… some hoped that he could be put to stud…” Their misuse didn’t stop there. People came in search of cure, “a poor woman…counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers, a Portuguese man…couldn’t sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him…sleepwalker who got up at night to undo the things he had done while awake…” Many cripples came and pulled out feathers hoping that it would heal them, “…and the cripples pulled out feathers to touch their defective parts with…” The community members came from near and far hoping not only for a glimpse of the angel but many expected a miracle. These people didn’t care what it took to be healed and they selfishly took advantage of the angel.

Marquez’s magical realism brings into focus the repugnant human characteristic of exploitation. Through Big Mama’s Funeral and The Very Old Man with the Enormous Wings, Marquez clearly illustrates the timeless theme of exploitation with examples that cross all social barriers. Human Jackals can be found in families

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