Gabriel Garcia Marquez constructs an intriguing story which includes more than one clear message. This story is meant to be a satirical look at modern religious views.. First and foremost the issue of the duality of the so-called Christian characters arises. Another meaning is how ungrateful the main characters, Pelayo and Elisenda act throughout the story. Third it conveyed a message of decline in religious faith through the characters misunderstandings of what was happening

The story opens with Pelayo and Elisenda nursing their young, sick child during a great rainstorm. It had been raining for the last three days. Pelayo looked out the windows; he finds he is staring at a strange entity. “He had to get very close to realize to see that it was a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings”(233). We would suspect Pelayo and Elisenda, being a good Christian couple, would take in the old man and care for him. Unfortunately this was not the case.

The normal Christian reaction would be to help someone in trouble. Instead they ask the wise old

On a deeper level this story has to do with the decline in modern religious belief and the decline in its believers devotion. “He was dressed like a ragpicker. There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather had taken away any sense of grandeur he might have had”(233). In Arthurian legend the people are moving away from the old region of the Lady in the Lake and Queen Mab. Since people stop believing in them they begin to grow old and fade away. This is why Marquez chooses the appearance of the Angel, because of the decline in religion the Angel fades. The Angel is described to be an Old man that looks like a ragpicker. This is a contrast to the common picture of a beautiful and majestic Angel. The Angel looks old and beaten because that’s how people treat the religion.

We can conclude the Marquez has masterfully created a complex, multifaceted story. It shows three main commentaries on how modern religion is today which are mostly grim. The author shows us the hypocrisy of man in man’s own religion. Then she explores the issue of common decency by how ungrateful the main characters are. And then we see how Marquez believes religion is tapering off. Through this all we are given the hope, the hope of a patient God.

neighbor woman what he is and what they should do with him. “ ’He’s an Angel,’ she told them. ‘He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down’ ”(234). Then she told them that they must club him to death. This is our first glimpse of the duality that embodies these people. Pelayo and Elisenda disregard the old neighbor women’s advice. Instead then put him in the chicken coop with the rest of the feeble birds they kept. A good Christian person would have, but the angel up in their own home and the last thought in their minds would have been for their own comfort. The difference between a good Christian and these people is the difference in saying and doing. We can see that the town’s people obviously don’t care about this symbol of their religion. The Angel is a representative of God and the Christian faith. Angels are believed to be God’s messengers and right-hand men. The narrator says, “When the child began school it had been sometime since the sun and rain had caused the collapse of

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