Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings'

A Virus of Society Since the start of the appearance of civilizations, people have decided on a set of universal measures that would supposedly designate the “normal” and the “abnormal”. These measures were (and still are) the root of various kinds of abuse that are afflicted on these labeled “abnormal”. Physical, psychological, and social abuse all fall in the largely known category of “social injustice”. Many famous authors try to portray this social injustice in their literary works like in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, in which the story revolves around the physical abuse of an old man due to his unusual and bizarre physique. Another written work that discusses this infamous injustice is Stephen Crane’s “A Dark-Brown Dog”, which depicts both, a father’s physical and psychological abuse towards his young and defenseless son. Sherman Alexie’s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is an additional short story that examines the reality of social injustice by illustrating the struggle of living of an Indian man in America due to racism and discrimination. These three literary works portray the three most common abuses that will be discussed in this essay. Whether it’s physical, psychological, or social abuse, social injustice is a cancer of society that attacks almost every misunderstood person and is greatly depicted in many literary texts, with emphasis on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, Stephen