“...the exasperated and distraught Elisenda shouted that it was horrible to live in that hell full of angels,” is a joke which occurs towards the end of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Màrquez. It accurately describes how humans can only experience divine power for so long before they begin to take it for granted and fail to realize all the good things that come with it. Also, at various points in this story, the family who keeps an angel in the chicken coop is blessed in many ways: the son was almost dead but miraculously recovered, they raised a large sum of money from the people who paid to see the old man and let him questions, and with the money they were able to buy beautiful things. Although these things are great and their standard of living has increased significantly, the family never traces their fortune and well-being to the angel who gave them to them. The message that Garcia Màrquez is trying to convey to the reader is to be grateful for things that come to you or your family through ways other than your own means, even when they may come from a divine power and you are not sure where to turn. Thank you. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe first way Garcia Marquez conveys this message is through the healing of the child near the beginning of the story. Soon after the angel appears, interrupting the life of a family, their son is suddenly healed without explanation after having been seriously ill. Elisenda, the mother of her recovered son, had cared for this child as any mother would, but residing in a rural village without access to medicines or other medical supplies, she was unable to do much. The angel's arrival is so shocking and unexpected to everyone that it seems a coincidence that the son is healed at the same time the angel lands; “Shortly after [the angel's appearance] the child woke up without fever and with the desire to eat.” While it wouldn't be the first thought for most people to thank the angel, this family could attribute the fact that he is still alive to the great change that occurred when he healed: the arrival of the angel and the fact that divine beings have the power to thank the angel. power to heal people. Garcia Màrquez uses this incident to set the mood for the rest of this story, showing that the family will never be truly grateful for what they have been blessed with and will see the angel less as a bringer of good luck and more as an inconvenience for in their daily lives. The second way Garcia Márquez shows that being grateful is important is by showing the family accumulating the money received. “Pelayo and Elisenda were happy with the effort, because in less than a week they had filled their rooms with money and the queue of pilgrims waiting their turn to enter still extended beyond the horizon;” this quote shows how much the family profited from the angel's presence in their backyard. While having wealth and being happy to have it isn't inherently ungrateful, the fact that this family simply hoarded the money and didn't even attribute it to the divine being they put in the henhouse is ungrateful. If the family had linked their newfound prosperity to the event that caused it (the arrival of the angel), perhaps they might have appreciated him more and would have hosted him somewhere a little nicer than a chicken coop. Furthermore, if the family realized that they had almost nothing to do with the money they received other than asking people to see.