Question

G. G. Marquez's 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings' explores the cruelty and selfishness of men. Comment with close reference to the text.

Answer 1

their narrators undertaking pilgrimage in the subsequent poetry that followed their journey. They no longer believe in the belief system associated with the holy place. Rather they see the other side and come out with their own truth; truth which is based upon their experience and reason. Though their experience is personal but the conclusion they arrive at is more universal. Moreover, the journey they undertook was religious but the perception they have gained is secular. Here, an attempt has been made to highlight this irony and to bring to the forefront the deep universal philosophical concerns of the poet that find voice through his mockery of the journey he undertakes. It is a paradox too, that out of a religious act, comes out an experience which is secular, scientific and humanistic. As if the pilgrim is seeking spiritual enlightenment through pilgrimage but reaching somewhere else finding something else. These incongruous and ironical feelings and perceptions have been diligently expressed in Indian poetry in English. One such example is Nissim Ezekiel’s poem “Enterprise” published in 1960 in The Unfinished Man. In this poem the poet undertakes a journey with a group of people with enthusiasm and excitement and with the hope that the journey will enrich them spiritually. They will be able to enlighten themselves and lighten the burden of anxiety and tension of their lives: “It all started as a pilgrimage / Exalting minds and making all / The burden light” (1-3). But as the journey progressed, they differences of opinion developed among the pilgrims and left the group divided into groups. It is amusing to note that the reason behind the breaking of the group was very trivial. Soon the group that began the journey with hope became a crowd with no unity and consensus: But when the differences arose On how to cross a desert patch, We lost a friend. . . . . . . . . . . . Another phase was reached when we Were twice attacked, and lost our way. A section claimed its liberty To leave the group (11-13, 16-20) The group that started the journey with the hope of gaining something rewarding, got shattered into small groups and turned into an aimless and directionless crowd. Here a pilgrimage begins with a hope to lighten the burden; to seek solutions, but ends with lots of new problems. It is also comical that the pilgrim here cannot understand and listen to his heart and conscience, and cares more for minor things like soap. A struggling crowd of little hope, Ignoring what the thunder meant,Deprived of common needs like soap Some were broken, some were merely bent. (22-25) Ezekiel’s “Enterprise” also reveals the reality of human life. It is symbolic of the journey of life where it is most important to make good relations and to learn the art of keeping those relations. A pilgrimage which is supposed to be a religious journey becomes a secular illustration of the truth of life. As Manavar opines “There is synthesis of the secular and the religious. His address to God is not a direct one”(261). “When, finally, we reached the place We hardly knew why we were there. The trip had darkened every face, Our deeds were neither great nor rare. Home is where we have to gather grace. (26-30) The journey does not bring them any achievement or a sense of satisfaction; rather they feel frustrated, physically tired, irresolute and indecisive. They now question their undertaking or the enterprise they started, now they find it futile and meaningless. It is humorous that in the end the pilgrims feel that they would be better if stayed back home instead of undertaking a dangerous and futile journey or ‘enterprise’. It is also contradictory and hilarious that the “burdens light” in the first stanza becomes “broken and bent down” in the last stanza. “Thunder” means conscience, which is amusingly also missing, and the journey which started as a group of hopeful pilgrims, ended as a crowd with no hope. The exposition of pilgrimage in the poem does not celebrate religion and faith in God; the poem is largely a humorous bundle of complaints about the pilgrimage which is painful, tedious and less comfortable.