Font size
WorksheetsA Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 6mins
Gabriel García Márquez uses imagery frequently to paint vivid descriptions in his writing. Based on the following description from the text, which pair of words best describes the mood of the setting?
“Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish. The light was so weak at noon that...it was hard for [Pelayo] to see” (Márquez 1)".
Iridescent, sparkling
Bleak, gloomy
Divine, heavenly
Ominous, threatening
At the start of the story, what is going on with the baby?
He rapidly ages and grows HUGE wings
He turns into a crab because he doesn’t listen to his parents
He is sick with a fever
He is playing in the chicken coop
Where do Elisenda and Pelayo put the old man after they drag him out of the mud where he has fallen?
they leave him in the rear courtyard
the kitchen
the chicken coop
the village church
After the neighbor woman declares the old man with the wings is an angel, what does she suggest they do?
Club him to death
Pray to him and ask him to heal their sick child
Put him on a raft with food and send him off to sea
Nurse him back to health and give him a place to rest
Márquez describes the intensity of curious people coming to view the angel explaining that "the news of the captive angel spread with such rapidity that after a few hours the courtyard had the bustle of a marketplace and they had to call in troops with fixed bayonets to disperse the mob that was about to knock the house down” (2).
What does Elisenda decided to do when she sees all this chaos of onlookers trying to see the angel?
Lock the angel up out of sight of the onlookers
Help the angel escape and fly to safety
Chase everyone anyway
Charge admission to the onlookers
Midway through the story, a traveling show arrives in the town; what unusual attraction is the center of this show?
A man with mouths in place of his eyes
A huge tarantula (spider) with the head of a sad lady
A ram with eight legs
A woman who cannot stop dancing because she was cursed to dance forever after disobeying to sneak out to a dance.
What is Elisenda’s attitude towards the angel?
Mesmerized; she’s captivated and amazed by the angel
Devastated; she’s very upset and distressed by his injuries and condition
Reverent; she honors and worships him because she thinks he is close to God.
Irritated; she considers him an annoyance
Why do Pelayo and Elisenda become alarmed and concerned when they think that the old man is going to die?
Because they don’t know what to do with a dead angel
Because they have come to love him and would be devastated if he dies
Because they won’t have enough money to live the way they are accustomed to if the old man dies
Because they are hoping the angel can heal their sick baby
What do Pelayo and Elisenda do with the money they make from charging people to see the angel?
Bought some satin pumps
Ran everyone out the village
Built a two story mansion
Caught fish to sell in the market
In the end, what happens to the old man?
His wings regrow and he flies away clumsily
He heals the sick child
He leaves town with the spider lady
He dies
