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A Comparison

A Comparison of the Magic in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" and "A Very Old Man With
Enormous Wings"

Magic arises out of the two main characters of D.H. Lawrence's "The
Rocking-Horse Winner" and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Paul, in the first story,
pulls out higher forces to help him decide who the winner of the next horse race
will be. In the Marquez story, a nameless and elderly angel lands on earth to
experience first hand the human behavior he strives to correct. The magic in
the air gives these stories a feeling of suspense. They are horrifying, if not
in the Stephen King horror genre. These tales encompass an undeniable amount of
magic, faith, greed, vindication and misunderstanding.
Pelayo and Elisenda, in the Garcia Marquez yarn, find the soul retriever
on his way to take their child to heaven, or so it is thought. The magical
angel's identity had to be discovered by a neighbor of the couple because they
didn't think that an angel could wind up on their land. Who would think of an
angel landing? Meanwhile, Paul doesn't show when he discovers the magical power
of the rocking horse he received as a gift one year. He does ride it often as
Lawrence describes. The stories are bound by the fact that the magical things
they discover are unbelievable at best. They often criticize Paul for his
affection for a horse he should have outgrown long ago. No one would believe
that the rocking-horse essentially talked to him. Although the characters in "A
Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" believe that an angel is in their presence,
they have no idea what to do with him. No one had ever dealt with a spirit on
this level before.
As he rocked back and forth on his rocking horse, Paul had faith in
finding the winner of the next horse race. For some reason they could not
explain, Paul's uncle and Bassett had faith in him to pick it. They kept making
money on the young boy with faith. The boy, whose parents had no luck, also had
the faith...