The story never explicitly concludes that the old man is an angel. This classification is left to the reader’s interpretation. Even the story’s title maintains the suspense of the old man’s identity, insisting he is only “a very old man with enormous wings,” no more or less. Certainly, the old man’s appearance is magical, because old men with wings are an extremely rare sight. Yet, the responses of Pelayo and the other townspeople indicate that the old man does not have an angelic appearance, despite his wings. Since no one has actually seen an angel, the townspeople’s perception, too, remains unreliable. Therefore, the reader is left to their own devices to conclude whether or not the old man is a true angel. 

Pedantically speaking, it is not odd that an angel appears as an ancient being, since angels are at least thousands of years old. Further, the angel does bring good luck to Pelayo, Elisenda, and the town. The dismal rain ends with his arrival, the townspeople get entertainment, Pelayo and Elisenda’s child recovers, the couple becomes rich, and so on. Later in the story, when the child contracts chicken pox, so does the old man, almost as if he has taken on the child’s illness. Fittingly, the child recovers again. The old man’s otherworldly status is confirmed by scientific evidence as well. The doctor who examines him notes that his wings are perfectly natural and that it is a miracle that the angel lives, since there is “so much whistling in the heart and so many sounds in his kidneys that it [seem] impossible for him to be alive.” Not only does the angel continue to live after the doctor’s exam, he regains enough strength to fly away.

Yet, the narrative does not explicitly state that the angel is a supernatural being. In fact, at one point, it is noted that

His only supernatural virtue seemed to be patience. Especially during the first days, when the hens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers to touch their defective parts with, and even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing.

This powerful statement shows that the old man’s supernatural qualities are human, while the humans themselves have turned inhumane. As the narrative proceeds, it becomes clear that the old man’s seraphic status is irrelevant. He is extraordinary because of his virtuous being, his wings, and his ability to survive, regenerate, and fly. The point of the story is that these magical aspects of his existence are fascinating enough; he does not need to be an angel to command awe and wonder. He symbolizes the blurring between the real and the magical, suggesting if people were free of prejudices and short-sightedness, they would see the miracles that happen around them every day. For Pelayo, even the appearance of the crabs could be something wonderful and funny, but he chooses to see nature’s intrusion as an encumbrance and kills hundreds of crabs.

The magical aspect of reality is heightened in the figure of the old man, but it is not the only element of magical realism in the tale. In the opening paragraph, the sand of the beach is described as something that “on March nights glimmered like powdered light.” The rain has turned the sand squalid. This dualistic description shows that the real and the magical coexist, and that even the real can appear magical, if one pays attention. The spider woman is another fantastical element in the narrative. Her appearance is more bizarre than that of the old man, yet she is more palatable because her story has an easy lesson. This shows that people accept reality’s magical aspects only when it suits them.