Skellig Reflections

While getting into Skellig, I could not get over the similarities the text has to A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The parallels come early, and are very strong. In Almond’s text, an apparently ancient, arthritic man with what end up being injured wings is found in a dilapidated garage. The angel-man (Skellig) is filthy and wasting away, amid dead insects and debris. In Marquez’s text (written in 1968), an old man with injured wings is found covered in filth in the back yard of a peculiar couple’s residence among crabs which have washed up onto shore (in fantastical numbers after a supernaturally large rainfall). He is arthritic and disheveled, and is assumed to be an angel by many who see him.

I found it fascinating that there were such strong connections to this other text, and I did a bit of research on Almond to see where his writing was coming from. I found an article about Skellig and its connections to Marquez’s text. The article was interesting, but the thing that stood out most to me was Almond’s half-acknowledgement of this other text as being an inspiration. According to him, he did not realize until halfway through writing Skellig that he was subliminally inspired by Marquez (Latham). This astounds me - and in truth, I find it hard to believe. That does not change anything about Almond being an extremely talented writer, but it does make me a skeptic, I guess.

Because of my experience with Marquez and Esquivel and others through my studies in Spanish (second major) and their use of magical realism, I began perceiving Skellig as a piece of magical realism rather than fantasy. To me, fantasy purposes to strike a chord with the imagination of the reader, while magical realism (I have found) is typically used for social commentary – the contrasts between the ordinary, mundane world and the fantastical are typically used to exaggerate the criticism (an over-simplification, I concede). My own experience with each of these genres is somewhat limited; I have read texts from each, have enjoyed each, and do see them as being very similar. I would bet that many would view these as fitting within the same category or genre as well.

After finishing with Skellig, however, I do not see such sharp criticisms on society as I have grown accustomed to with magical realism – though I found many themes of interest to adolescents. Ones that are particularly interesting to me are the themes of transformation and of self. Teenage years bring about the first major identity crisis that many people face – I witness students struggle with individuality and belonging every day. Michael goes through this same struggle; he does not identify fully with his friends in the beginning of the text, and grows more distant from his friends as his circumstances, and concerns are on very different levels from them. Additionally, Michael’s openness with his emotions goes against traditionally defined gender roles in our society. In this way also, Michael is going out on a limb to define his own self in this text. Just as Skellig transforms from “Mr. Nobody,” dependent on others, into a beautiful and independent creature, Michael finds growth and acceptance in who he finds he is.

Another aspect of this text that appealed to me was the amibiguity of Skellig’s origin and nature. Though there are details that point to a possible angelic origin, this is not told to the reader directly. I like to have questions remaining at the end of any text, and Almond left some room for thought with his reading audience. We do not know who or what Skellig is, and we do not know exactly how Joy’s healing came about – just as there are many questions in life that are left unanswered, these are left for us to figure out on our own.

Works Cited:

Latham, Don. “Magical Realism and the Child Reader: The Case of David Almond’s Skellig.” The Looking Glass – vol. 10, No. 1 – Alice’s Academy. 2 January, 2006. Web. 30 October, 2009.