Most of the 'magical' aspects of the story, primarily the old man's wings and strange transformation of the spider woman, are treated by the townsfolk with curiosity and fascination, but no more than would be directed towards an animal in the circus.[12] The treatment of supernatural, magical, or otherwise impossible events, characters, and settings is what defines the magical realism genre.[13] This is demonstrated both in the matter-of-fact tone Marquez uses to place magical phenomenon into seemingly realistic settings, and the ease at which the characters come to accept the magical realism as part of their everyday life.[12] For instance, upon the protagonists' first encounter with the old man, it is written, "They looked at him so long and so closely that Pelayo and Elisenda very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him familiar."[3] After the townsfolk lost interest in the supposed angel and Pelayo and Elisenda had profited enough to build a mansion for themselves, the couple merely tolerates the old man, treating him more as a burden or nuisance than an adopted member of the family. Initial shock long gone and the magic faded and Elisenda only puts up a small fight to keep the old man from flying away at the end of the story. As the third-person omniscient narrator reveals, Elisenda "kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea."[3][14]
Additionally, the description of the old man's appearance makes the otherworldly presence of wings seem commonplace. When Father Gonzaga visits the old man for an inspection he notes that "seen close up he was much too human: he had an unbearable smell of the outdoors, the back side of his wings was strewn with parasites and his main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds, and nothing about him measured up to the proud dignity of angels."[3] Instead of emphasizing the extraordinary existence of the wings, Marquez draws the reader's attention to the humanity present in the old man--what makes him not angelic.
