How does the story comment upon humanity? Who is human in the story an who isn't? What qualifies someone as human?

Just as the Old Man is described in terms of his animal characteristics, so too he is described as human. Father Gonzaga thinks that he must be an imposter: he does not possess the dignity that people expect from angels. Also, in paragraph two the Old Man is described as a rag picker, and Pelayo and Elisenda decide that he must be a sailor. Despite these human characteristics, the Old Man is treated inhumanly. He is penned up with the chickens and displayed, forced to eat mush, and branded. This capacity to dehumanize a creature because of one unfamiliar characteristic - wings - quietly damns the people in the story. They see the Old Man's humanity yet don't feel the need to respond humanely.

In contrast there is the Spider-Girl. The narrator notes that the spider girl is a much more appealing attraction because her story is full of human truth. Because her story is simply and straightforwardly moral, she is appealing, whereas the old man - full of mystery and complexity - is unappealing. Garcia Marquez invites us to consider that the truly human qualities in life are the Old Man's - uncertainty, mystery, strangeness, open-endedness - whereas the trite moralizing of the Spider-Girl is actually far from human experience. It merely consoles the people, whereas the Old Man - by revealing our cruelty - shows them their true nature.