Enormous Wings
Enormous Wings
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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of pregnancy loss, pregnancy termination, illness, and death.
Political Context: Texas Abortion Laws
The legal predicament Pepper faces reflects a real-world strategy used by anti-abortion activists in Texas following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In 2023, several counties, including Mitchell, Lubbock, Dawson, and Jack, passed local ordinances intended to prevent people from traveling through their jurisdictions to obtain an abortion in states where it remains legal (Davies, David Martin. “Growing Number of Texas Cities Pass ‘Sanctuary for the Unborn’ Ordinances.” Texas Public Radio, 2 Nov. 2023.). These measures, promoted under the banner of creating “Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn,” declare it illegal to knowingly transport a person for an abortion on local roads. They label this act as “abortion trafficking,” the exact term used by the deputy who arrests Pepper. This context is important for understanding the arrest of Pepper for driving her granddaughter, Lola, to New Mexico. The novel’s fictional “sanctuary county for the unborn” directly mirrors the language and intent of these real ordinances (248). The enforcement mechanism described in the novel also parallels reality; rather than relying on criminal prosecution by the state, these ordinances empower private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone they suspect of aiding abortion access, a legal strategy pioneered by Texas’s Senate Bill 8 (Atkins, Chloe. “Texas’ New Abortion Law Could Have Huge Consequences. Here’s What Comes Next.” NBCNews, 1 Sep. 2021). By grounding Pepper’s arrest in these specific and controversial local laws, the novel explores the real-world legal landscape and the escalating attempts to control bodily autonomy by restricting the fundamental right to travel between states.
Medical Context: SERMs and 1980s Breast Cancer Clinical Trials
The novel’s central premise—a post-menopausal pregnancy—is scientifically grounded in the real history of breast cancer treatment. Pepper’s miraculous conception is explained as a long-term side effect of a fictional 1980s clinical trial called “Protocol 183,” which involved a class of drugs known as Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs). In the real world, the 1980s saw the rise of tamoxifen, the first major SERM, which became a standard treatment for estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer after numerous clinical trials proved its efficacy (“Long-term Data from 20 Trials Confirm Tamoxifen’s Long-Lasting Benefits.” National Cancer Institute, 27 Aug. 2011). Frankel’s fictional protocol mirrors this history. The scientific paradox that drives the plot is also factual. SERMs treat breast cancer by blocking estrogen’s effects on breast tissue, thereby inhibiting tumor growth. However, these same drugs can have an estrogen-like effect on other parts of the body, including the ovaries. By blocking estrogen receptors in the brain, SERMs can trigger the release of hormones that stimulate ovulation. This is why tamoxifen, originally explored as a contraceptive, is commonly prescribed to treat certain types of infertility (“New York Weill Cornell Discovers Anti-Cancer Drug Tamoxifen Boosts Fertility in Breast Cancer Patients: NYP.” New York Presbyterian. 9 Jan. 2003). This dual-action mechanism provides a plausible, though highly improbable, biological basis for Protocol 183’s fictional side effect, rooting Pepper’s seemingly magical experience in the complex realities of pharmaceutical science.
Literary Context: Gabriel García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
The novel’s title and central metaphor are drawn from Gabriel García Márquez’s 1968 short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” The story, a classic of the magical realism genre, describes the discovery of a decrepit, filthy, and seemingly senile old man with enormous wings in a family’s courtyard. The townspeople assume he is an angel but are disappointed by his pathetic and all-too-human state. Rather than inspiring awe, the angel becomes a sideshow attraction; the family that finds him locks him in a chicken coop and charges admission for people to view and torment him. He is a miracle that fails to meet expectations and is consequently commodified and abused. This parallel is central to understanding Pepper’s experience. Her pregnancy is a miracle, but it inspires more confusion, fear, and exploitation than wonder. She is hounded by the media, accosted by activists, and courted by a pharmaceutical company, all of whom see her not as a person but as a symbol or a product. As with Márquez’s angel, whose divinity is questioned by a priest because he does not speak Latin, Pepper’s miracle is deemed illegitimate or inconvenient by those who cannot profit from it. Frankel uses this literary allusion to explore how society struggles with miracles that are messy, inconvenient, or manifest in bodies considered too old or unworthy.
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