What metaphor is there in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"?

The
eponymous old man with enormous wings, who some think is a fallen angel and others think might
be a Norwegian, is arguably arepresenting difference, which would make this story one about how
we respond to difference.

The first reaction to the winged man is fear.
Pelayo is at first frightened and stands over the winged man "with his bailiff's
club," before locking him up "with the hens in the wire chicken coop." The fear
provoked by the winged man's appearance reflects the fear that often, unfortunately but perhaps
naturally enough, is the first reaction to difference. This is evident in all kinds of different
ways, and throughout all eras, whether it be the fear of immigrants or refugees that we see
today, the fear of people with a different skin color that characterized the European
colonization of Africa in the nineteenth century, or the fear of disabled people which in the
sixteenth century led the likes of Luther and John Calvin to declare that disabled people
were...