When the gate to the doctor’s place opens (a few inches), Kino sees ‘the green coolness of the garden and the little splashing fountain through the opening’. This visual imagery gives off a very warm feel to the place. However, Kino does not seem to be welcomed, as the gate only opens a few inches, and the man who opens the gate, though of the same race, refuses to speak Kino’s language. The juxtaposition of the warm, intimate and cosy visual imagery to Kino’s cold reception emphasises on the discrimination Kino receives. The servant refused to speak in the old language, showing how much discrimination there is towards Kino’s people. The sentence ‘The glaring sun threw the bunched shadows of the people blackly on the white wall’ gives us a mental image of black people and white people being contrasted and compared and they draw a fine line between to separate each other, once again showing discrimination and prejudice.
The setting now moves from outside the doctor’s place to inside the doctor’s chamber. When the writer describes the doctor’s lifting of a tiny cup of delicate egg-shell china being silly, we can infer that the doctor’s personality and physique is the opposite of delicate, rough and unfriendly. His mouth droops with discontent, probably because of his having to work amongst those that he is prejudiced against. The fact that he is unhappy before he even learns of Kino’s visit sort of foreshadows that Kino’s request for Coyotito to see the doctor will be unsuccessful. The furnishing of the room is ‘heavy and dark and gloomy’, and gives off a completely different feel. It gives a very hostile feel and is completely different from the warm scenery outside in the garden. This might be the writer trying to reflect the doctor’s personality through the mood and setting of the story. It may also be trying to show that the doctor is a doctor (saving lives are supposed to be their duty) only by appearance but his personality reflects otherwise.
The writer also tells us that for a short period of time the doctor lived in France (the doctor had once for a short time been a part of the great world and his whole subsequent life was memory and longing for France). The doctor was only in France for a short while and was removed from his ‘civilized living’ for an unknown reason. However, we may infer that due to his lousy character, France rejected him as a citizen, which is why he has to work among Kino’s race.
The doctor’s servant stands at the open doorway waiting to be noticed, showing how much respect the doctor demands from him. When the doctor is informed of Kino’s baby being poisoned, he puts down his egg-shell china cup before letting his anger rise, showing how he values an egg-shell china cup more than a human life. The writer also shows how prejudiced the doctor is against the Indians for he says “Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites for ‘little indians’? I am a doctor, not a veterinary.” This shows us that he sees the Indians are mere animals and does not feel they deserve medical treatment unless they have money. Obviously the doctor has a very high and mighty view of himself as he says “I, I alone in the world am supposed to work for nothing”. The phrase ‘I alone in the world’ shows us the holier-than-thou attitude of his character.
The doctor then sends his servant to check whether Kino has any money for payment. This time, the servant speaks to Kino in the ‘old language’, perhaps out of sympathy as the servant has just seen how discriminative the doctor is against Kino and his people. Being of the same race as Kino, the servant should no doubt feel offended too. Kino reaches in a ‘secret place’ and brings out a folded piece of paper. The fact that he puts the paper in a secret place shows that whatever the paper contains is extremely valuable to Kino. Unfolding the paper, eight small misshapen seed pearls are revealed and are ‘as ugly and grey as little ulcers, flattened and almost valueless’. This shows that what is considered priceless to the natives are considered valueless to the colonizers. The servant takes the paper but is not gone long, showing how fast the doctor rejects the ugly pearls as payment. The servant says that the doctor has gone out and quickly shuts the gate out of shame.
The writer characterizes the doctor as a fat, cold, unwelcoming person who views money more than saving human lives. He makes the doctor regard Indians as animals and adds a self-glorified attitude to his personality. I personally feel that the writer’s purpose in characterizing the doctor so was to show a strong discriminator against the Indians, as well as to make readers hate him. When the reader hates the doctor, he/she will sympathize more with Kino. If that was the purpose of characterizing the doctor in such a way, the writer is completely successful.
The mood and setting of this extract, in my personal opinion, is to highlight the discrimination of the Indians, or create imagery that highlights the discrimination of Indians. The outside of the house is warm but the inside is dark and gloomy. The crowd gathers to see Kino’s attempt to get medical treatment for his baby but disperses in shame when they see he is rejected. The mood and setting of this story emphasizes on the passage’s theme on discrimination and prejudice.
In conclusion, the writing of this story shows us that the writer sympathises with Kino and wants us to sympathize with Kino too. It shows us that the writer has a negative attitude towards discrimination and wants to make it known to the world so something can be done.
