Analysis of the 'Doctor' in 'The Pearl'
The doctor is simply known as ‘the doctor’ throughout the story. He is portrayed as the villain, as someone who is hated and notorious for his avarice and sins: ‘they knew his ignorance, his cruelty, his avarice, his appetites…’ This, one of many observation made by the four beggars, gives the reader an impression of the many terrible characteristics of the doctor. The doctor’s racist behaviour towards Kino represents the colonial attitude towards the Kino’s people – ‘I am a doctor, not a veterinary.’ This remark made by the doctor, implies that Kino’s family are regarded by him as animals, not human beings. Also the doctor is an important character because he is the cause of the further events to come in the story – Kino and Juana need money in order to heal the poison from the scorpion bite so that they will be able to pay the doctor.
The appearance of the doctor is that of a complete opposite as to how a doctor should in fact be like – which is not overweight or unhealthy: ‘He was growing stout’. This shows that his gluttony is having an effect on his appearance and general health. It then goes into more detail of his appearance: ‘His eyes rested in puffy hammocks of flesh’ and ‘his voice was hoarse from all the fat pressing on his throat’. This shows just how selfish it is for him to indulge on all these confectionery while people like Kino are struggling to make a living and support themselves with food and other basic necessities, and exactly how much he treats himself for he must be incredibly wealthy for him to afford so many sweetmeats that cause him to become so awfully large. He must have a vast amount of wealth: ‘his dressing gown of red watered silk that had come from Paris’. This shows that he is financially able to afford goods from around the world – ‘a small oriental gong’, most likely to be from around South Asia and so on.
The doctor has many bad personality traits – he has no compassion for...