Tapp1 Anthony Tapp INTL 3111 Mr.

Robert Arnold 18 February 2013 Microtheme #3 The short story One of these Days focused on a day where a dentist, Aurelio Escovar, has to deal with an immediate change that occurs in his day. A phone call from the mayor causes him to have to stop what he is doing to cater to this mans needs. But what is quickly noticed is that this slow moving, non-expressive man deals with this tyrant dictator in a way that most would not dare to do. A main focus that drives this story is the character traits that the dentist is showing. He seems to have this daily routine that he exercises that expresses his determination. My thoughts are it being determination because this dentist is not certified and still continues to drill, polish and clean false/gold teeth in the early mornings of the day. His extreme concentration resembled how focused he is for his job and that no one would be able to take that away from him. This leads to when the mayor demands him with an appointment with pulling his tooth. It appears that this mayor is a dictator and is used to getting things done on a timely manner of his discretion. His reference to shooting the dentist if he did not comply with his orders explained how he expects his powers to rule what goes on. To me a shift in power is acknowledged because the dentist never decides to alter his daily routine based on how he works with the mayor. It came to a point that I realized how the dentist was not to be phased by the mayors tactics. It was first noticed when his tranquil reaction to the mayors threat of shooting him was not an act of being

scared but more of a response to his son saying shoot me than, like he knew that the mayor would not do a thing. Also when he had the mayor in the chair and said that now it is time to pay for these twenty dead men I feel it was emphasizing the point of it being time for the mayor to finally feel the pain of his actions he had used to those men. Especially when the dictator was experiencing that extreme pain, the story stated how the pain was so foreign that he failed to realize the torture of the five previous nights. This statement showed how the dentist was slowly reminding him that he is now on the other side of the usual torture. Through this story the tranquil character traits of the dentist emphasized that for once the mayor had no power over one specific individual. These character traits displayed throughout the story from the dentists actions showed me how the underlying meaning of courage and resiliency were trying to be applied. It showed how the actions of one man, in this case it was the dentist, can alter the perception of another by not giving in to the persona of how they usually work. This dentist consistently proved how he would not change what he does for any individual, even if they are a dictator who is use to his ways being acknowledged in his own realm of time.