Skip to main content

In The Pearl, what is the evidence that the doctor poisoned Coyotito?

The doctor has no interest in treating Coyotito until Kino finds the pearl, and Coyotito was getting better before seeing the doctor.


Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, which is of course very dangerous for a baby.  His parents act quickly.  Kino kills the scorpion (smashing it to dust in anger), and Juana tends to the wound using home remedy methods.



But Juana had the baby in her arms now. She found the puncture with redness starting from it already. She put her lips down over the puncture and sucked hard and spat and sucked again while Coyotito screamed. (Ch. 1)



Sucking the poison out of the wound is a common technique.  It must be administered very soon after the bite or sting, so that the poison does not get a chance to enter the bloodstream.  In this case, it must have worked.  Coyotito does not die.


Juana wants to take him to a doctor anyway. It is unusual for anyone from the village to go to a doctor.  The doctor is a colonist, and is only interested in money.



A wonderful thing, a memorable thing, to want the doctor. To get him would be a remarkable thing. The doctor never came to the cluster of brush houses. Why should he, when he had more than he could do to take care of the rich people who lived in the stone and plaster houses of the town? (Ch. 1) 



The doctor dismisses them immediately.  Kino has nothing but a few tiny, misshapen pearls.  He does not even get in to see the doctor.  He has no money, so the doctor doesn’t care about his sick baby. 


However, things change when Kino finds “the Pearl of the World.”  Everyone wants a piece of Kino’s new fortune, including the doctor.  Suddenly, he can see the baby.  The doctor claims that Coyotito is his patient and he has been treating him.  He tells Kino that he wasn’t there when he first came. It is all lies. 


Kino tells the doctor that Coyotito is “nearly well.”  He is suspicious when the doctor says that sometimes it can seem that a person is recovering from a scorpion sting but then things take a turn for the worse.  Fearing for his baby, he allows the doctor to minister to him. 


The doctor gives the baby and white powder, and his next words are very suspicious. 



"I think the poison will attack within the hour," he said. "The medicine may save the baby from hurt, but I will come back in an hour. Perhaps I am in time to save him." (Ch. 3) 



He obviously gave the baby some kind of poison, so that Kino would have to call him back and pay him.  When the baby takes a turn for the worse, Kino says aloud that the doctor knew it would happen but “his mind was hard and suspicious and he was remembering the white powder” (Ch. 3).  The doctor comes back and ministers to the baby, and pretends to be surprised that Kino has a great pearl.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more