The Deer at Providencia

The speaker's response to the deer's situation is what I found most essential of it all. In the first place, she didn't do much anything but stare at what was occuring to the defensless creature. The Americans and herself "watched [the deer] for fifteen minutes," while it struggled, but she didn't even budge. Though most readers would interpret her as a hardhearted individual, I think oppositely. The fact that she did nothing about it doesn't necessarily mean that she doesn't care, but that she cares even more. Rather than having to express her personal feelings through dramatic actions, the speaker actually takes it to the heart and mind to reflect upon instead. As one of the Americans confessed his wife would "move from here to there to there" to find the culprit, she had more subtle actions to prove her solidarity. For example, while the tourists were eating she would look towards "the sunny spot where the deer was still convulsing." She describes the setting around the deer by applying an emphasis about how normal it was, by saying "there was even a breeze." By highlighting this, it proves she's confused about how everything is being handled ordinarily while the deer is suffering. These subtle thoughts that remain within her mind show that the speaker does feel pity for the deer. However, she doesn't feel the need to act like other women who make scandals over everything. Instead, she reflects to herself...