This is all about a country Doctor who is called to attend to a patient 10 miles away from his village. He faces quiet a number of challenges, including lack of transport since his Horse had died the previous night, but he finally manages to travel and attend to the patient. Attending to his patient is also not easy and finally when things do not work well for the patient, the villagers turn to the Doctor, undresses him and makes him lie on the same bed with the patient. He anyway manages to escape but he goes home without dressing up. What an experience.
CHALLENGES THAT CONFRONTS THE DOCTOR
The first challenge the Doctor faces when he is to attend to a Patient in a village 10 Miles away is that, his own Horse had died the previous night due to the unfavourable weather of the winter season. Since he needs a Horse for his Journey, he has to send his Maidservant to the village to borrow a Horse, which does not turn out successful anyway.
It is also seen in the passage that, the Man who offered the Doctor the Horses, refuses to go with him. On the other hand, the maidservant also does not want to remain behind with the Groom, and the moment the man says that he will remain, Rosa is said to run to the house, puts off all the Lights so that she will not be seen. This is also a challenge to the Doctor because even when he is away, he is saddened by the fact that he has sacrificed Rosa by leaving her behind with the Groom.
When the Doctor first meets the Patient, he does not know what exactly the problem is. We see that he tries to check the fever and other symptoms which he finds none anyway, but the patient whispers to him to let him die. It is after a long struggle that the Doctor realizes that the problem is the wound at the right hand side which is eating up this man. This is a Challenge to him since if he was informed of the problem; he would not have struggled much.
Another challenge that the Doctor faces is that, the people are expecting much from him since the people believe that a Doctor is supposed to achieve everything by his hands, since he is trained for the same anyway. This is the reason why they drag the Doctor and lay him on the bed, on the wall on the side of the wound.
FRUSTRATIONS WHICH ACCOMPANY EACH CHALLENGE.
The first challenge the Doctor faces is that he does not have a horse for his Journey, but finally a man emerges from below the stalls of the unused pig sty and provides two horses for the Doctors’ Journey. The man comes closer to the girl and as he embraces her, he harms her by his own teeth, a terrible thing. The Doctor burns with anger and he is frustrated. Thus, even though the Doctor is provided with Horses, which was the greatest challenge he had, he is still frustrated over what the Groom had done to Rosa.
Leaving Rosa behind with the Groom also troubles him all the way. It has been seen that Rosa did not want to remain behind with the Groom, and when the Groom said that he wanted to remain behind with her, she ran away. What the Groom had done to Rosa in the presence of the Doctor was suggestive that, now in his absence, he could do more harm. This translates to worry and frustrations to the Doctor that even when he is attending to his patient, he is thinking that he has sacrificed Rosa for a people who even if they were willing, they would not be in a position to give Rosa back to her again.
It is also seen that, the Doctor takes a lot of time to identify the problem that his patient has. This is also a challenge he faced as earlier stated. He becomes more frustrated anyway after he identified the wound located on his right side and in a way hidden in one of the regions of the hip that one will not easily recognize it. By the description of how the wound looks, it is clear beyond doubt that the wound had overstayed and little could be done to better the situation. This makes him more frustrated because at the look of things, it was getting worse.
It is also very clear from the passage that the people expected so much from the Doctor even to an extent, more than he can offer. We see that, when the people realises that the Doctor has not done what they expected, they get annoyed because they believed that a Doctor is always supposed to achieve and never fail in any of his duties. This leads to the Doctor being frustrated since he is badly paid, as he earlier stated and people are demanding much from him despise his generosity in helping the poor. He becomes more frustrated by the fact that he has to look after Rosa, he also thinks of his dead Horse and he thinks that it is better he also die.
REASONS WHY THIS STORY MIGHT BE CALLED A NIGHTMARE
This story might be called a nightmare since some of the things which are generally seen happening in the story do not sound real. In the very much beginning of the story, it is made known that the Doctor needs a Horse since his own died the previous night, but when the Doctor hit his foot against a pig sty which had not been used for years, a man came out from below the stall with two Horses. This by itself does not sound real because the pig sty is said to have been abandoned for the past one year and more so we don’t even expect a Horse to be found in a pig sty. It is quiet funny anyway, that even when the Horses emerged from the pig sty, the Doctor was not alarmed by the strange thing, but he took the Horses and went.
We also find out from the story that when people realises that the Doctor is unable to heal their patient, they undresses him and puts him on the bed where the patient is, while they remain outside singing and that when he is escaping from that place, he preferred not to dress up with a reason that it will delay his escape. This by itself does not sound real and may lead to one consider this as just a nightmare.
THEMES
POVERTY
Poverty is clearly seen to dominate. The Doctor gives us a picture of the house where he goes to attend to his patient, and from the description, it is clear that the people are in absolute poverty. He explains that in the sick room where his patient, it is stuffy due to the neglected cooking stove and it makes it difficult to breathe the air in the room. He even desires that he could be in a position to open the window and let some fresh air in.
Another instance where poverty is seen is when the Doctor sends the maid servant to go and borrow a Horse for his Journey but it turned out unsuccessful. By the fact that Horses were treasured as the most appropriate means of transport and still only a few people in the village owned the horses, this clearly shows a certain level of poverty.
We also see the Doctor complain that he is badly paid, yet people expect so much from him. The complains of the old country Doctor reflect some poverty in the area, since Doctors are among those people who should be paid well.
TRADITION
Some of the things the people in the village where the Doctor went to attend to his patient are seen to do, reflects that these people are tied in tradition. When they undress the Doctor and put him on the bed where the patient is, they believe that when the Doctor lay on bed with the patient, he will get better. They do this while they gather outside and sing. This is a clear indication that they are tied in Tradition.
IMMORALITY
When the Doctor returns back home from his journey, he is seen complaining that he has been robbed and he goes on saying that, in his own house, Rosa has become the Groom’s victim. He feels betrayed and does not want to even think of it. Back at his patient’s house, the Doctor also has thoughts of Rosa, and he says that he had to sacrifice Rosa as well. This statement clearly shows immorality.
