Conflict in “Ashes for the Wind”
The purpose of a government is to protect their people, not tell them how to run their lives. But this isn’t always the case. In the short story, “Ashes for the Wind” by Hernando Tellez, a corrupt dictatorship-like government tries to force their will upon a man named Juan Matinez, the protagonist. This is the major source of conflict; it is external (man versus society). “The son of Simon Arevalo and his wife, Laura,” “ a man [who] had a cordially sinister air,” tells Juan that “[t]hey’d better clear out.” He said that if they weren’t gone by the end of the week they’d come and put [them] out.” Arevelo is the government’s mouthpiece and their “informer who [… knew] everybody for five, maybe ten leagues”;“he
The purpose of a government is to protect their people, not tell them how to run their lives. But this isn’t always the case. In the short story, “Ashes for the Wind” by Hernando Tellez, a corrupt dictatorship-like government tries to force their will upon a man named Juan Matinez, the protagonist. This is the major source of conflict; it is external (man versus society). “The son of Simon Arevalo and his wife, Laura,” “ a man [who] had a cordially sinister air,” tells Juan that “[t]hey’d better clear out.” He said that if they weren’t gone by the end of the week they’d come and put [them] out.” Arevelo is the government’s mouthpiece and their “informer who [… knew] everybody for five, maybe ten leagues”;“he