“Rouba mas faz,” or “He steals but gets things done.” This saying went along with the corrupt governor of Sao Paulo in the 1940s, during the beginning of South America’s exponentially increasing government exploitation (Margolis). One of These Days was set when widespread corrupt behavior was beginning in the South American government. The larger government figures were being bribed and committing crimes, but in smaller local government systems the same atrocities were occurring. Gabriel Garcia Marquez portrays the effects of early corruption when the presumed amoral mayor of a small town is not received well by Aurelio Escovar, a dentist in the town. Throughout the dentist’s and mayor’s hostile and vindictive interaction, the allusions
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Escovar lied to the mayor saying, “[the procedure] has to be without anesthesia” when in fact it could have been. Escovar’s intention was to cause the mayor more pain when removing his tooth by not giving him anesthesia because he wanted him to “pay for [the town’s] twenty dead men.” According to Escovar, twenty men were killed by either the mayor himself or his actions, and removing the mayor’s tooth painfully was Escovar’s attempt at taking and eye for an eye. The clear attempt of vengeance towards the mayor demonstrates how a local man is seeing his town’s government as corrupt. Since just in this small town, 20 men were recently killed, and most likely unfairly since Escovar was upset about the deaths, it can be presumed that there are more unfair deaths across South America. From 1960 to 1996 in Guatemala 200,000 people were killed by security forces related to the government . Other places across South America during the mid to late 20th century had government officials who were linked to many murders (Margolis). Marquez’s portrayal of the mayor of a small town being related with a mass murder insinuates at the murders committed by other government officials in power during the time period. The Mayor’s, and the South American government’s, problem
Escovar lied to the mayor saying, “[the procedure] has to be without anesthesia” when in fact it could have been. Escovar’s intention was to cause the mayor more pain when removing his tooth by not giving him anesthesia because he wanted him to “pay for [the town’s] twenty dead men.” According to Escovar, twenty men were killed by either the mayor himself or his actions, and removing the mayor’s tooth painfully was Escovar’s attempt at taking and eye for an eye. The clear attempt of vengeance towards the mayor demonstrates how a local man is seeing his town’s government as corrupt. Since just in this small town, 20 men were recently killed, and most likely unfairly since Escovar was upset about the deaths, it can be presumed that there are more unfair deaths across South America. From 1960 to 1996 in Guatemala 200,000 people were killed by security forces related to the government . Other places across South America during the mid to late 20th century had government officials who were linked to many murders (Margolis). Marquez’s portrayal of the mayor of a small town being related with a mass murder insinuates at the murders committed by other government officials in power during the time period. The Mayor’s, and the South American government’s, problem