The Writer As Explorer

Carrie Brown’s “Miniature Man” takes us into the life and mind of Tomas Xavis, a doctor in a small town in Spain. When his family member,Gregorio, is injured we are given a story about obsession and family. Gregorio is a man who is obsessed with art specially making miniature figures. His whole family is against his obsession and are concerned about him.They think he his art has made him a hermit since he is always working in his museum. A museum that no one even tried to look into. Once Gregorio has injured his hands we get a deep look into how family can be either a great help or a detriment and how grief effects a whole family.From the perspective of Dr.Xavis we see through his dreams that he feels subconsciously guilty about Gregorio’s injury. Each dream he feels like he has to help Gregorio  be understood. He wants  his art to accepted by the town and his family. Gregorio who was  estranged is now forced to be in close proximity to a family that does accept him. We see him become frustrated with both his family and himself but that does not stop him from trying to create his art. Celeste  is probably the most important character of the story, for she is the one who initiates an internal shift within the family. Her constant need to hover and smother Gregorio ignites Tomas and eventually Patrick to try to actually understand the reasoning behind his obsession. At the end we finally discover that Gregorio ‘s art was not only driven by obsession but also by love; since the museum he had been working on for years was a collection of figures that represented everyone in the town including his family. It also turned out that the museum had always been unlocked the whole time but no one had cared to check it out before. Carrie Brown has done a great job of presenting the themes of grief, obsession, and family while also creating a beautiful short story.