the painless one

All I know about Boyle, the author of "Sin Dolor" is that he has had a crazy hairstyle for most of his life, making him distinct or different from the rest of the population just like his main character Damaso, a boy incapable of feeling pain. Through the narration of a male doctor, we witness the brief life of this "immortal hero" which begins with his unusual birth and ends with his sudden death after being paraded around by his father as some sort of "freakshow". Because Damaso had to come to the clinic to get his various wounds and broken bones healed, the doctor develops a relationship with the boy, acting almost as his father figure. The doctor's fascinating scorpion collection brings them together. The doctor, who is also the narrator interupts his prose with personal opinions or comments such as advising the reader not to visits Damaso's family's taco stand. He also let the reader have insight into his thoughts with internal monolgues such as questioning God's existence and wondering "how could one feel sadistic if the victim felt nothing?" His writing was the perfect combination between a diary, medical journal, dialogue and narrative. With an outcast as the protagonist, failure in the end and an overall message that pain is not just physical, the author holds true to the form of a short story. I personally grew attatched to Damaso and felt his "pain" along with him. As I am currently crippled with a torn planterfacia, this story allowed me to observe true pain, a pain of the heart. Physcial pain is not nearly as unbearable and destructive as emotional hurt. However, Damaso also claims the "family comes first"
putting his pain aside for the sake of the family just like Vogel claims "family is family". Maybe we have lost this sense of loyalty and complete devotion to our family and put our individual expression and self first and literary writers are trying to address the issue and restore our familial faithfulness.