The Three Army Surgeons Character Analysis

“The Three Army Surgeons” Analysis

The cat, an innocent bystander, helps cause the main conflict that showcases the meaning in this story which focuses on character traits of humans and the inequity of the blame game. The three character traits taken on by the new body parts are three traits frequently exhibited by humans: greed, gluttony, and inattention. A reader who also has these three traits might easily miss the most obvious moral of the story.

The catalyst for conflict in this story is the cat with whom I sympathize. The cat appears relatively normal in this story untouched by magic and lacking human characteristics. Therefore, like any cat on the prowl it was hunting for food and found easy prey on the tray with the hand, eye and heart. Later in the story cat had to suffer in blindness after having its eyes cut out. For a

Had they not been oblivious in the first place they may have seen the difference in their replacement body parts. At the inn again, when the parts are unavailable the men demand reparations for their loss. This plays into the third character trait of inattention, for they were oblivious to the change in body parts when putting them on and then they heedlessly thought money would fix everything and was worth threatening the livelihood of the inn keeper. For anyone who has ever bought a lottery ticket, or answered the question “What would you do for a million dollars?” the money received by the three surgeons may sound like a happy ending. The ending is not so happy for the inn keeper who had to take the blame and the cat who suffered the consequences of being an innocent bystander. The moral of the story the three surgeons come to realize is that there are more important things than money. This story when examined in depth portrays the faults of humanity and the inequity of the