When Does Pride go too Far?

Okay, well instead of trying to find a common theme within all of the stories that we have read, I am going to focus on a theme within one of them. With that said, I have chosen to analyze and come up with a central idea for the story “The Dentist”.

So, as I read this story I came to the conclusion that the author wanted to highlight how pride can be overbearing. There is nothing wrong with having pride in who you are as a person, but when pride begins to be the driving force of a persons’ character it can lead to a callous and shallow person. For example, within “The Dentist” we get a new perspective on how Curt Lemon was as a person. This short story directly contrasted the view of Lemon that we got within “How to Tell a True War Story”. In “The Dentist”, we see Lemon as a more shallow and self-righteous person. Lemon holds so much pride for himself that he cannot show any sign of weakness. Over time, his personality has allowed him to always succumb to pride and never show any sign of fear. This is why when he faints in the dentist’s office he loses control within his own mind. For example the narrator says, “Anyone else would of laughed it off, but for Curt Lemon it was too much. The embarrassment must’ve turned a screw in his head” (pg. 88). I think that the main point with this was to highlight the fact that people should be able to accept that they have weaknesses. Also, I think that the author wanted to highlight the fact that Lemon believes he that any weakness lessens who he is as a man. This is why he goes back to the dentist and makes him pull out a perfectly good tooth. This, in essence, eases Lemon mentally. He cannot stand his mishap at the office. Lemon had his tooth pulled to clear up any illusion that the men have that he is weak. Although the men know he did this on purpose to prove a point, Lemon is content. Because in Lemon’s mind, he cleared up any questions of his masculinity with the stunt.