Make yourself feel worse (Metaphor)
César’s father refused to believe that the child found that strawberry ice cream repulsive. He just didn’t want to accept the thought. César saw that “dad had already given up hope of getting any satisfaction from the outing” and yet, “just to rub salt into his own wound,” he sat there trying to convince César of his “mistake.” “Or to convince himself” that César’s was “his mistake.” The father kept repeating that the ice cream was tasty, insisting on the fact that César was stubborn. No matter how hard he tried, César’s opinion couldn’t be changed.
Fear and despair (Metaphor)
César was “a victim of the terrible cyanide contamination.” “The great wave of lethal food poisoning” was “sweeping Argentina and neighboring countries that year.” The air was “thick with fear,” because “it struck when least expected.” Any foodstuff could be “contaminated,” even “the most natural…potatoes, pumpkin, meat, rice, oranges…” In César’s case it was “ice cream,” but even food “lovingly prepared at home could be poisoned” and “children were most vulnerable,” for they had “no resistance.” It was “a lottery.”
Imagination (Metaphor)
César was both a special and ordinary child. He was kind, naïve, and liked to live in the world of fantasies. He was special because “everything mattered” to him, “far too much.” He “made a mountain out of every molehill,” and that was his main problem. He “might have seemed indifferent,” but “nothing could have been further from the truth” and he “knew it.” César noticed every detail and then thought about it, dreamt about it, made up stories. Needless to say, that some people found this habit rather irritating.
