Superstition
Dr. Archer recounts, "I noticed today, for the first time, a small, evil-smelling packet on a string around the baby's neck. In spite of the shock immensely following death, my curiosity got the better of me…A charm. The father had got it that morning from some conjure woman. Guaranteed to cure the baby's fits. He'd try that in preference to X-rays." The baby's demise affirms that the charm did not save its life. The optimal remedy would have been to allow the doctor to treat the child using X-rays. Superstition prevents the parents from permitting the medical treatment of their child’s gland. Superstitious individuals worship charms which may culminate in the needless loss of lives. Accordingly, it is challenging for the doctor to deal with patients and parents who hold that charms are superior to modern medicine.
Murder
Juvenalis writes, "Dr. Archer grasped his thin shoulders and pulled him (Sonny) gentle a little way, to reveal a wide stain of blood on the bed clothing below; pulled him a little farther over, bent in a moment's inspection, then summoned Dart…Together they observed the black-pearl handle of a knife, protruding from the chest." This is a murder scene which affirms that Sonny's murder is attributed to stabbing. The location of the knife indicates that a vital organ was destroyed resulting in his demise: "The boy had been stabbed through his pajama coat, and the blade was unquestionably in his heart." The scene contributes to the conflict which entails unearthing the murderer. Obviously, the perpetrator of the murder attacked Sonny in his bed while he was asleep which could not offer Sonny a chance to defend himself.
Crime Strategy
Dart speculates, “but suppose you (Dewey) weren’t out? Suppose you went down the hall, opened and shut the front door, crept back silently, into Sonny’s room-only a few steps- did what you had to do, and after the proper lapse of time, crept back to the front door, opened and shut it again, and walked back up the hall as if you had been out the whole time?” Dewey explains that at the time the murder is expected to have been committed, he was out procuring cigarettes; thus, he is not the one who committed the murder. Dart’s framework of Dewey’s movements suggests that he may have used the excuse of cigarettes to convince his spouse that he is going out but in reality he had gone to kill Sonny. The imagery of Dewey’s probable movements at the time of the murder is convincing and would be used to offer arguments about Dewey's direct involvement in the murder.
