"Three Hundred Pesos " Story Analysis

Biography
Manuela Williams Crosno (1905-1977) For most of her life she lived in New Mexico. She loved that state very much, and used it most of the times as settings for her book. Manuela Williams Crosno usually wrote about Spanish settlers who lived on that land more than one hundred years ago. She taught English for many years. She was also a poet and an artist , she won a first prize writing contest in her state with her article " Why I Teach School ".

 "Three Hundred Pesos " story summary :
 The short story "300 Pesos" is about a family which consists of 2 brothers and a sister who are farmers. They are all hardworking folks , except for one mayor detail in one of the brothers Anastacio. Anastacio is a very greedy and miser person who only wants to earn money in order to open his own shop. The other brother and sister Emilio en Berta understand the situation with Anastacio and are very sad about it because they feel like the have lost their brother. Both Emilio and Berta in different moments of the story ask Anastacio for money in order to buy or pay for important things , both times he refuses to give money , because of this he faces several difficulties in order to get the money needed to open his own shop. At the end Anastacio does get the "300 pesos " but he dies in an accident and the money is used for his funeral.

Plot Analysis 

300 pesos plot from grecha92

Characterization-

Main Characters

Emilio- Emilio is a man of not a lot of age I would say around mid 30s. He works at the fields , has a child and wife. This man is a caring man a compassionate man and of course a family man.

Anastacio- This character is younger than Emilio I presume, and also works at the fields. His goal in life is to have his own shop to accomplish this he would let his family members starve. He gives no money and spends no money all to be able to buy his shop. He is without question a miser man and does not want anything to do with people in order to accomplish his goal at getting his shop.

Berta- Berta is the Sister of the two . Age or physical traits are not really mentioned , but she must be the oldest due to her understanding attitude toward both Emilio and Anastacio. She is a caring person as well and also married , but with no kids.

Secundary Characters

Pedro – This character is the son of Emilio who is sick. There is a moment in the story where Emilio asks Anastacio for one peso in order to buy medicine for him.

Traveler – This man appears at the end of the story where he crashes with Anastacio’s carriage. He appears to be a wealthy man because his carriage is horseless and he agrees to pay the 50 pesos to Anastacio for the Pinto beans with no hesitation.

Moral or teaching of the story-

The moral of the story is to be generous, unselfish and kind to people who really need it specially family. This man Anastacio takes nothing for granted and in tough spots has left his family members suffering. Because of this he is repaid with only bad luck and eventually an ugly death. 

Personal Opinion -

My personal opinion of this story is that it is a good but predictable outcome for the story. What is good about it in my opinion is the lesson it teaches people. You cannot be a selfish self-caring person because you will live your life alone and bitter. The story also teaches how powerful karma can be , what goes around comes around. The thing i liked the most is that at the end he had his 300 pesos but they were used to pay for his funeral service.