The Doors Open at Three

    "The Doors Open at Three"  by Infante focuses on the ceremony of death. It breaks death into two different events, the mourning of death itself and then the funeral. The main character is a symbol of mourning as he works at a funeral home. In the piece we can see he goes through the stages of grieving such as anger, depression and acceptance. Another important part of this piece is how Silvestre wants Virginia but can't have her as she's apart of the upper class while he's stuck in his "dead" end job. Virginia also wants to be with Silvestre but knows she will be looked down upon as she is a woman in the upper class with endless possibilities. The fact that Silvestre can't have Virginia sends him into a state of depression which conveniently is one of the stages of mourning a death. Toward the end of the piece there is another stage of mourning seen, this being acceptance. You can see this when he says, "I realized that I was quite alone, all alone rather, and that I would never see Virginia again." This shows that Silvestre has accepted he will not be able to have Virginia. All in all, Infante uses the mourning process as a structure for his short story. He also uses a common Caribbean story theme of love between two people in vastly different social statuses and there inability to be together. 

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