RA: Short Story--"Sin of Omission"

One short story I’ve revisited is “Pecado de omission” (“Sin of Omission”) by Ana Maria Matute. The story is of a young orphan taken under wing by his uncaring uncle who makes him work as a shepherd. Over the years Lope becomes no more than a slave and a beast of burden to his uncle. Upon realizing this, he murders his uncle and is lead off to jail while the villagers rant of how ungrateful Lope was to his uncle for giving him work.

Matute asks, are the consequences of damning a child’s progress worse than death? The resounding answers she cries, is yes! Stunting the progress of a child is worse than letting them die because stunting their progress makes them subhuman, it destroys their humanity. She writes to those who do not realize or who do not see the terrible circumstances of the poor working class, primarily made up of underprivileged children. Matute drives her point home mostly through the emotions of the reader as well as logical arguments through juxtaposition. She shows Lope as an intelligent child who could have easily become successful in life had he only had the chance. While starting off bright, he becomes no more than a slave for his uncle, calloused and hardened. Matute shows that Lope could have been successful, juxtaposing his roughness a less intelligent school friend who is now becoming a successful lawyer. Obviously if his not so bright friend could be successful Lope would have done better. Matute has the reader discover along with Lope just how much he has changed and what he could have had … if his uncle had given him a chance. Lope himself wishes he had been left for dead than to live a life as some sort of half man. While Matute’s point is not clear at the beginning, reading in context of the title helps reveal the argument. Lope’s sin of commission (murder) is contrasted with his uncle’s sin of omission (forcing Lope to be his worker for life). The title speaks out that the reader ought to focus on the sin of omission because the sin of commission sprang from that first sin. While Matute might not actually be saying Lope’s murder wasn’t worse than the uncle’s sin, she is certainly directing the reader to the gravity of damning a child’s progress.