During the first reading of Spoon River Anthology, I noticed that most of monologues are connected with one another and there tends to be a lot of failed marriages. A characteristic that is prevalent in most of the town members is dishonesty. A character that caught my interest was Doc Hill. His motive for his practice was staying away from his family. He claims that his hates him and that his son was a failure. The majority of the stories in this book have two sides, which allows us to make a fair judgement. Doc Hill’s story has no other voice so it is difficult to determine who was at fault. Maybe Edgar Lee Masters did this on purpose to draw attention to the story or to allow the reader to decide for themselves.
“My wife hated me, my son went to the dogs. And I turned to the people and poured out my love to them,”(15.)
I guess that Doc Hill felt that he should not waste his care on people who treat him poorly. I am not sure whether Doc Hill is a genuine person or not. He willingly helps the sick, but also gives up on his family. One of the last lines of Doc Hill’s piece mentions Em Stanton. I assume she is a woman that he had feelings for and probably had an affair with. If Doc Hill’s words are all truthful I am sympathetic, but the mention of Em Stanton probably suggests that he was unfaithful to his wife. Even though only side was told, you can see what the other argument would be.
