Mr. President

The President, referred to at times as Mr. President, is one of the primary characters of the story “Bon Voyage, Mr. President.” In the narrative present, the President is staying in Geneva, Switzerland. He is 72 years old, and has come to the city seeking “a definitive answer to a pain that the doctors in Martinique could not identify” (4). Although he only planned to be in town for two weeks, at the story’s start, the President has already been in Geneva for six weeks. He is discouraged and despairing because the doctors finally discovered his pain is coming from “the juncture of two vertebrae below his waist,” and he will need “to submit to a dangerous and inescapable operation” (4, 5). Worse still, the President is poor and cannot afford the surgery. Therefore, when he meets the young man Homero and his wife Lázara, the President asks them...