Julia Alvarez's Relationship with Her Father in El Doctor

In "El Doctor," Julia Alvarez remembers her father as a mysterious figure, with many parts of his past unrevealed - in other words, in the dark. At the same time, she remembers him with fondness, not only for supporting her and the rest of his children financially, but also for supporting her in her choice of profession, which is professional writing, overall presenting him as a brighter personality. The imagery of her father's personality for Alvarez is a combination of light and darkness, with light sometimes too uncomfortable to reveal and the darkness sometimes to comfortable to illuminate.

At the beginning of the story, light is shown as financial drain on the household. This symbolic representation of light as a drain is repeated later in the story, but in a different context. For example, Alvarez's father is unwilling to reveal, or to spill light, on his family's real past because he is afraid it will be emotionally draining. He also tries to avoid confrontation with his wife and to dispel any dark moods in the household, which he considers a drain not only on a person who experiences them, but also on the rest of the people living in the house.

Alvarez also mentions that when her father leaves the room he leaves the rest of the people there in the dark. This signifies the good feelings she associates with being around him. Another meaning enters this analysis later in the story when she mentions her father walking from room to room turning off lights regardless of whether someone is in the room or not. This means that despite his love for his family, her father's personality is clouded with some darker thoughts or concerns that often block the rest of his family off.

Her father's desire to keep secrets from them is symbolized by his room being always in the dark. But his love of the darkness also can be explained by his family history that is revealed in the story. Alvarez's father is not used to bright things in his own life because, being the youngest of twenty-five children, he did not receive any of the best things his family had to offer. There is also another reason for his keeping secrets from his children and disregarding his own well being in favor of them. Alvarez's father is ashamed of his own father, who had two wives and cheated on each with his four mistresses, and, apparently, was not able to provide for all of his thirty-five legitimate and illegitimate children. Alvarez's father tries all his life to be better than his father in terms of both his family life and offering his children all the opportunities that he is capable of giving them.

Despite everything, it is the mystery of her father's personality that appears to draw Alvarez to him the most. This can be seen in her remembering her mother as always being in the light - a person free of secrets and with open emotions - and her father in the nighttime, in the dark halls and on the dark stairs of the house. This attraction can be explained by the fact that the author sees her father's streaks of light-and-darkness personality in herself as well, since she mentions going through some dark moments in her life when she contemplated suicide.