When Carrie Brown wrote the first sentence of “Miniature Man,” she included many details of the story in which readers soon become engrossed.
“For fifteen years, Gregorio Aruña worked among us, building his museum of miniatures here in our village of Monterojo, high in the Sierras de las Marinas, and in all that time, no one was allowed in the door of his museum.” (27)
From just this first sentence, readers learn the setting and main focus of the story. The story is set in a small village in Spain and is mainly about the character Gregorio Aruña. Gregorio Aruña spent fifteen years in a small house creating a scaled-down replica of his village.
When he had almost completed the model village, Gregorio suffered a major injury to his hands and visits the village doctor, Dr. Tomas Xavia, later described as his first cousin once removed. This short story is from Dr. Xavia’s first-person point of view.
Carrie Brown’s short story closes by describing Gregorio and his work.
“And on the wall behind them, the tiny man at the worktable, fashioned out of clay, remained bent over his task, intent only on the work before him.” (64)
Throughout the story, his parents and neighbors doubt Gregorio’s work will amount to much. When Dr. Xavia and Patrick, Gregorio’s nephew, video record and show the inside of the museum to Carlos and Celeste, they clap and seem proud of their son. This shows that the characters, while seemingly static, are dynamic.