“El Tonto del Barrio” tells the story of Romero, a man who has an exclusive arrangement in the Golden Heights Centro. Romero sweeps the sidewalks and the barrio gives him handouts, which helps balance the community in a systematic way. Could a nonessential improvement be enough to upset the balance of this community? In the short story “El Tonto Del Barrio,” author Jose Armas intertwines conflict and irony to show readers that one should not fix something that is not broken (896-901).
Conflict is viewed as a negative occurrence, but conflict can also be an opportunity for growth and can be an effective means of positive outcome. Conflict occurs “when the subject is battling his inner discord, at odds with his surroundings