Tension in the Witch's MoneyIn John Collier's "The Witch's Money", the stranger who suddenly appears in a remote mountain village in Spain is first seen by Foiral as an unwanted madman. Certainly his surrealist depiction of the landscape must seem a symptom of madness to anyone unfamiliar with trends in modern art. However, when he offers a nice sum of money to buy Foiral's house, the stranger is treated with a new attitude. He is not yet completely accepted by the community he has settled in, but he wields a new kind of power simply because he alone can produce money from paper bills. But with his magic checks, the stranger creates a tension which turns into an economic struggle between him and his community. Worse still, the stranger unknowingly creates conflict between the town's natives who form a united group. Ultimately, because of the power that the "witch's" money brings to this community, the townspeople – once happy and contented – are destroyed, as is the community as a whole. Despite his unconventional art, this outsider is an ill-begotten missionary of the decadent values ​​of Western civilization, and with his money he brings the disease of capitalism to the innocent village. One of the first signs of a struggle between the outsider and the community comes when the villagers express their suspicions about him. They seem to think that the stranger is fabricating details to hide a secret perhaps. Arago emphasizes, for example, that the foreigner claims to have “come from Paris” but also “that he was American” (67). The fact that the stranger has no connections adds to the town's suspicions. But more importantly, Foiral and the town are skeptical of...... middle of paper......e to him" (75). Thus, at the end of the story, the townspeople laugh of Guis as they head to the bank to demand their money, they believe that Guis has nothing while they have a remarkable treasure in checks They do not know that disaster awaits them when they demand the. payment of their blank checks When their request is refused, their small town will no longer be happy and content. Moreover, their attempt to cash the checks will lead to the discovery of the artist's murder and the ruin of the. But in reality, the village has already been ruined, its innocence destroyed by the capitalist power of the witch's money. Works Cited Collier, John., 1958. 61-75.