(Originais Teachy 2023) - Question Hard of Spanish

Read the following excerpt from the short story 'The Secret Cause' by Machado de Assis: 'Here are the facts, two bodies lying in two beds, and at the foot of each bed a man, a doctor, who assists them, or, if you prefer, contemplates them. Now, so that the reader is not terrified by this scene, I will say now that the two patients are convalescing, and the doctors there are the private doctor of one of them and the hospital doctor. One of the patients is named Daniel, the other Castro, and the reader can already see that these names are not real, but symbolic, so that the people to whom the event happened are not known.' Considering the presented excerpt, identify and comment on the narrative technique used by Machado de Assis to create an atmosphere of suspense and irony in the introduction of the story. Relate the author's approach to social or philosophical aspects that can be inferred from the text, highlighting the interdisciplinarity between literature and other areas of knowledge.