History Literature / CoolAir

* ForWantOfANail: The narrator notes that he may never have known Dr. Muñoz if he didn't experience a sudden heart attack one day and, with the knowledge that he once helped an injured workman, seek out some medical assistance from him.

* DaylightHorror: Consciously invoked by the narrator in the beginning lines of the story.
-->''It is a mistake to fancy that horror is associated inextricably with darkness, silence, and solitude. I found it in the glare of mid-afternoon, in the clangour of a metropolis, and in the teeming midst of a shabby and commonplace rooming-house with a prosaic landlady and two stalwart men by my side.''

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Dr. Muñoz is mentioned having an aquiline nose, which the narrator mentions makes him look vaguely middle eastern. However it never becomes relevant as Muñoz is such a pleasant person that the character forgets his own racism around him.

* ComicBookAdaptation: There have been several: the most notable include Creator/ECComics' "Baby... It's Cold Inside!" (''Vault of Horror #17, Feb/March 1951), drawn by Graham "Ghastly" Ingels, and a closer adaptation by Warren Comics (''Eerie'' #62, Jan 1975), drawn by Bernie Wrightson.

* CreepyMonotone: Dr. Muñoz's voice is described as "finely modulated though oddly hollow and timbreless."

* InhumanHuman: [[spoiler:Dr. Muñoz had revived himself after being dead, but unless he "lives" at low temperature, below 56 °F (13 °C), his body [[BodyHorror will decompose]] like a corpse, and even during this "life" there is [[UncannyValley something repugnant in his appearance]]. He eventually dies a second death when his refrigeration system breaks down, but for many months before his appearance had already become frightening to people and his mind drifted.]]

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:The learned doctor melts. He's actually been dead for years.]]

* InhumanHuman: [[spoiler:Dr. Muñoz had revived himself after being dead, but unless he "lives" at low temperature, below 56 °F (13 °C), his body [[BodyHorror will decompose itself]] like a corpse, and even during this "life" there is [[UncannyValley something repugnant in his appearance]]. He eventually dies a second death when his refrigeration system breaks down, but for many months before his appearance had already become frightening to people and his mind drifted.]]

* AbsurdPhobia: PlayedForHorror as the story explains exactly why the narrator is afraid if cold air.

* HumanPopsicle: [[spoiler:It turns out that the doctor prolonged his life by putting himself in a state of partial cryopreservation.]]

* CreepyMonotone: Dr. Muñoz's voice is described as "finely modulated though oddly hollow and timbreless.”
* CryonicsFailure: The conflict of the story is that Dr. Muñoz's primitive air conditioner broke down, and he needs to be very cold due to a health condition: [[spoiler: being dead!]] The AC isn't fixed in time, leading to the good doctor [[spoiler: rotting to death.]]

* EyeScream: Towards the end, Muñoz undergoes a terror-induced spasm and clutches his eyes. He retreats to the bathroom, and emerges with a bandage over his face. The narrator specifically says that he never saw the man's eyes again. [[spoiler: The ending implies that he was in the early stages of decomposition, and that, in his terror, his eyeballs ''actually fell out of his skull''.]]

* HumanPopsicle: [[spoiler: It turns out that the doctor prolonged his life by putting himself in a state of partial cryopreservation]].

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The old man is terrified of death, and works tirelessly to ensure its prevention. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he actually did find a way to cheat death, and has been living in an undead state for almost two decades. The problem is that the process of prolonging this state has rendered his quality of living dubious at best. He lives the life of a recluse, never venturing outside of the building and rarely leaving his room in general. He also has to endure frigid temperatures to prevent decomposition, and all it took was his machine to break down one time for him to finally meet his gruesome and long-overdue end. And even then, it's implied that he had been starting to decline before then, so even if his plan had gone off without a hitch it still likely wouldn't have been enough for him to live forever anyway.]]
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: The narrator specifically notes that the doctor is pleasant, well mannered, and extremely intelligent… not like those ''other'' Hispanics living there.

* CryoFailure: The conflict of the story is that Dr. Muñoz's primitive air conditioner broke down, and he needs to be very cold due to a health condition: [[spoiler: being dead!]] The AC isn't fixed in time, leading to the good doctor [[spoiler: rotting to death.]]

* AmbiguousGender: It's generally assumed the narrator is male due to being an AuthorAvatar of Lovecraft himself, but never explicitly stated. They tend to be portrayed as female in adaptations.

* CreepyMonotone: Dr. Muñoz's voice is described as "finely modulated though oddly hollow and timbreless".

* AllWritersAreWriters: Like so many of Lovecraft’s protagonists, the narrator is a writer who, down on their luck, rents a room in a cheap boarding house.

* AllWritersAreWriters: Like so many of Lovecraft’s protagonists, the narrator is a writer who, down on their luck, rents a room in a cheap boarding house.

!! Tropes found in this story include:

* EyeScream: Towards the end, the narrator goes undergoes a terror-induced spasm and clutches his eyes. He retreats to the bathroom, and emerges with a bandage over his face. The narrator specifically says that he never saw the man's eyes again. [[spoiler: The ending implies that he was in the early stages of decomposition, and that, in his terror, his eyeballs ''actually fell out of his skull''.]]

* HumanPopsicle: [[spoiler: It turns out that the doctor prolonged his life by putting himself in a state of partial cryopreservation]]

* HumanPopsicle: [[spoiler: It turns out that the doctor prolonged his life by putting himself to a state of partial cryopreservation]]