A Drowning Incident

So while i found the ending of this story to be very strange, and at this point indecipherable i did notice some of the things Rather told us to look for. One of the biggest things i noticed was the color, and I really think I am onto something here. He stepped on the cricket and out came some thick white liquid. The puppy had a white belly, green guts and i believe the black hairs were mentioned a few times as well. I also noticed he describes the planks as a metallic grey and the boy's face at the end to have grey patterns on it. Color is EVERYWHERE in this story and i think each has its own meaning. White, i believe is a given, innocence. He feeds the innocent cricket to the BLACK widow... The puppy has a white belly. When he discovers the dead puppies his eyes were described as wide and white. So heres a good question then, what does the green represent? The grey could be emptiness, so why is the little pier a greyish color? Anyway, i really think there is something there with the color and I'm excited to discuss this more in class. I know theres also something there with the boy killing the cricket, and then finding that someone killed the puppies, some kind of dual storyline going on there. But most of all I'd like to know who "he" is at the end of the story. Yes so... tell me if you have any ideas.

Repent Harlequin!

Ok, so I change my mind. This is my new favorite short story. I'm a sucker for stories that are about going against the grain. Throughout reading the story I immediately noticed some parallels to the book 1984. Finally at the end there was a reference to the story which sealed it for me. It was stated that "there was always a war going on." It never mattered who it was with, or why they were at war, but they just always were. The government has massive amounts of control over everyday life and they insist on people being about as punctual as fedex. In 1984 the government insisted on controlling peoples thoughts, or rather preventing thought. There were consequences for breaking the laws and i particularly like how it is done in "Repent Harlequin!" It's just a little nifty how they calculate the time you have wasted everyone else and shave it right off the end of your life. The story mainly focuses on time, and how we should not let it dominate our society, but i think there is a bit more to it than that. Not only do I believe the story cautions about time ruling our society, but this lesson could be applied to many other things as well. Money, sex, and social status just to name a few.
I love the way the Harlequin attacks the ticktockman. He says get stuffed, i will not repent. The system is stupid and the fact that you even have me here is contradictory to why I am here. Absolutely amazing dialogue shared between these two characters. How many times have we all felt like saying that to authority?


Go little man!

The Saboteur

The Saboteur was one of the more entertaining short stories I have read. However, I did not like it as much as the other two we have read. Anyway, so my favorite part of this story is all the similarities that it draws to a Dave Chappelle skit called "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong." Mr. Chiu takes his 'realness' a bit too far and in return gets sent to jail. This is always what happens in the Dave Chappelle skits. I thought it was interesting that Jin chose a character probably much like himself. Mr. Chiu is a scholar who questions authority for the first time, and then realizes why he never questioned it previously. He gets owned. It appears as if brawn will prevail over brain as unfortunately it often does in the real world. However, it turns out they paid for what they did. Like a jock bagging groceries, the entire city got owned. I like how it is all in 2 brief sentences at the very end. It is kinda how I like to end all my stories "and then everyone died." I also found it entertaining how much he enjoyed prison. He slept easier and he was tired of sleeping with his wife after their two-week honeymoon. I also liked how he compared one of the guards to a donkey. It kind of gave off the barbaric vibe which I thought conveyed their characterization very well.