jennickels (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jennickels) wrote2015-03-28 11:43 pm
jennickels) wrote2015-03-28 11:43 pm
Literal intepretations
We had to read this really strange story for Lit class called, "The School," by Donald Barthelme.
The narrator is a teacher recounting a bizarre string of deaths at his school. Things that die: thirty trees, snakes, an herb garden, a salamander, gerbils, mice, fish, a puppy, a Korean orphan (that the class "adopted"), two classmates, a bunch of parents (two heart attacks, two suicides, one drowning, four killed in a car accident, one stroke, and a murder), plus all of the old grandparents.
That isn't even the weird part. After the teacher describes all of this he recounts a scene where the kids become concerned with the deaths and ask him questions. He tells them that no one knows why everything had to die or where it all went.
"And they said, is death that which gives meaning to life? and I said, no, life is that which gives meaning to life. Then they said, but isn't death, considered a fundamental datum, the means by which the taken-for-granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of--"
Now this is the trippy part, the kids ask him to make love with the teaching assistant.
"They said, will you make love now with Helen (our teaching assistant) so that we can see how it is done? ... They said, please, please, make love with Helen, we require an assertion of value, we are frightened."
Allllllrighty then. The kids pressure him until him and Helen embrace, and he kisses her on the forehead. Then someone knocks on the door and a new gerbil walks in (not carried, just walks in). The kids then cheer and go crazy about the gerbil.
The whole thing is very surreal. The first person that responded mentioned they felt like they were back on LSD or something. I know I felt like I was tripping.
The interesting part has been reading the other responses. I'm amazed at the number of people that took the story literally, debating the real age of the kids and why they talked so grown up when they were doing kid things such as playing with puppies. One person decided they were advanced children that were curious about how life started (the making love thing) because of all the death.
Obviously, they get to make what they want out of it, I just can't see how anyone can take this for real--it is just too off the wall. I'm kind of finding it hard to reply to people because of their literal analysis. Luckily, I got my requisite two comments done.
We also had to discuss whether or not the string of deaths was "bad luck" (as the teacher says) or something else. I said the school was cursed, and they should burn the place down before anyone else dies, but then, most likely, a bunch of kids would be trapped in the fire and die.
The narrator is a teacher recounting a bizarre string of deaths at his school. Things that die: thirty trees, snakes, an herb garden, a salamander, gerbils, mice, fish, a puppy, a Korean orphan (that the class "adopted"), two classmates, a bunch of parents (two heart attacks, two suicides, one drowning, four killed in a car accident, one stroke, and a murder), plus all of the old grandparents.
That isn't even the weird part. After the teacher describes all of this he recounts a scene where the kids become concerned with the deaths and ask him questions. He tells them that no one knows why everything had to die or where it all went.
"And they said, is death that which gives meaning to life? and I said, no, life is that which gives meaning to life. Then they said, but isn't death, considered a fundamental datum, the means by which the taken-for-granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of--"
Now this is the trippy part, the kids ask him to make love with the teaching assistant.
"They said, will you make love now with Helen (our teaching assistant) so that we can see how it is done? ... They said, please, please, make love with Helen, we require an assertion of value, we are frightened."
Allllllrighty then. The kids pressure him until him and Helen embrace, and he kisses her on the forehead. Then someone knocks on the door and a new gerbil walks in (not carried, just walks in). The kids then cheer and go crazy about the gerbil.
The whole thing is very surreal. The first person that responded mentioned they felt like they were back on LSD or something. I know I felt like I was tripping.
The interesting part has been reading the other responses. I'm amazed at the number of people that took the story literally, debating the real age of the kids and why they talked so grown up when they were doing kid things such as playing with puppies. One person decided they were advanced children that were curious about how life started (the making love thing) because of all the death.
Obviously, they get to make what they want out of it, I just can't see how anyone can take this for real--it is just too off the wall. I'm kind of finding it hard to reply to people because of their literal analysis. Luckily, I got my requisite two comments done.
We also had to discuss whether or not the string of deaths was "bad luck" (as the teacher says) or something else. I said the school was cursed, and they should burn the place down before anyone else dies, but then, most likely, a bunch of kids would be trapped in the fire and die.
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