In my opinion, the short story “The Underdog“ by Sean Johnston was on the one hand very confusing and on the other hand very interesting in terms of how it describes the violent relationships of the other characters toward the Underdog.
Generally, the story offered very little information about the time it is set in or what war the speaker was telling about. Also, I missed more detailed information about the Underdog himself such as what exactly makes him being the Underdog and how did he slip into this role? To me, the text leaves out too many details what makes it rather hard to approach its content.
However, I liked the way the text represented the relationships between the other characters toward the Underdog. It seemed to me that violence plays a big role in this story. It was rather unsettling to read that two characters of the story, the speaker and the preacher’s wife, were tempted to hurt the Underdog physically. Also, the text mentions that the Underdog suffers from several wounds that symbolize physical violence as well. Besides physical violence, the story displays emotional violence, too. So, I think the worst thing for the Underdog is not being injured physically but emotionally. He obviously suffers not as much from “his missing ear” but from being constantly pitied even by his own children.
To sum up, to me the story of the Underdog strikes through its display of different types of violence human beings can suffer from. However, it leaves out too much crucial information which is necessary for the better understanding of the text.
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