Scene Two of "Last Goal"

This week I want to make up for some blog entries that were due in October. In October, I had little time to keep up with my posts, because I travelled a lot. Since, I’m here for this semester only I wanted to see as much of South Dakota as possible.

***

Until today, David never thought something bad could happen to him. Actually, he felt as healthy as somebody can feel except his nervousness, of course. He tried to recall what had happened a couple of hours ago. However, he still could not believe it.

He had headed for school since he was late again. Suddenly, he felt weird and a little dizzy and his legs became heavy. He fell. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. A concerned woman stopped by and called the ambulance. He was brought to the ER and they run some tests. When he woke up, he found himself in a hospital room. His body was aching. It was the same pain that he had been feeling for a couple of weeks only stronger. At this point he was not concerned yet, since a nurse told him he had a circulatory collapse and that he needs to stay for some more tests. He expected his parents coming soon. He got out of the bed and walked to the window. It was a very beautiful day. There was no cloud in the sky and it was very warm for that time of the year. Actually, he felt pity for all his classmates who had to take their finals today. He heard someone opening his room door and turned around. It was his mom and his dad. He was so happy to see them. But wait! His mom looked different today. She was very pale and had glossy eyes. His dad had this type of wrinkles on his forehead that did not mean anything good. When they saw him, they tried to smile. But both their smiles looked rather constraint than real. And his mother’s eyes told him she did not feel like smiling at all. Now the most creepy moment was reached and his mood changed rapidly.
His parents did not need to say anything. He already knew that something was wrong. His mother then said something to him what was even more scarry than her reddish puffy eyes. She told David that he better sat down because they had to talk to him…

Last Goal

This week’s creative blog entry is the first scene of one of my short story I’m working on right now.


David was very nervous. As nervous as he had never been before. And he was anxious, too. Normally, he was the easy-going guy everybody wants to be. His friends liked him pretty much. And he had tons of friends. There was no party without him, in fact, inviting him guaranteed a successful party. Everybody liked his humorous manner. David loved his life. He seemed to have everything his classmates dreamt of: He had excellent grades, was the best soccer player of his school so that he usually got picked first, and even worse he had too many female friends. His parents were not rich, but they always had money left for him if he needed some.

But something has changed. Today, he was wondering how much luck a single person deserves. Are there any rules for luck and bad luck? He thought of one of his best friends Jimmy who had lost his father two years ago. Or Kathryn, who was still suffering from an accident she had last winter. David, Kathryn and some other guys went skiing. It was supposed to be the best holiday ever. The second day they decided throwing a party and getting some beer. Actually, David was supposed to go. But he got a phone call from his girlfriend and so Kathryn went. A few minutes later the police rang on their apartment door telling them that Kathryn had been hit by a drunken car driver. Frightened, they went to the hospital looking after her. The doctors said that she had luck since it could be worse. Luck? Yes, of course, was she lucky. She was hit by a car and not by a truck. And she was lucky that the car driver stopped even though he was drunk and that he called the police and that he did not leave her alone. However, she broke her hip and has still problems walking. That night, the real lucky person was David, since he got that phone call. And he knew it…

Response on “The Underdog“ by Sean Johnston

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.

Response on "This House" by Sean Johnston

The short story “This House” written by Sean Johnston is about the troublesome relationship between a mother and her husband (or is it her son? I’m not sure about that). The mother seems to be very controlling and religious and her husband on the other hand sees her as an enemy rather than a caring wife. So when he is actually dead, he comes back as some sort of ghost and watches her. It seems that he enjoys not being criticized any longer by the mother because he says: “You may be thin air, fine, but she doesn’t even hear the sound of glass when you almost drop the bottle pouring.” This passage also presents the main problem between these two characters, namely, his alcohol abuse.

The wife on the other hand seems to be very religious. This becomes very obvious in the following text passage:

“Some day, everything will change, she said, and those that keep their mouths shut will babble with such fierce power the ones that couldn’t shut up will have no choice. They that are fattened and gorged on money from blood will be sickened while the starved finally swallow their own pure hearts and grow to astounding heights. And the blind will see.” This strongly reminds me of the Bible and Matthew’s book which states that "So the last shall be first, and the first last."

In comparison to “The Underdog”, this story is too unrealistic for my taste. The story would make perfect sense if the husband would not appear to be a ghost at the end.

Who Are You? (Part 2)

I try to look cheerful while tears are running down my cheeks. I don’t know why I’m always reacting like this. I should have known better. Really, I should. “Could you please sit down, Mommy? It’s your favorite soup, you know. I cooked it myself. I know, it’s not so good as yours, but I tried my best. Try something of it and tell me if you like it. Okay, you don’t know where to sit down? There is the chair, see? ” When I look at you I can’t hold my tears. I hope you don’t notice it. “After all these years I still can’t accept what has happened. Why you? Why me? Do you know why? No?”
Can she see me? I mean can she really see me? There she sits. She looks as if collapsed back upon herself in a world of strangers. Strangers… “How often was I annoyed about you, Mommy, but only because I didn’t see what you saw. But how could I? You looked as ever in your fancy dress. I didn’t realize you were changing until it was too late. It took very long to understand. You’re now in a foreign country where you are all on your own. You don’t know anybody and you don’t understand their language. Everything is alien. People are talking to you but you wouldn’t understand a word. You even can’t understand what the people around you are doing. It seems all very strange- like strange customs you’ve never seen before. And the worst of all is that you’re constantly meeting unknown people who are talking to you and pretend knowing you for ages. Only ever know and then you would smile at them and pretend to know them, too…

Response on "Consider the Lobster" by David Foster Wallace

This article is very well-written, originally, partly exhilarating and thought-provoking at the same time. In a first part, Wallace is examining one of the biggest sea food festivals of the United States, the Maine Lobster Festival. He makes cynical comments about people’s behaviour during such festivals. However, the article continuously becomes more serious.

Wallace starts his determined inquiry into the in ethics of boiling lobsters alive by giving some background information about the lobster itself and how we usually don’t see him- as a insect living in the ocean. Later he is discussing how lobsters are cooked which was very unsettling to me. Of course did I know that lobsters are boiled alive, but the way he describes how these animals suffer from being boiled does not miss the effect and made me feel uncomfortable. He writes:

“However stuporous the lobster is from the trip home, for instance, it tends to come alarmingly to life when placed in boiling water. If you’re tilting it from a container into the steaming kettle, the lobster will sometimes try to cling to the container’s sides or even to hook its claws over the kettle’s rim like a person trying to keep from going over the edge of a roof. And worse is when the lobster fully immersed. Even if you cover the kettle and turn away, you can usually hear the cover rattling and clanking as the lobster tries to push it off… The lobster, in other words, behaves very much as you and I would behave if we were plunged into boiling water (with the obvious exception of screaming).”

So, Wallace intends to offer a very graphic picture of how the lobster suffers when boiled and intensifies our feelings by stating that we would behave the same way in case somebody places us into boiling water. Finally, he asks the reader if it is possible that “future generations will regard our own present agribusiness and eating practices in much the same way we now view Nero’s entertainments or Aztec sacrifices?” Maybe this comparison far-fetched, however, we should consider how we deal with animals more often.

Response on “Other Math” by David Foster Wallace

This short story was very odd and unsettling. It is a story about a Joseph who has fallen in love with his grandfather and tells him so. Reading the short story’s title I did not expect is to deal with that kind of topic.

Letting declare the grandson’s love for his grandfather seems to be normal at first. Of course, do grandsons love their grandfather! But Reading further, the story becomes very odd since Joseph tries to explain to his grandfather that he really loves him

Generally, the author is playing games with the audience since he destroys anything we would expect to be normal. He adds weird details that do not really fit into an every-day conversation with a little boy, for instance, he is telling about somebody who has fallen in love with a “cadaver” and finally put him away. Also, the grandmother does not act like a we would expect from a grandmother by telling Joseph “Your Gram pa's h and w as a dead thing, attach ed to h is wrist by the same force that flung everything toward him, dead and brown, a flat, square conveyor of chill, an extension I never recognized and certainly never held.”

Finally, the oddest thing of the story is the way the speaker indirectly describes how the boy looks at the grandpa in a rather sexually manner. So he lets the grandpa refer to how the Joseph looks at him which makes the story very unsettling: “Don't say anything, Grampa. Just sit. Just like that. That's perfect.” or “Do an old man a favor and don't stare like that, son. All in all, it’s interesting how the author plays with our expectations of how society should look like.