Pages read: 563-649 (Short stories: "The Deathbird", "Mortal Dreads", & "Jeffty Is Five")
The short stories this week all seemed to have likeable characters-- even the ones that were antagonists or didn't make a very long appearance. That's exactly why it's hard for me to choose a character I disliked and to name one my favorite this week! I tried to make a list of characters from all three stories, eventually hoping to pick a favorite and least favorite from all of them. From that, I managed to count out three characters from my possible favorites: both characters from "Mortal Dreads" and a dog. The dog, that was in a short story inside the short story "The Deathbird", was called Ahbhu and was accompanied by a sad story based on the author's actual dog named Ahbhu. Of course because of this, I had to put the dog back on my favorites list. And guess who's my favorite character after all? If you thought Ahbhu, you thought right.
The main reason for Ahbhu being my favorite character is that he (and his story) actually made me pretty sad. I felt like the story was full of very genuine feeling, which was justified when I found out that Ellison's dog was of the same name and passed away the same way as the dog in the story. I also really liked the dog because of how I was able to connect to him and the story. The main character in Ahbhu's short story is the narrator, so near the end of the story when Ahbhu has to be put down in the vet's room, there was a line that really got me. He had thought, "Ahbhu looked at me and I know he was just a dog, but if he could have spoken with human tongue he could not have said more eloquently than he did with a look, don't leave me with strangers.". This had been one of the things that made me sad, since it had reminded me of when my family had to put our dog down and I felt like a pretty horrible person when we had to because I wasn't there with her. On a more positive note, Ahbhu was a pretty awesome character since he added joy to the main character's life and the description of Ahbhu while he was alive and healthy was just really heartwarming.
The character, or rather characters, that managed to become my least favorite characters came from the story "Jeffty Is Five". John and Leona Kinzer are the parents of Jeffty, a 22-year old five-year old. He's supposed to be 22 years old, but he hasn't aged since he turned five. He's not a 22 year old stuck in a five year old's body-- he still acts the same, talks the same, but gets treated differently. Over the years of being five, the people of his neighborhood become afraid of him, the kids won't play with him (as they are afraid of him and hate him as well), and his parents have developed a pure hatred for him. Jeffty's only friend is 22-year old Donny, the narrator. One day when Donny had sent Jeffty to the movie theater to buy some movie tickets for the two of them, Jeffty gets beat to a pulp by two teenagers. This is the reason I ended up choosing the parents as my least favorite characters, because they didn't really care about Jeffty, even in his near death state. In fact, before he had been beaten, the mother had said "Sometimes I wish he had been a stillborn." This is a pretty horrible thing to say, even if she did really hate her son. The parents also end up being the reason for Jeffty's ending at the end of the story. The reader isn't told exactly what happens, but it's pretty easy to get an idea of what happens from the mother's dialogue and Donny's thoughts. And since Jeffty was a really likeable character, the fact that the parents had reacted so coldly when presented with their dying son was just pretty bad.
The short stories this week all seemed to have likeable characters-- even the ones that were antagonists or didn't make a very long appearance. That's exactly why it's hard for me to choose a character I disliked and to name one my favorite this week! I tried to make a list of characters from all three stories, eventually hoping to pick a favorite and least favorite from all of them. From that, I managed to count out three characters from my possible favorites: both characters from "Mortal Dreads" and a dog. The dog, that was in a short story inside the short story "The Deathbird", was called Ahbhu and was accompanied by a sad story based on the author's actual dog named Ahbhu. Of course because of this, I had to put the dog back on my favorites list. And guess who's my favorite character after all? If you thought Ahbhu, you thought right.The main reason for Ahbhu being my favorite character is that he (and his story) actually made me pretty sad. I felt like the story was full of very genuine feeling, which was justified when I found out that Ellison's dog was of the same name and passed away the same way as the dog in the story. I also really liked the dog because of how I was able to connect to him and the story. The main character in Ahbhu's short story is the narrator, so near the end of the story when Ahbhu has to be put down in the vet's room, there was a line that really got me. He had thought, "Ahbhu looked at me and I know he was just a dog, but if he could have spoken with human tongue he could not have said more eloquently than he did with a look, don't leave me with strangers.". This had been one of the things that made me sad, since it had reminded me of when my family had to put our dog down and I felt like a pretty horrible person when we had to because I wasn't there with her. On a more positive note, Ahbhu was a pretty awesome character since he added joy to the main character's life and the description of Ahbhu while he was alive and healthy was just really heartwarming.
The character, or rather characters, that managed to become my least favorite characters came from the story "Jeffty Is Five". John and Leona Kinzer are the parents of Jeffty, a 22-year old five-year old. He's supposed to be 22 years old, but he hasn't aged since he turned five. He's not a 22 year old stuck in a five year old's body-- he still acts the same, talks the same, but gets treated differently. Over the years of being five, the people of his neighborhood become afraid of him, the kids won't play with him (as they are afraid of him and hate him as well), and his parents have developed a pure hatred for him. Jeffty's only friend is 22-year old Donny, the narrator. One day when Donny had sent Jeffty to the movie theater to buy some movie tickets for the two of them, Jeffty gets beat to a pulp by two teenagers. This is the reason I ended up choosing the parents as my least favorite characters, because they didn't really care about Jeffty, even in his near death state. In fact, before he had been beaten, the mother had said "Sometimes I wish he had been a stillborn." This is a pretty horrible thing to say, even if she did really hate her son. The parents also end up being the reason for Jeffty's ending at the end of the story. The reader isn't told exactly what happens, but it's pretty easy to get an idea of what happens from the mother's dialogue and Donny's thoughts. And since Jeffty was a really likeable character, the fact that the parents had reacted so coldly when presented with their dying son was just pretty bad.
I love how you also mentioned your feeling in this blog. You also supported why you do and don't like the characters. Very well detailed! You made is to the right measurement of details. Great Job!
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