Response to “The School”

       What make this a good fiction?

The school by Donald Barthelme is a short story about death. The trees, snakes, herb gardens, food, gerbils and white mice, salamander and the tropical fish just die one by one. Later, the death comes to the human body, which is start from an orphan, some parents and through the Matthew Wein and Tony Mavrogordo. The last dead person is Billy Brandt’s father who was killed by the intruder at home. At the beginning of the story, students may not concern too much because some death can be explained. However, the more deaths happen, the more questions they have. They cannot help doubting that what death is and whether death is an inevitable thing that they should accept.

This is a very “good” fiction because it makes me think the complexity of the life. The whole story seems to be based on a serious and depressive keynote. Many living things are likely to go to the unavoidable result. The perspectives of death vary from different groups of people, which reveals from the young children and the narrator Edgar. The young children have the deep thoughts about death. For example, they ask the question “Is death that which give meaning to life?” By contrast, Edgar can easily accept the truth of death, and he may not be willing to know the meaning of truth. For me, I just cannot take that easy when someone I love dies.

        Although the story is kind of black and makes my heart sink, it also brings me the aspect of hope and optimism. Among the accidents of death, the narrator tells a story about puppy. The appearance of puppy brings vitality to the school, and everything becomes meaningful. At the end of story, the students require Edgar to make love with Helens, and Edgar does it finally. What shocked me is that the gerbil can knock the door. The ending reflects that love, satisfaction, interaction and hope are opposed to death. The students should have a positive attitude toward their life instead of giving the life up.