Homework

Once upon a time in the not-too-distant future:

One of my favourite jokes of all time:

How many Morrissey fans does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None.

Because there is a light that never goes out.

BWA

HA

HA

To die by your side, well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine (now I will have that song stuck in my head all day; looks left, looks right, is suddenly weary of any ten ton trucks and/or double decker buses).


So, Mr. Jam asked some of his readers and/or minions to read the story that is posted at http://www.jam100.com/shortstories/theboywhocouldnotfinisha.html and then gave them homework. He then forces us to put on ill-fitting thinking caps and ponder the following:

1. What happens in the story?
2. What really happens in the story?


The following is my response to the queries after hours of thinking, watching TV, just plain procrastinating and several pints of lager and ice cream.

May 29, 2007

Argh.

Not really fair, as I just watched Pan’s Labyrinth and that movie is going to taint my reading and analysis of the homework as the movie also leaves you thinking what happened and what really happened.

So.

1) What happens in the story?
What happens is that a boy with the particular problem of never being able to finish his sentences runs away and two of his teachers are attempting to find where the lil’ dude went. Along the way they come across a girl who finishes every one’s sentences for them and find the lil’ dude at his mother’s grave, trying to glue back the broken tongue to an angel’s statue.

Once that is done, the lil’ dude found he can finally speak normally.

2) What really happens in the story?

Jack Shin (aka, the lil’ dude) suffers from a psychological disorder, specifically a mild obsessive compulsive disorder whose roots are in his unconsciousness (derived from the trauma of abandonment by his father and the non-participatory actions of his guardian and brought onto the forefront of his personality by the death of his mother, presumably as she was the only caregiver who stuck by him the longest). The disorder surfaces in his consciousness as the inability to finish his sentences, precipitated by witnessing the broken tongue of a statue over his mother’s grave.

Jack’s unconsciously obsesses over that repairing the tongue and runs away several times presumably to do so, but does not as he unconsciously believes it would sever his connection to his mother. When he finally does so, it is because he finally finds comfort in his teachers, who obviously care for his well being and also in Angela Cheng- the girl who finishes other people’s sentences, with whom, he sees a yin-yang counterpoint.

Another level into what is really happening in this story is the vast conspiracy that dumps children with odd psychosomatic problems into the same school. Jack Shin, Angela Cheng, Ronnie Pan and Chi-Kin Tong are only the obvious ones. Are Rose & Ravi really who they seem? I find it odd that they paid special attention to these students (to the point of installing microchips into them without their knowledge) - are they really protectors or are they out to exploit the psychic energies that lash out from their emotional problems?

I believe there is more, much more to the story and Jack Shin, Angela Cheng, Ronnie Pan and Chi-Kin Tong will eventually band together when they realize their paths intersect and the truth behind the motivations of Rose and Ravi are revealed.



And while we are at it, the following is from another of Mr. Jam’s readers/minions/fembots and her thoughts on the thing (which I did not read until I furnished my response). Just goes to show that Mr. Jam’s conditioning is working and pretty soon, we march on and take over the world.



Hi everyone,

Here’s my two cents.

1. what’s going on: practically orphaned kid cannot finish his sentences and keeps running away, going to his mother’s gravesite, to try to solve the problem since doctors can’t.

2. what’s REALLY going on: boy who’s mother died at a young age is traumatized by absence of parents and is on a search to find wholeness in his life. He keeps returning to the place where he has the strongest attachment - his mother’s gravesite. Only when he constructs his mother as whole and happy in his mind (piecing the tongue back on the angel statue) does he find peace within himself and regain the ability to talk normally, in whole sentences again. We don’t know how she died, but he obviously is troubled deeply by this event. Yet he knows that the answers lie within himself, and not in the outside world (with doctors or speech therapists), as evidenced by his refusal to let anyone help him glue the tongue chip back on - he has to do it himself. Wise kid.

Alternately, Angela really is the angel in his life, and when they finally meet at the gravesite face to face (after her seeing him around for weeks), he lets go of the loss of his mother (piecing the tongue chip back on) and starts a new relationship with her (they go off to get ice cream together), and feels whole again.

Just a thought. Would love to hear how you guys interpret the story…
LL

Where else I can be found:
http://www.myspace.com/catterpillarboy
See all my amazing friends! Beware of inside jokes that no one, even my friends will get!
http://catterpillarboy.blogspot.com/
Possibly maybe stories and projects that I am working on
http://catterpillarboy.livejournal.com
This will probably be the most updated one with all of my thoughts, feelings, book and movie reviews and other random stuff.
www.hardcorebattle.com - because you know you want to…


PS: Life sucks you know, but you soldier on...

Homework

Once upon a time in the not-too-distant future:

One of my favourite jokes of all time:

How many Morrissey fans does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None.

Because there is a light that never goes out.

BWA

HA

HA

To die by your side, well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine (now I will have that song stuck in my head all day; looks left, looks right, is suddenly weary of any ten ton trucks and/or double decker buses).


So, Mr. Jam asked some of his readers and/or minions to read the story that is posted at http://www.jam100.com/shortstories/theboywhocouldnotfinisha.html and then gave them homework. He then forces us to put on ill-fitting thinking caps and ponder the following:

1. What happens in the story?
2. What really happens in the story?


The following is my response to the queries after hours of thinking, watching TV, just plain procrastinating and several pints of lager and ice cream.

May 29, 2007

Argh.

Not really fair, as I just watched Pan’s Labyrinth and that movie is going to taint my reading and analysis of the homework as the movie also leaves you thinking what happened and what really happened.

So.

1) What happens in the story?
What happens is that a boy with the particular problem of never being able to finish his sentences runs away and two of his teachers are attempting to find where the lil’ dude went. Along the way they come across a girl who finishes every one’s sentences for them and find the lil’ dude at his mother’s grave, trying to glue back the broken tongue to an angel’s statue.

Once that is done, the lil’ dude found he can finally speak normally.

2) What really happens in the story?

Jack Shin (aka, the lil’ dude) suffers from a psychological disorder, specifically a mild obsessive compulsive disorder whose roots are in his unconsciousness (derived from the trauma of abandonment by his father and the non-participatory actions of his guardian and brought onto the forefront of his personality by the death of his mother, presumably as she was the only caregiver who stuck by him the longest). The disorder surfaces in his consciousness as the inability to finish his sentences, precipitated by witnessing the broken tongue of a statue over his mother’s grave.

Jack’s unconsciously obsesses over that repairing the tongue and runs away several times presumably to do so, but does not as he unconsciously believes it would sever his connection to his mother. When he finally does so, it is because he finally finds comfort in his teachers, who obviously care for his well being and also in Angela Cheng- the girl who finishes other people’s sentences, with whom, he sees a yin-yang counterpoint.

Another level into what is really happening in this story is the vast conspiracy that dumps children with odd psychosomatic problems into the same school. Jack Shin, Angela Cheng, Ronnie Pan and Chi-Kin Tong are only the obvious ones. Are Rose & Ravi really who they seem? I find it odd that they paid special attention to these students (to the point of installing microchips into them without their knowledge) - are they really protectors or are they out to exploit the psychic energies that lash out from their emotional problems?

I believe there is more, much more to the story and Jack Shin, Angela Cheng, Ronnie Pan and Chi-Kin Tong will eventually band together when they realize their paths intersect and the truth behind the motivations of Rose and Ravi are revealed.



And while we are at it, the following is from another of Mr. Jam’s readers/minions/fembots and her thoughts on the thing (which I did not read until I furnished my response). Just goes to show that Mr. Jam’s conditioning is working and pretty soon, we march on and take over the world.



Hi everyone,

Here’s my two cents.

1. what’s going on: practically orphaned kid cannot finish his sentences and keeps running away, going to his mother’s gravesite, to try to solve the problem since doctors can’t.

2. what’s REALLY going on: boy who’s mother died at a young age is traumatized by absence of parents and is on a search to find wholeness in his life. He keeps returning to the place where he has the strongest attachment - his mother’s gravesite. Only when he constructs his mother as whole and happy in his mind (piecing the tongue back on the angel statue) does he find peace within himself and regain the ability to talk normally, in whole sentences again. We don’t know how she died, but he obviously is troubled deeply by this event. Yet he knows that the answers lie within himself, and not in the outside world (with doctors or speech therapists), as evidenced by his refusal to let anyone help him glue the tongue chip back on - he has to do it himself. Wise kid.

Alternately, Angela really is the angel in his life, and when they finally meet at the gravesite face to face (after her seeing him around for weeks), he lets go of the loss of his mother (piecing the tongue chip back on) and starts a new relationship with her (they go off to get ice cream together), and feels whole again.

Just a thought. Would love to hear how you guys interpret the story…
LL

Where else I can be found:
http://www.myspace.com/catterpillarboy
See all my amazing friends! Beware of inside jokes that no one, even my friends will get!
http://catterpillarboy.blogspot.com/
Possibly maybe stories and projects that I am working on
http://catterpillarboy.livejournal.com
This will probably be the most updated one with all of my thoughts, feelings, book and movie reviews and other random stuff.
www.hardcorebattle.com - because you know you want to…


PS: Life sucks you know, but you soldier on...