I sat down on the bench at the park, my bones sinking into the wooden planks. The weather was nice for once. The sun was at midlevel. My spot in the park seemed to dodge the glare of the setting sun; I was optimistic. I took out my pencil and some paper from my waistcoat pocket. Desperately searching for inspiration I looked around the park. A young woman walking her dog spotted the empty spot next to me, and began to move toward my bench. Her dog was skinny and shaven, with puffs of fur around his shoulders, head, and ankles.
The woman sat down with a huff.
“Lovely weather isn’t it?” she said, trying to make conversation.
“Indeed” I replied, desperately trying to concentrate on my writing.
I felt a tugging at my heel and automatically my eyes shifted to the dog. The scrawny mutt had started to gnaw at the hem of my trousers. My angst grew.
“Oh I’m so sorry!” she said startled, noticing my pained expression. “I don’t know how to control him just as yet. You see he’s not mine, my sister brought him up to my house at St.Olaf’s Place to stay for a while.”
“Ylayali!” I cried.
“I beg your pardon?” she said, dazed at my outburst.
“Oh nothing, I tend to resort to my native language at times. You see, I don’t live around here”. What if she knew I was the one that followed them home? Should I apologize to her now? Or should I pretend like the event never occurred? What if she knew who I was all along and was just trying to get me talking so she could have me arrested..
“I’ve never kept pets” I exclaimed. “This domestication of what should be a wild animal, it just doesn’t interest me.”
She sat quietly pursing her lips.
“I mean really, mustn’t the animal feel idiotic all shaven up like that? Looked down upon by everyone walking past? Having to conform to whatever plastic image humans deem it to possess? Its all rather inhuman of us don’t you think?”
“I suppose so..” she muttered nervously.
Does she think I’m insane? Do I appear to her a poor beggar on a bench, equivalent to the dog on her leash?
“Don’t get me wrong it must be nice to have an animal of the sorts, to groom and show off. Its not that I can’t accept the concepts of pets, I would get one in fact, if I had some sort of liking to them. I just feel it’s a bit demeaning that’s all”
“Yes of course…” she said quietly, “well I think I should be on my way now, Marshmallow here needs to be home before dark”.
And with that she got up, the scrawny mutt trailing behind her.
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ReplyDeleteThis is quite an insightful blog. I especially enjoyed how you constantly got the protagonist to ask questions both to himself and the lady with the dog. When you said, "Does she think I’m insane?' this really reminded me of the protagonist in hunger, as he is always questioning what people think of him. Moreover, your ending really showed me that you knew what you were trying to convey by writing this pastiche. When the protagonist talks to the lady about her dog and asks all these absurd questions one feels that the protagonist is insane. In the book, when the character has a conversation with a stranger he often seems crazy to the reader as well as the other character, and you were able to show that quite remarkably in your pastiche.
ReplyDeletePooja,
ReplyDeleteI found a few grammatical mistakes in your pastiche that really shouldn't be there because you did an amazing job. The way you convey the protagonist's style is nicely done. Your narrator is asking himself questions he doesn't know the answers to, which is very like the protagonist in Hunger. The situation you imagined in this text is similar to situations in the book, meaning that many of the man's conversations with strangers go in a similar way. You included the outbursts of emotions, which I found to be very good. Through the use of short answers by the lady he's talking to, I can clearly see that the woman isn't interested in the conversation and feels repelled by what the man has to say. You also showed the reader that the man is disgusted by the fact that the dog is touching his foot. This reminded me of the situation in the book where the flies are sitting on his paper, and even though they annoy him, he doesn't do anything to make them go away.
Excellent job Poojie!
Hi Pooja,
ReplyDeleteI can tell that your blog definitely has correlations with the style of the Hamsun. The internal questions reveal that the author is trying to make a good impression ont eh woman, which is very similar to the novel. The dialogue also reveals that he tries to act “cool” when he is freaking our inside. His observation of the woman and the environment surrounding him at the beginning while he is sitting on the bench tells depicts that he is distracted very easily. At the beginning, I also liked that you created an optimistic mood with the sun. I remember the moments when the protagonist grows an angst within himself but overcomes it with similar attitude.
Julie
Many times too have I been inspired by Hamsun's Hunger. The figure of Ylayali and of the word Kuboaa have never quite left my mind's eye. The haunting machinations ever-presently as you too have expressed here.
ReplyDelete