Fictional Short Stories

After reading this fiction packet one of the stories that I enjoyed the most was the very first story called survivors. It is about a gay couple who are both on their death beds basically. They are arguing over who was going to die first. We see the perspective of one of the men, he wishes to die first. There are many different reasons why he wants this. He goes into poetically explaining how he wouldn't want to be stuck with his partner's family. The father was and ex-military man who beat his son, and clearly was not supportive of his son's sexuality. The mother was very judgmental. And the two older brothers also disapproved of the situation. The man talks about how if he didn't die first that he would have to deal with the family and how he would have to change things about his house because he knew the family wouldn't feel comfortable with it the way it was now. He thinks maybe he will remove some of their items and maybe even set a parrot free. The parrot creates another almost metaphor for his partner. If he opens the window and lets him go, and be with the other wild and free parrots. But then he would be all alone. The parrot is basically just like if his partner would pass away and be free, going to be with other free people, flying away. It sounds like he would be going to a better place, maybe even implying heaven. And if he passed first this man would be very devastated. He would be alone stuck in this place where no one else understands him like his partner did. The story finishes by reading "dear God, he thought, let me die first, don't let me survive him."

This short story really made me reflect on what so little words can create such a big message. My explanation of the passage was close to or longer than the actual passage. It was how thought out and poetic the text was that makes it a great fictional statement. There were multiple symbols and representations of actual things that happen in real life even if every word was made up. That is the magic that fictional writing can create.