The three stories this week were similar but also very different. All three were tales of people who are experiencing changes that seem/are impossible. “Fatso” features a young woman who suddenly turns into a fat, hairy man at night, “Mantis” a young girl who has inherited the insect-like genes of her grandmother, and “Beast” a woman who turns into a deer at night.
The stories that I enjoyed the most would have to be “Mantis” and “Fatso.” “Mantis” was very interesting to me because the little girl was losing her skin, her teeth, her hair, etc. I found it very hard to determine why this was happening to her and what exactly was happening to her at times. There was some judgement by others at times, but overall it seemed that she was very accepted by the girls at her school. She was treated normally by them, and it seemed like they all had healthy relationships with on another. Something that also stood out to me with this story was the mother’s attitude towards what the young girl was dealing with. I got the impression that her mother did not see this as a disability, nor did she see her daughter any differently. They had a routine that they followed and certain things they had to do, but other than that, she allowed her daughter to live a normal life. One of the negative experiences that the young girl had was with a boy at the party she went to. My interpretation of their interaction was that the boy (Mark Kemper) was not interested in the girl as a person; he was interested in her appearance. He saw her as something interesting to look at, but not for the right reasons. I am not sure if this was her first experience with people who view her this way, but it led to a chain of events that resulted in her skin unraveling, or becoming undone. This story was very interesting to me because it followed her journey throughout this phase in her life where things can be confusing. I would like to think that at the end she shed her metaphorical skin and became this new person who went through puberty, but there could be multiple meanings to the ending, which I liked as well.
When it comes to “Fatso” I found this story very surprising because it was something that was so unexpected. My interpretation of this story was having the best of both worlds. I expected the boyfriend to be shocked that the woman he loved and eventually would wind up spending the rest of his life with would be dealing with this problem. It seems as though the boyfriend did find it a bit strange at first, but then started to look forward to their outings. It is like he found a lover and also a best friend. Something that I annotated is that this could secretly be every guy’s dream which is being able to be in a relationship and have amazing sex (which is highlighted) but not having to give up the bachelor lifestyle.
The last story that we read was “Beast.” This story was the most difficult for me to connect with, but I feel like it still had a deep meaning. The interpretation that I took from this story is that everyone has their secrets. The main character was cheating on her husband, which is what started her transformation. Even though she loved him very much, she still had thoughts about the other man. The end of the story really shocked me. Her husband also turned into a deer and it seemed that he was having these experiences way before she was. He seemed to know exactly what to do. She discovers that there are hundreds of deer walking in a her like fashion. Even though she is not sure what they are doing or where they are going, she ends up joining the herd. I believe that this could represent the other people in her community, everyone has their secrets that they keep.