The process of a person transforming into something new is a tool that is always seen throughout literature. It is common to read about characters that transform into different people or animals or mythical creatures. However, I had never read anything like “Mantis” by Julia Armfield, “Beast” by Samantha Hunt, and “Fatso” by Etgar Keret. All three stories share the transformation, but have differences that allow for the stories to be totally different from one another.
The first story I read was Julia Armfield’s “Mantis.” I read it a couple of times, and as I reread the story, I realized that the foreshadowing of the transformation had flown over my head in my initial reading. I’d missed little details such as the hereditary nature of her skin condition, the implication that her grandmother was an animal, and the absence of male figures in the family. These details led me to the idea that she was transforming into something different. My interpretation of her transformation is that it seems to be her ultimate form. For a praying mantis, the last shedding is the most important since it is the one that they are stuck with for the rest of their lives. Hence, it seems to me that similar to a praying mantis, the ‘shed’ that she is going through leads her to the “skin” that she will be wearing for her adolescence, which seems to become something that she seems to enjoy. She seems to see some of her mother in her new transformation, which seems to be something that she had been desiring for some time as she looked into old pictures of her mother and grandmother. Additionally, this shed also could symbolize the traits and habits which were passed down from her family, which I feel like is what the story was trying to portray — that as a person grows, they take the best and worst of their family.
Then, I read “Beast” by Samantha Hunt. This story was interesting, and I liked the idea of the secrets that the husband and wife are keeping are somehow making them transform into deer. The first thing that popped into my mind at the thought of deer in the midst of secrets would be the saying a deer caught in headlights. This quote stuck throughout the story for me because it seemed to be somewhat relevant to the plot. It seems to me that the reason that they turn to deer is because the both were eventually discovered in their secrets. It seems to illustrate how both the husband and the wife cheated, but yet found contentment and comfort with each other. The ending also seems to illustrate that they are planning on separating or giving each other time to be apart, and that this will allow them to reunite later on. The wife indicated that she would remember how many horns the husband had, but that it might not matter once they became animals. This seems to imply that they are aware that they might not come to be together after they were both discovered to be cheating, but that there could be a chance for them to find each other later in life.
Lastly, there was the story of “Fatso” by Etgar Keret. I found this one to be the most lighthearted, which was something I enjoyed. The premise of the story was how the girlfriend of a guy transformed into a fat man at night. At the beginning the man does not seem to believe his girlfriend, and is taken aback when he does see the fat man with the ring. However, the man learns to get along with his girlfriend during the day and the fat man during the night. Additionally, the man does not stop loving the girl after this revelations instead he loves her more and their relationship gets better. This seems to imply that the man learns new things of his girlfriend that to others may seem undesirable, but to him it is not because he loves his girlfriends. This story seems to show how even though a person can be different and not what is expected the person that truly loves them does not get deterred by the behaviors or visuals that seem to oneself or others as undesirable.