Prompt 1) Q&A: How short is too short
While the length of different literary mediums are not strictly defined, we as consumers have a good sense if something is too long or too short. We often make critiques on the length of films or shows, either being too rushed or too drawn out. On the one hand a film can’t be so short that it doesn’t allocate enough time to significantly develop the characters and plot, but it also can’t be so intricate that it bores the readers. In my opinion, The Fall of the House of Usher falls in the latter category. That thing put me to sleep. You could probably cut out 50% of the words and still achieve the same effect as the original text (a slight exaggeration, but you know how it is). When I read First Person Shooter, my initial impression was the opposite—it tried to do too much and ran out of room, so it left many loose ends. It left me wondering: was this short story too short?
The thing that bothered me most was the subplot of the main character’s love interest, Janine. Throughout the story we read how he’s head over heels in love with Janine, but is too timid to express his feelings because he thinks that Janine is too good for him and he doesn’t have a chance. My initial thoughts were critical—I’m glad he tells us all of this, but there’s no evidence; he has done nothing in the story to indicate his attraction towards Janine or any reason that he should think she’s out of his league. Something which occupies so much of the main character’s thought surely deserves further exploration right?
Because words are used more frugally in short stories, by expending the words to explore the main character’s romantic interest, the author gives us the impression that he will commit more words to that purpose. However, when he leaves us hanging by completely ignoring the romantic aspect of the story we were expecting, it gives us a feeling that the story was cut short.
To be fair, Charles Yu does give us some closure regarding this matter at the end of the story, when the narrator somehow gains the confidence to ask Janine out on a date. Awesome—our author has tied up the loose ends, so I guess this story isn’t cut too short. Except I’m still bothered by the way this is resolved. We could just accept this as a sweet feel-good moment where the narrator asks out his love interest, but I think this resolution leaves even more loose ends. Presumably our narrator gains the confidence to ask out Janine as a result of the events of the story involving the zombie, but it raises the question of what exactly happened. Was he inspired by the zombie? Scared? Aroused? Nothing really happens between our narrator and Janine either. The main interactions are between the zombie and our narrator individually, so there is no indication that something occurred between Janine and our narrator that would motivate him to ask her out. Charles Yu spends many words convincing us our narrator thinks he has no chance with Janine; it’s odd to see him gain the confidence out of thin air to try, which gives the story a very rushed feeling.
I think the rushed and unfinished romance in the story feels out of place, and makes the short story seem too short. If you think otherwise or that I missed some deeper reading(probably the case), definitely leave a comment.
I agree with the narrator's sudden confidence to ask Janine on a date feeling unearned. Since First Person Shooter seems not to take itself too seriously as a story, I feel like I should forgive any storytelling lapses, but this one felt like something that maybe should've been fixed.
ReplyDeleteI found your analysis very insightful and I honestly thought the same way about the brevity and lack of development in First Person Shooter as I read the story. In the first few paragraphs, I was very confused, as the story seemed to take place in a massive shopping mall complete with zombies, in a seemingly otherworldly or supernatural setting. However, the author did not go into much detail explaining what is really going on, and why there are only two people manning the massive store in the middle of the night. I was also confused by the romance "plot", as the narrator basically musters up the courage out of nowhere despite saying in the beginning that he "has no chance with Janine". Finally, I felt like the presence of the zombie didn't really have much effect whatsoever on the relationship between Janine and the narrator, and it is never implied that the zombie incident gave the narrator the courage to ask her out to the movies. I guess First Person Shooter can be seen as a simpler story more for the purpose of enjoyment to the reader rather than for reading closely and analyzing it.
ReplyDeleteI think there needs to be some middle ground between Yu and Poe's writing styles. On the one hand, First Person Shooter devotes so little time to its setting and character development that it's hard to empathize with the characters, but on the other, The Fall of the House of Usher devotes page after page of impenetrable prose to going on at length about the house and characters in an unnecessary way. With the first story, we know next to nothing about Janine as a person or why the narrator likes her, and we know nothing about the narrator, so it's hard to picture their relationship or dynamic at all. With the second, the plot is actually fairly simple but it gets buried under the avalanche of words. I agree with you that short stories have to use the few words they have wisely to be compelling.
ReplyDeleteI am on the side that the story was a little short, but I don't think it was TOO short. I agree with you that Yu should have maybe included a couple more details as to why the narrator felt that Janine was out of his league, I mean they are both working retail jobs and it would seem natural since they have the same shift. But, I also think that a short story leaves a lot more room for the reader to come to their own interpretation and think about the story more deeply. The reader can come to their own conclusions about what exactly inspired the narrator to ask Janine out; I think it was because he wanted out of a monotonous life which the zombie showed him. It was a little short, but I also see the benefits Yu might have seen by keeping the story short as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I enjoyed First Person Shooter but I feel like Yu could have written a bit more to make the story feel more complete. I get that there is some quirkiness and intrigue in having such a short story ,however, I enjoyed the story and would have liked to see more. For example, Speech sounds was able to cover a illness that impacted everyone as well as a love story and I didn't think it was too drawn out.
ReplyDeleteI like how you identified the contrasting styles of FPS and The Fall of House of Usher. First Person Shooter was pretty short. Yu wrote it in a way that was hard to empathize with the characters and the ending left with much to be desired. On the contrary, The Fall of House of Usher was page after page of description and the narrator's feelings, to the point where it became boring. These stories show the ambiguity of "short" in short story.
ReplyDeleteI agree that First Person Shooter was unsatisfying, but I dont know if it was about the length of the story or more about how unfocused it was. There Will Come Soft Rains is also very short but it has a very intense direct focus leaving sprinkling just enough details so that we know what happened in the world but it doesn't distract from the focus on the house. First Person Shooter would have been much better if Charles Yu had developed the relationship plot more or just dropped it because it really only served to make that one cannibalism description and not much else.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the story was somewhat unsatisfying - I too was expecting more from the story, especially regarding Janine and the narrator. From the way the narrator kept building up his feelings for Janine, I was hoping that the story's ending would be more climactic between the two characters. That said, I do think the addition of the zombie portrayed in a different light added an element to the story that made it more interesting than a general love story between two characters. While there were definitely unsatisfactory elements throughout the story, I found it very interesting to read the interactions between the narrator and the zombie.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I kind've disagree with your sentiment that First Person Shooter was "unsatisfying." Personally, I liked that the author chose not to hit the reader over the head, opting instead to leave it more open for our interpretation. I LIKED trying to figure out what the hell the story was supposed to mean, which was even what my blog post was about. However, I do think you're right that length is extremely important for a story, both for readability and for how meaningful it is to the reader. Good job.
ReplyDeleteSince First Person Shooter was short and concise, it was way easier to read than any of the other stories we were assigned. To some readers the ending might be unsatisfying while for others it is cool because the reader gets to interpret the ending for themselves. I, personally, wasn't too bothered. Overall I liked the story, especially for its writing style.
ReplyDeleteI think that was kind of what Yu was going for. The ambiguity of the story is what made us keep reading: we wanted to figure out what was so great about Janine, and why was the fact that there was a zombie shopping in their store something normal but as strange at the same time? Was this a dream or real life? We'll never know. But that's what I liked about it--it wasn't overly wordy but yet it was a short and somewhat suspenseful story and completely open to interpretation.
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