Aimee Bender's Willful Creatures

Aimee Bender's first story that we read in class "End of the Line" was an interesting read.  The moral of this story was hard to decipher, because of the twists in the story.  At first, the relationship between the big man and the little man seems to be one of odd companionship because the little man is the big man's pet.  Later in the story, though, the big man starts to get jealous of the little man's story and his life--one that he maybe wishes that he has --and begins to torture the little man.  This change in the story indicates that the big man is most likely unstable in some way.  The way that he treats the little man also shows that he is power-hungry and since he can't find any sort of way to control his reality (with being denied a date at work, and not having any friends) being able to control the little man is a way for him to be powerful.

The next part of the story was confusing.  The big man is torturing the little man, demanding to see his family, and the little man is denying him. The big man, instead of killing the little man, stops torturing him, and concedes with "okay".  The big man then ends up taking care of the little man until letting him go four days later.  It is not apparent at first whether or not the big man is treating the little man so well out of his care for him or not.  A page later, though, the big man says that the reason that he lets the little man go, was because he wasn't any fun anymore--indicating that the big man wanted power over the little man, and now that it was gone he didn't want him anymore, and also that he is sick to want to torture the little man.

"End of the Line" ends when the big man takes the train to the end of the line, and finds a little person hat, and calls out that he wants to be part of the little people society.  His motivations, though, are sketchy at best.  For one, the big man didn't care about the little man that he originally had as a pet, so why would he suddenly turn around and say that he wanted to protect the little people?  Also, it is likely that the big man just wants to feel powerful again, God like to all the little people that he could control.

Allison Weening, Post 6