Introduction
Though the mouth of a man/woman can only speak to a limited number of people based on his/her being limited by space and time, he/she is capable of speaking volumes and volumes to millions and millions of people through his/her works. The playwrights Greg Hrbek, Alex Burrett, and William Shakespeare, to quote but a few, serve as epitomes of people whose masterworks have seen the dawn of their fame and popularity. Hrbek, the author of Sagittarius, currently a Skidmore college Writer-in-Residence in New York, owns a B. A and M.F.A from Vassar and Iowa Writers’ Workshop respectively. He coordinates undergraduate classes of film and fiction writing. He has managed to compose several novels and short stories like The Hindenburg Crashes nightly, the Harper’s Magazine stories like the Green World, a finalist short story for the National Magazine Award in the fiction of 1999. Sagittarius was among the 1999 America’s best short stories selections. Alex Burrett too is a well-known playwright. The 1968 born English man worked with the British Army for six years then joined the Royal Military Army afterward and entered the written world. His first collection, My Goat Ate Its Legs, received a warm welcome upon its release. He currently lives in London where he does advertisement jobs. According to Hrbek, families struggle a lot in the course of accepting their disabled children.
Sagittarius
In his novel, Sagittarius, Hrbek qualifies in presenting the aforementioned message through the way he strategically allocates different roles to the different characters. Sebastian comes in as a disabled infant and son to Isabel and Martin. The story kicks off with Sebastian, the half horse, and half man, getting out of his playpen and disappearing into the immense darkness. The author then goes on to describe the prevailing feelings and memories of Sebastian’s parents following the disappearance, as they search for their son from the nearby forest. Illustrating the seriousness of the struggle, “Kaden, Sebastian’s three-year-old brother…has also left the house to join the search” (Hrbek, 2001, p.7), a case that drives home the point that all family members are struggling. Isabel notices a lorry that paves her way to the realization of where their son is. However, before arriving at the place, a crash occurs, enabling Martin to identify his son in a meadow. Recognizing his deep love for his son, Martin boldly accepts the unique nature of his son and for the first time, he stands as the least ashamed of him as he used to do before. The author uses the third-person point of view in presenting the theme of parental acceptance.
Point of View and Conclusion
The theme of parental acceptance of their deformed children is addressed from the third-person point of view. The unique exposition familiarizes the reader, with not only the specific place and time but also with the events, all of which are presented from the eyes of Sebastian. The outcome of the whole story reveals Sebastian as an accepted child who fully belongs to Martin’s family, despite the preceding differences in opinions between the mother, who accepts Martin as he is, and the father, who sees him as unfit for the family. As he decides to call the police, “he wonders the description to give concerning the child” (Hrbek, 2001, p.14). In conclusion, the author succeeds in driving home the subject of the prevailing hardships that parents face in the process of accepting their deformed child. The Beast of Beddgelert is among the ‘tales for adults’ composed by Alex Burrett.
My Goat Ate Its Legs
The Beast of Beddgelert, featured in My Goat Ate Its Legs by Alex Burrett, is a brief fictional Welsh account of a man, a dog, and a woman. As Burrett (2004) reveals, the young man is gradually fairing on well with life (p.32). The demented folktale reveals the current state of the man, who has become a lord qualifying to marry a very beautiful woman who is on offer in ancient Wales. As the tale unfolds, he owns a dog that in turn has been his close partner, whom he had initially bonded with before he met the woman. The dawn of his high rank, coupled with the entry of the woman in his life, makes him expel the dog away, leaving it unprotected from the cold winds. According to Burrett, friendship is dynamic in that it changes with time. The tale is presented from the ancient Welsh point of view.
Point of View/Conclusion
Burrett technically delivers his message to the reader of this tale from the Welsh point of view. However, since the story bores the reader, it soon captivates him/her following the gag twist that the author fixes at the end of it. The dog in this story takes the place of the initial friends that a person makes. The woman on the other hand represents the friendship that comes in later in life, mostly based on the status of the person. In conclusion, the step that the man takes of leaving the dog, his former friend, to hook with the woman, his current ones, drives home the point that friendship changes, and the change depends on the rank of the parties. However, a change of rank of one person does not imply the same for the others, and therefore, changing of friends has some associated effects. For instance, the dog suffers a lot as a result. Nevertheless, the story is an informative piece of work.
Reference List
Burret, A. (2004). My Goat Ate its Own Legs. New York: Word Press. Print.
Hrbek, G. (2001). Sagittarius. West Virginia: WVA. Print.