Monday, May 16, 2011
The Petrified Man 5/16/11
There are some stories that you just find to be useless and of no purpose. Granted, there are some excellent fictional novels out there that serve no greater purpose than to entertain, but they usually are elongated stories that have many different plot elements and ideas to explore. The Petrified Man, though in the same category of literature, serves no such purpose. It is a very short work that serves as simply a window into the life of these people; I find that it almost seems realist in a way. As for the reliance on dialog, I can say that I rather enjoyed it. It made the story more interesting and further opened the window into the character's world, but it did nothing to add meaning to the story.
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View it as a regionalist piece in which the author addresses a bit of southern society through humor. It is a look at the 'common man.' These people seem backward, not well educated, not concerned with the finer things in life, convinced that the way to wealth and happiness is through luck and a consultation with a fortune teller. It is a frightening look at what we have created through all the striving from the time of Emerson and Whitman. Perhaps the American experiment has not been so successful?
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