Critique the story ; Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s coat (2013, Malta EC)

Critique the story ; Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s coat

 

“Poor aunt!”

These were my last words just after I had read this short story. They (I think ‘He’ also) used her existence and left alone for 8 years. It’s not only ‘the aunt’ that they used and threw away, but also the other characters, traffic, even work! Thus they told a lot of lies with each other, using all the situations they could make.

 

Nevertheless, I like this story because it has good and interesting expressions that I can understand easily. That seems very lively and light at first but as I thought the meaning again and again, it was really impudent and keen. So we can guess the depth of their real relationships and the personalities of characters, when we read some sentences. For example, Mrs. Bixby always ‘cries’ instead of using ‘say’ and ‘tell’. I can even imagine her face!

 

Secondly, this story has ‘open ends’. But it’s not just about ‘end’. I think it has tons of ‘open something’ ; It can be situations, history, characters and emotions. It helps us give full play to our imagination. Sometimes it seems very sexual but it’s ok. There are only easy and simple vocabularies. The rest is ours.

 

As a result, it is a cruel black comedy. Sometimes we found some ‘italic fonts’. I think the author might want us to notice the sarcastic expressions through those ‘italic fonts’. Besides, we can’t stop having some doubts newly. ‘Had the Colonel no wife and family, really?’, ‘Was it true that Mr. Bixby had an average income even if he was a dentist?’

 

Anyway, the most pitiful person is ‘the aunt’. We shouldn’t use the old and lonely person. Never!