a theory of "Bfish"
Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu)
Wed, 28 Jan 1998 15:27:28 -0500 (EST)
Monday afternoon, I passed out twenty-two copies of "Bananafish" to my
freshman english class in which the last six words had been whited-out.
The modified story ended thus: "Then he went over and sat down on the
unoccupied twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired..."
(I added the elipses). I told my students that they should read the piece
from beginning to end, preferably in one sitting.
Roughly twenty-three hours later, the same students trickled back into the
classroom (it gratifies me to note that they were, on the whole, much more
animated and excited than usual. Even more animated and excited than they
were after "A Rose for Emily").
Before I passed out the "real" or actual ending--before I even told them
there *was* a "real" or actual ending, I asked them very simply, "what
happens at the end of the story?". A few hadn't read it yet (or so I
gathered) and one person had managed to lose the last page, but the great
majority said something like "he shoots the girl." A few said that "he
shoots either himself or the girl" (by which they meant Muriel), but all
assumed that he shot *somebody*, and again, most assumed he "shoots the
girl."
I was surprised to discover that only a few people noticed the end of the
story had been altered to begin with. I'm still working through the
particulars (not to mention the ethics), but I wanted to post this right
away. He shoots the girl.
bang,
clinamen
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mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu