Re: a theory of "Bfish"

Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Wed, 28 Jan 1998 19:56:23 -0600

> 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.

Matt -- a wonderful approach to the deep ambiguity of the story, and a
great hook to get students interested.

I wonder: had any of the students previously read the story?  Were any of
them motivated to go get a copy of it to see what the real ending was?

> I'm still working through the
> particulars (not to mention the ethics), but I wanted to post this right
> away.  He shoots the girl.

What's the ethical issue?  (I'm intrigued.)

--tim