Mystery Stories

After class on Tuesday, the one thing that stuck with me was our discussion on the Mystery Stories. My interpretation of the Mystery stories is that even though they all were quite short, they were just glimpses into the real story, kind of like if you overhear two people having a conversation for a few seconds. You only hear the little bit that you heard, but you don't know what happened prior or after the conversation.

One example that sticks out in my mind is 'Strawberries.' You're told where the narrator is, what's on the plates at the table, and what's on the mind of the narrator, but you're not told anything else. To me, the rest of the story (or stories) is up to the individual reader. Who is the narrator? Why are they at this restaurant? Why are they worried about paying for the dinner? You can make these stories whatever you want.

It was brought up in class that these might be dreams, and I agree with that. Some of the stories are non-sensical, and some seem like they could happen in real life. Now, I can only speak for myself, but I've had many dreams that made no sense at all when compared to real life, and I've had dreams where everything makes perfect sense. So maybe these stories are dreams, or maybe they're glimpses into dreams, or maybe they're whatever you want them to be. I guess it's a mystery.

Ben L.