This Week (6/7)

This week, we were assigned multiple readings. I am going to write about the 2nd Fiction Packet, which includes Brian Evenson's "Internal" as well as Thalia Field's "Point and Line."

The first story, "Internal," is about a man who seems to be interning for different psychologists. Although most people in class have disagreed with me, I believe that this story is really just as it seems, and is only trying to tickle the thought of insanity. Although I can see why many of my classmates believe that this guy has gone bonkers, and really has no internship at all, I believe that he is just a bored intern. Boredom can lead to many apparently crazy things (key word: apparently) and can definitely cause some off the wall writing. I feel that this story is not a progression of insanity, but rather just a progression of tedious tasks which build up to some crazy thoughts. I have definitely thought of some really strange things while bored, and if some people knew those thoughts, I'd probably be put in the looney bin. He seems too intelligent of a person to be crazy. His writing is clear, he is obviously well educated, and seems very proper.

Another thing which may play into the thought of him being crazy is that he acts like a psychologist. I know this may sound like a joke, but really, psychology is a bit crazy - Recording people's activities, making large assumptions at times, looking for specific, odd patterns... It's all a bit odd. The character in this story seems to be doing a good job of what the doctors are asking him to do, no matter how strange the task may be, no matter how many lies the doctors are telling. He appears to be doing well with all of this. He takes this work seriously, but seems to add some humor to prevent losing it, and I think he does a good job with retaining sanity - Some experiments that Psychologists have conducted have really messed with some people, sometimes permanently. He seems to have found a healthy way to prevent that.

In the story "Point and Line" there is quite a bit of  confusion as to where they characters actually are and what relationship they share. At first, I thought it was a secretary working for a business man. Even though the language was violent, I still thought that this language was supposed to be metaphorical, not literal. After a few pages, however, I had a feeling that this relationship was between a criminal and an investigator. The violent language, the strange relationship, the craze circling around the narrator, the suspense, the paranoia, the whole picture just seemed like what would take place after a homicide.


Even though the picture had eventually settled in my head, there is still a fog around this writing that hasn't settled for me yet. I'm still not sure what the crime is, I still don't know what feelings are being felt and I definitely don't know if the person who is being interrogated is innocent or guilty. I read over this story more than once, and that fog still hasn't started to fade.