Insomnia related events: 'The Decline' declines (the story, not the blog)
The story starts here.
I tried to go from there and ended up with this (explanations and apologies below)
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But wait; it will do no good to start at the end. Nothing can be examined fully when only the conclusion is looked at. There are contexts and motives and consequential decisions that led explicitly to this conclusion. Sane men do not kill themselves without good reason. The argument could be raised that only insane men kill themselves, but do they too not have good reasons for doing so?
Sean Barry graduated from college near the top of his class, with honors. He was by no means a stupid man, and in fact would have done better had he not had a slight problem with motivation. He found his academic pursuits to be boring and paid them just enough attention to get by.
It was with this attitude that he entered 'the real world,' as his business professor repeatedly labeled it, `reality. Where if you're not careful, you get eaten up in a second. One needs a plan to succeed, to stand out. Because if you don't stand out, then you've failed. You've become one of the minions, just a cog in the great machine that is capitalism.'
Sean never liked his business professor, nor his business classes in general. He took them as a concession to his father, who thought that Sean would never make any money with an English degree. Sean agreed with this basic assumption and so chose to double major, business and English.
But Sean didn't think about integers, tax brackets, or corporations. These things were necessary evils he needed to endure in order to succeed in life; because what is money if not a measure of success? A family friend once told Sean that 'money doesn't buy happiness; but it does by freedom.' Sean's father nodded in assent to his friend's wise adage; Sean stayed silent. There was no use agreeing or disagreeing with the two older men, whose experience in such matters far outweighed Sean's own, rendering his opinion next to useless.
And so Sean's second major in English became his silent - if half-hearted - defiance of his father. But it was small comfort, because eventually, Sean would follow his father into 'the real world,' most likely following him right into some bureaucratic desk job.
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Sean Barry is supposed to be the guy who kills himself. My plan is/was to create an inner story - framed by the immediate events leading to his death - about bureaucracy and the overwhelming oppression of hating one's job. I wanted it to be Kafka-esque, a la 'The Trial'. However, I feel what I have is decidedly not what I want and so it will probably be scrapped.
Don't ask me why I posted it if it's going to be scrapped. Because I did, that's why. And I haven't slept.
I tried to go from there and ended up with this (explanations and apologies below)
---------------------
But wait; it will do no good to start at the end. Nothing can be examined fully when only the conclusion is looked at. There are contexts and motives and consequential decisions that led explicitly to this conclusion. Sane men do not kill themselves without good reason. The argument could be raised that only insane men kill themselves, but do they too not have good reasons for doing so?
Sean Barry graduated from college near the top of his class, with honors. He was by no means a stupid man, and in fact would have done better had he not had a slight problem with motivation. He found his academic pursuits to be boring and paid them just enough attention to get by.
It was with this attitude that he entered 'the real world,' as his business professor repeatedly labeled it, `reality. Where if you're not careful, you get eaten up in a second. One needs a plan to succeed, to stand out. Because if you don't stand out, then you've failed. You've become one of the minions, just a cog in the great machine that is capitalism.'
Sean never liked his business professor, nor his business classes in general. He took them as a concession to his father, who thought that Sean would never make any money with an English degree. Sean agreed with this basic assumption and so chose to double major, business and English.
But Sean didn't think about integers, tax brackets, or corporations. These things were necessary evils he needed to endure in order to succeed in life; because what is money if not a measure of success? A family friend once told Sean that 'money doesn't buy happiness; but it does by freedom.' Sean's father nodded in assent to his friend's wise adage; Sean stayed silent. There was no use agreeing or disagreeing with the two older men, whose experience in such matters far outweighed Sean's own, rendering his opinion next to useless.
And so Sean's second major in English became his silent - if half-hearted - defiance of his father. But it was small comfort, because eventually, Sean would follow his father into 'the real world,' most likely following him right into some bureaucratic desk job.
--------
Sean Barry is supposed to be the guy who kills himself. My plan is/was to create an inner story - framed by the immediate events leading to his death - about bureaucracy and the overwhelming oppression of hating one's job. I wanted it to be Kafka-esque, a la 'The Trial'. However, I feel what I have is decidedly not what I want and so it will probably be scrapped.
Don't ask me why I posted it if it's going to be scrapped. Because I did, that's why. And I haven't slept.
posted by Jonathan McGee at 5:59 AM
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