Fantasy and Reality

Minami Murata

Kenneth Rich

English 100

10th June 2015

Fantasy and Reality

The short stories of “Night” and “The Wig” exhibit the author’s (very different) beliefs about fantasy and reality. “Night” explains that humans cannot leave reality, no matter how hard they try. The cold, ugly truth will always be sitting across from you, frowning. Therefore, it would be better to accept the truth, the grief than to reject it. “The Wig”, on the other hand, shows humans bonding and better life for experience by indulging in fantasy to ease the pain of reality. Bret Lott, the author of “Night”, shows us his viewpoint using a comparison of life and death, while Brady Udall, the author of “The Wig”, uses symbolism and imagery to meaning of author’s story become meaningfulness of his narrative.

“The Wig” begins with the image of a young boy opening a dumpster and finding a wig. A dumpster is not a pleasant place. A dumpster signifies a place of filth and worthlessness. It is important to note this because the dumpster is the birthplace of the wig, and an important symbol in the story. The story immediately transitions into the kitchen of the boy’s house, where with the newly found wig on his head, he is eating cereal and reading the newspaper. His father is struggling with his tie and when he asks where the boy finds the wig. The boy responds, and the father advises him against wearing something that was found in the garbage. He wants the boy to take the wig off and the author, Bready Udall said, “When I advised him that we don’t wear things that we find in the garbage, he simply continued eating and reading as if he didn’t hear me” (Udall 135). The father sees his dead wife where his son is sitting, the image bring on because the wig makes his son resemble her. He wonders if his son is thinking the same thing, embraces the boy in a loving hug imaging that his wife is there with them.

What at first seems like a simple sad story hurts out to be full of meaning. “The wig” is a symbol of fantasy in the story. The clearest indication of this representation occurs when the wig triggers the father into a dreamlike state. All signs of fantasy happen after this triggering has occurred, the largest of course being the imagining of the wife. The place before that point that emphasizes that fact can only be seen in review of a past of events. The father describes the wig as a football helmet around the boy’s head. The boy, who also must has experienced grief from the loss of his mother, is using the wig as a helmet to protect himself from emotional hurt. The first sentence after the father drops his tie, the symbol of reality reads, “I wanted him to take that wig off but I couldn’t be asked to do it. I forgot all about my tie and going to work. I looked out the window where mist fell slowly on the street. I paced into the living room and back, trying not to look at my son” (Udall, 136). Notice how he drops the tie after his realization. Earlier in the story he was struggling with it. The wig is the turning point when he gives up wrestling with it, and then forgets about it, much like his real work.