Keith: The next story-I did not particularly like this story, it's a pretty- David: It's a pretty story. Keith: It's a pretty story? David liked it. So, let's ask David what he liked about the story. First of all, the story is about a young man who comes back to his fishing village and tells everyone that he caught a whale. Nobody believes him. They laugh at him, make him feel like a fool. Thinking that he can win the fair hand of a local lady if he was to prove that he caught a whale, he heads out and attempts it again. It's a pretty basic story, the storyline's isn't too complicated. David, can you tell us what you liked about that story?
David: I liked the fact that he got the girl and the prissy, affected son of the banker didn't. That makes me very happy. There's hope for us all, indeed. You know, the honest guy wins. It's a simple story, but I wish life could be just that simple sometimes. It's not that bad to actually enjoy a simple story and the simple pleasures of a simple life, like tea. Sunshine in a bottle, or whatever it was. In a glass.
Keith: What did you think of this story, Jill?
Jill: I liked the fact that in the end the nice, good guy came out ahead, whereas the other two guys who weren't quality people the way he was a quality person-they didn't get what they wanted in the end. I guess that was sort of nice to see, but I don't know. This story didn't do a whole lot for me, so I don't really have much to say about it. Keith: I was also impressed-although I did find it ironically impressive that she would be so flattered by a man telling a lie, making a complete ass of himself for a woman. She didn't believe him, there was no whale to produce to prove it to her. Was she aware of his affections for her before this whole whale incident happened?
David: There's no explicit statement of that effect, that she was aware of his affection. However, she knew about her affection toward him-there's two or three sentences, and I'll see if I can find the passage here. Okay, here's the part of the story where we kind of get an idea that Gabrielle has some attraction to him. "Among them was Gabrielle, who smiled too much at Adelard these days, at least in the opinion of Ambrose, who had eyes only for her. Unlike others who found his story too good and too funny to be true, she listened gravely and did not laugh. There was a look in Gabrielle's eyes that Ambrose could not quite make out. It was a serious expression that suited her natural reserve and good manners. Manners very different from those of the rude, obnoxious Adelard. He was there too, laughing with all the others at Ambrose, making fun of him." That passage there, that section there, although again it's not expressly written, you get the idea-at least I as a reader-got the idea that she had at least a slight attraction toward him, and she had some level of belief of his story. She, if not pitied him, she certainly felt sorry for him and the way he was being received.
Jill: I thought that originally too, and then when you read later when he's in town and she walks by, and he's telling a story to the banker's son, or whatever, and it says she gives him a little smirk-a sarcastic little smile, or whatever, which kind of shows that-I thought she was quite nice and sort of believed him in the beginning too, and then I saw that and I thought, "Well, I don't know." It kind of made me think-I didn't know what to think anymore about her! Keith: That sort of threw me for a loop, and perhaps it could just be read as something that Ambrose misinterpreted.
David, Jill: Ohhhhh.
Keith: Yeah, he was just sort of this oversensitive guy who was really attracted to Gabrielle, and who knows. Maybe he just misinterpreted it. He goes out, catches another whale, comes back in, and the theme of the story is "Be honest with yourself." "The guy gets the girl." What's the theme here? Jill: I think it's kind of weak on the theme. Keith: Yeah, I personally think it's very weak on theme, but David's sitting here smiling, thinking that there's some great message here that we're missing. David: I don't think there's a great message here. I think, you know, sometimes a story just makes you happy to read it. Maybe the theme is just that simple, that he was honest. He didn't buckle under the pressure, and he was rewarded for that. I mean, that's a simple theme, but it's probably one of the greatest themes there is, and it was presented in a very simple, short story. There's the theme, I'm satisfied with that. I enjoyed the few moments I spent with this story, and I was smiling at the end.
Keith: Well, I guess we got it. That's the theme, David got the theme, and I-again, I really didn't like the story all that much, but I'm glad David did. Jill and I will salute him at his perseverance. So anyhow, that is it for today, the short story club. We shall commence again another time. Thank you.
