sunday in the park - rettelser

Sunday in the Park

In the short story “Sunday in the Park” by Bel Kaufmann the reader is presented with the conflict between two families with two very different places in society. The differences in each of the two families’ background comes to show in their lack of understanding for each other even when it comes to small maters like throwing sand at each other. The text also shows how different right to one person can be wrong to another, and how to solve a conflict – by using smart words or brute (brutal) force.

The story takes place as the title indicates in a park, to be more specific it takes place at a playground inside the park. Here the story-teller enjoys a quiet afternoon with her husband Morton and three-year-old son Larry, who is playing in a sandbox, when all of a sudden another boy throws sand at Larry. Larry’s mother (allerede her, kan du godt gøre det klart, at hun også er fortælleren fremfor længere nede i teksten) tries to make the boy stop but she can’t. The other boy’s father encourage his son to keep on throwing sand if that’s what he want to do “you goo right ahead Joe, he said loudly. Throw all you want. This is a public sandbox” (page 2 line 47-48). The conflict enlarges when the father of Larry (eller bare Morton, du præsenterede ham sådan set tidligere) asks the other boy’s farther to be sensible. We’ve already been made familiar with the two families’ social positions at this point.

Morton has a college degree and works as a professor at a university. He is very articulate and polite and his skin is pale from staying inside his office all week. Morton does not possess great physical strength and he does not show much adaptability towards other people, who use another form of rhetoric than he does. There are a lot of passages in the text that indicates that Morton is not capable of making his case clear to a person, who does not want to argue but instead want to arouse his surroundings. “Now just a minute, Morton said, you must realize… aw, shut up, said the man” (page 3 line 69 -70)
The other man is big, rude and the text portrays him as slightly stupid compared to other individuals. The man has a need to arouse his surroundings always seeking a fight wherever he goes. The mans behavior is over all incredibly hostile. “…and if you don’t like it, you can take your kid the hell out of here” (page 3 line 61 - 62). The ongoing power struggle between the two men comes out to the other mans advantage. He is trying to start a fistfight, which Morton tries to brush of by talk. In doing so he admits to being the weaker one of the two and thereby he's giving the title of alpha male to the other man.

The story-teller also the mother of the story (moren af historien, nej vel? Om noget så the mother of Larry, men jeg ville simpelthen præsentere hende før som nævnt tidligere) is filled with mixed feelings. In the beginning she feels affectionate for her husband because he was trying to standup to the big man, which is a strange situation for him. In some way she wants to stop the two men from getting into a fight but she didn’t. “she wanted to put her hand on her husbands sleeve, to pull him down, but for some reason she didn’t” (page 3 line 76 - 78). Later on in the story the big man becomes more aggressive in his vocabulary and appearance and that makes Morton realize that he cannot win a fight and he decides to leave with his family. As they pass the man on the bench (det kan godt lidt lyde som om, der er en tredie mand på en bænk) they try to walk in a dignifying way but actually they are not doing anything but running a way like a dog with the tail between its legs. But was the big man, man enough to walk the line or was, in fact, all he could do just talk the talk? (evt. speaking empty words)

To use or not to use force on another human being that is truly the question, or at least it can be for some people. Cause some violence may look like the best way to solve problems instead of trying to express an opinion or an emotion in understandable words that the opposing part can relate to, but it rarely is, in some cases violence only lead to more troubles.

Fin tekst ;) Jeg er ikke så god til engelsk komma, men mener nu, at der skal være komma før wh-ordene. Rettelser er med kursiv og forslag eller rettelser, jeg har været i tvivl om står i paranteser. Håber, du kan bruge det til noget!