…………………………… Mehdi HE
…………………………… http://www.mehdi-he.com
Note:
The whole story was a kind of personal practice before the literary
criticism mid-term exam. A group of my friends and I chose this story, and we
wrote our critics, then shared it in the group and discussed. What is written
below is my note in 25 May 2006.
Persian translation of this story is also available in this address:
http://mehdi-he.com/2006/08/blog-post_03.html
1
Some of us had been threatening our friend Colby is a
short story by Donald Barthelme. It is about hanging a man,
named Coldby by his friends. The setting of place is a city, in
early 20th century (considering the references to limousines)
when there ARE laws, but there are still cruel punishments by
gangs who have the power. It is a day in June. The story is
remembered (and narrated) by a character, when they've
threatened the guy, and eventually when they hung him in
outdoor, somewhere in a bank of a river. The language is simple,
easy to understand, educated and formal. It is narrated by the
first person point of view, therefore it is limited, but during
the story, the behavior of the narrator (who is merely an
observer) shows its reliability. There are ten characters
mentioned in this story; Howard, Hugh, Magnus, Tomas, Victor,
Harry, Paul, Hank, Elgar and Colby himself, but the only
narrator is first person point of view; I. Colby is protagonist
and his friends who decided to hang him are antagonists. The
theme is about cruelty of a mafia, and their killing in order to
observing the rules. There is also a second theme available,
which comes from the last sentence, and that is the
practicability of capital punishment.
2
and discussing about their friend, Colby, to hang him because
he has passed the bounds and gone too far.
Then they talk of the kind of the wood for gibbet, and at
last they decide to use an oak tree instead. This imagery of
nature can have a connotation of a power which is in a wrong
hand. The nature that is free of vices is going to be used as a
mean of hanging. We have also imagery of the rain. Rain can
wash the guilt, it purifies and they wish the weather to be
rainy, although at the end we are informed of no rainy weather,
which makes this killing unforgettable and unforgivable.
3
As the story goes, it leads us to a point that there is a
mafia group, an organization of a gang, and they gain (and save)
their power by every mean, even killing. They call each other
friend, and they are cruel enough to hang one for disobeying
the rules, (going too far). Words like “firing squad” (which
Codby asks) and a simile to Draconians (those who, like Dracon,
enact cruel and strict laws) shows these men are educated;
they are really serious, and ensures us in the idea of a mafia
group.