On January 8th, 2015, Riverhead Books published Thomas Pierce’s debut collection of short stories: “The Hall of Small Mammals”. In the title story of this collection, the narrator is taking his girlfriend's son, Val, to visit the Baby Pippin Monkey exhibit, which “since seeing the color photo of the Pippins in the magazine insert of the Saturday newspaper, Val had talked about little else” (Pierce). Both characters are faced with a long line once they enter into the zoo, but they are both determined to stick it out, the narrator for Val’s sake, and Val for his personal investment in the animals. In the end, though they face complications in their journey, Val is able to view the baby monkeys, though the story ends on a disheartening note.
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Though the real significance of the story is the relationship of the two main characters, the setting provides the driving factor of the story and gives the perfect backdrop for this pair to interact. In a highly stagnant environment such as standing in line, communication is often expected and natural as a way to keep oneself entertained. This opens up the perfect opportunity for the narrator and Val to communicate and get to know each other better, though neither are perticularly enthusiastic to do so. The narrator only wants to have Val like him for his own selfish reasoning and Val has no inclination to know his mother's boyfriend. This leads to somewhat awkward interactions between the two, as their differences become increasingly clear. This only further develops to the physical and mental separation between the two characters at the conclusion of the …show more content…
The story is told as if the narrator is reflecting back on this experience, and he occasionally interjects details in the present such as “he must have resembled his father, a man who lived in the same city but whom I’d never met and never would” and “I suppose that’s why, really, I’d opened the bag in the first place” (Pierce). This retrospection allows the audience to anticipate the evolution of the story. This also works to foreshadow the future of the narrator as he indicates early on that he and Val’s mother break up “not long after my visit to the zoo with Val” (Pierce). This gives the reader the insight that this trip is essentially useless to the narrator as his relationship with Val becomes unimportant after he breaks up with his mother. This also causes the reader to question why he is relaying this story if in the long term of his life it plays no greater impact on his future. This experience is important to him since he learns a valuable lesson that will stick with him for the remainder of his life, no matter what he does, he can’t force someone to like him. Instead of trying to present himself as what he thinks is the other person's ideal image of him, he should remain honest and allow the other person to create their own judgements and decisions whether they be positive or
Though the real significance of the story is the relationship of the two main characters, the setting provides the driving factor of the story and gives the perfect backdrop for this pair to interact. In a highly stagnant environment such as standing in line, communication is often expected and natural as a way to keep oneself entertained. This opens up the perfect opportunity for the narrator and Val to communicate and get to know each other better, though neither are perticularly enthusiastic to do so. The narrator only wants to have Val like him for his own selfish reasoning and Val has no inclination to know his mother's boyfriend. This leads to somewhat awkward interactions between the two, as their differences become increasingly clear. This only further develops to the physical and mental separation between the two characters at the conclusion of the …show more content…
The story is told as if the narrator is reflecting back on this experience, and he occasionally interjects details in the present such as “he must have resembled his father, a man who lived in the same city but whom I’d never met and never would” and “I suppose that’s why, really, I’d opened the bag in the first place” (Pierce). This retrospection allows the audience to anticipate the evolution of the story. This also works to foreshadow the future of the narrator as he indicates early on that he and Val’s mother break up “not long after my visit to the zoo with Val” (Pierce). This gives the reader the insight that this trip is essentially useless to the narrator as his relationship with Val becomes unimportant after he breaks up with his mother. This also causes the reader to question why he is relaying this story if in the long term of his life it plays no greater impact on his future. This experience is important to him since he learns a valuable lesson that will stick with him for the remainder of his life, no matter what he does, he can’t force someone to like him. Instead of trying to present himself as what he thinks is the other person's ideal image of him, he should remain honest and allow the other person to create their own judgements and decisions whether they be positive or