Sorry for the double post guys, I didn't mean to do that last one
pallis03
Creative Writing 10am
November 9, 2012
Car Crash While Hitchhiking
This story was really strange to read because of how detached the main character was. For example, at the beginning of the story when he that he and the family would soon experience a car crash he said, "I didn't care. They said they would take me all the way." This truly shows his complete apathy to even his own well-being. Also another example of this is at the end of the story when he is back in the hospital he keeps telling the doctors that he is fine when he really is hearing and seeing things. He says, "There's nothing wrong with me - I'm surprised I let those words out. But it's always been my tendency to lie to doctors, as if good health consisted of the ability to fool them."
On top of everything else this really shows that the character is mentally ill, way too high or permanently mentally ill from getting too high. From the beginning of the story he starts consuming multiple drugs, all of which have very different durations and effects. I think the combo could have easily made him unable to think clearly or rationally which could explain why he took the baby. I thought it was weird that he just took the baby and left the father who was in the car alive. But since he was so high he probably was working more on his animal instincts and was in flight mode. I thought it was interesting that he took the baby because maybe he still felt some responsibility but his confusion about that feeling was shown by him trying to leave the baby with the truck driver.
I think a lot of time when people are on drugs their bodies and mind are very much more connected or dependant on their basic human needs/instincts. This could explain how the character was psychic and predicted the car crash. It could also explain how right after the crash happened the character just got up and left fleeing from the danger and trying to escape from dealing with the situation. Though, he obviously just wanted to get the hell out of there, there was some part of him that cared and was concerned about the other people in the crash. Feeling compassion or concern for others is a very human feeling as well but he couldn’t deal with that feeling because he was traumatized from the crash but also too high to deal with it. For example, “I was relieved and tearful. I’d thought something was required of me, but I hadn’t wanted to find out what it was.”