This story is inspired by Metamorphosis: Pygmalion and how he fell in love with a statute. In this story we take the basic parallels of it to make our main character Logan falls into a state of depression with his own reflection in his mirror thinking it's his wife. The story is set in suburban Chicago during 1995 shortly after Logan’s wife, Alexandra, passed away in a car accident.
Characters:
Logan – Main Character
Alexandra – Wife of Logan (deceased)
Thomas – The Butler
Edith – Daughter of Logan and Alexandra
Story:
A dark and thunderous night swept across the Chicago metropolitan area one Sunday morning. Racing home from an overnight shift at the hospital was Alexandra to be with her family well before church started. The water on the pavement made the drive home much more treacherous than usual. The slick roads made Alexandra swerve out of control until she hit a tree and died on impact.
Two hours late Logan and Edith were notified by the state troopers that a car registered to the family had been involved in a single collision accident a mile away from their house. Grief stricken both Logan and Edith retreated into their house for many months and Thomas, the butler, assumed day to day control over the house. When Edith started school the following term her father was st
ill in a deep sense of depression, never coming out of his room.
In his bedroom, Logan constantly stared at the mirror. In the reflection there was Alexandra telling him to move on as they still had a daughter to care for. The reflection of Alexandra quickly took two forms, one for Edith, and the other for Logan. Logan’s reflection said that they were all together even if Alexandra was in the afterlife. Logan still remained in a state of depression and denial, so he smashed the mirror into pieces.
Thomas went to retrieve Edith from school as it was a half-day due to the inclement weather that was expected. During the drive back they saw Logan at the site of the accident on his knees and crying in the rain. The two got out of the car to ensure he was safe. Logan told Edith that he was sorry about not being there for either her mother or herself after her passing. The three then went home.
At home the two bonded over pictures of Alexandra. Soon after Thomas entered the room to inform them that a hooded lady was at the door, it was Alexandra. Telling them that they could all finally move on.
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| Moving on |
This was a very well-written story! I particularly like how you illustrate Logan's grief and sorrow, following the death of his beloved wife. I also like how you alluded that Logan mistook his own reflection in the mirror for that of his deceased wife. This emphasizes the magnitude of his grief and sorrow, and reader can emphasize with him. The ending of the story is a great touch, with a hooded woman to bid her loved ones to move on and grieve no longer.
ReplyDeleteHi Pierre!
ReplyDeleteThis story was the most different from the original source of all the stories I have read this semester. I applaud the originality and creativity! Did you get the idea for the setting and characters from anything specific, or did the entire story just come to you? (Usually I have to think about similar situations to the original story to come up with my retellings.) Anyway, great job!
The idea was sort of mixture of stories that somewhat aligned with what I was aiming for. The outline was completely different from this as I initially planned on a darker tone of the entire family being deceased and in limbo not being able to part this world.
DeleteHi Pierre! I really enjoyed the story, though I also must say that I am a little bit confused. I think you could provide some more context to the ending or perhaps add more details to your author's note explaining how the story is a parallel to Pygmalion's. I understand that Logan, just like Pygmalion, falls in love with something that is unattainable, but I am curious to know whether there are other parallels that I fell to notice, it would be great if you could elaborate on it. Other than that, it was a great story that perfectly illustrate grief.
ReplyDeleteHi Pierre,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how well written this story was. It all flowed so smoothly and you could clearly tell the tone that you were striving for. This was a very sad, depressing story, but i get that you were going for a darker tone so it fits it perfectly. This was a very realistic story, but there could have been more details and maybe a little bit more dialogue.
Hi Pierre,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this well written story. I thin that the story was a little depressing for my choice but I believe that the story had a good flow to it. I also like how you included grief in to the story which brought out a darker tone which was nice. Overall I believe that you did a excellent job with this story piece.