Thursday, September 5, 2019

Week 3 Story: The KATostrophic Mistake

It was dark, gloomy night in the town of Fluffle, Illinois. There was a young man named Carl that called this small town his home. Carl had just began his senior year of high school but something was very wrong once he started class. Carl would stay away from everyone and wouldn't talk to anyone at all. Carl was the highlight of his class as he was brilliant and always cracking jokes to other students. What students didn't know was that Carl lost his mother and his precious cat, Gary. Gary was one of his only highlights when he was home. Carl's dad was always "at a friends" and never was around Carl. Carl was in dark place and nothing could replace Gary and the hole that was in his heart from his lost.

Carl began to miss school days at a time. He would show up about once a week and his teachers and peers began to become concerned. Eventually someone told the counselor that Carl needed to be talked to and see what was going on. "What has been going on?" said the counselor. Carl explained his story and just said he needed to be home to take care of his house and other responsibilities. The counselor released Carl without hesitation and decided that he was fit to go on with what he is doing. Carl returned home and began on his master plan.

Carl began his plan to bring back Gary. Carl would begin to construct a life-size version of Gary and the process would take a while but it was worth the wait, for a while at least. Carl would eventually create Gary and Carl's mood made a drastic improvement. Gary II was perfect. He was exactly like the original and even better in some aspects. Gary II would continue to do everything that Carl's heart desired until one fateful day.

Gary II escaped Carl's home and it was the beginning of the end. Gary II was introduced to the world and many people saw the problem and the scary part of Gary II. This show of technology proved that anything could be created and the fact that robots could be more now than future. Gary II had a slight malfunction once he got out of the house and began to reek havoc on Fluffle. Carl began to see the news pop up on social media of a cat causing so much harm to a small town. Carl had to do that unthinkable and destroy such a precious creation that was meant to help and not harm. Carl found Gary II and destroyed the robot with a few hits. Carl was sad over the fact that he had just destroyed his precious robot but he realized the people and real living things are the way to go and make yourself cope with loss.
The face of Gary, Carl's precious cat https://images.app.goo.gl/7kZC9sjuKqXwjjC89
Author's Note: I took the idea from "The Rabbi's Bogey-man" and put my own twist. I add a tragic backstory to my creator compared to the rabbi just being a outcast and unwanted. The rabbi story has a lot of elements I used in my own story from the reason to create the robot to the ending. Both stories have the destruction of the robots and the main character become the hero after the robot is gone. My story is a story of triumph and the thought and want to survive the fight against depression. There is always someone or something that can help you cope and you are never alone no matter how deep you are. 
Bibliography: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/04/jewish-fairy-tales-rabbis-bogey-man.html

3 comments:

  1. Hey Ethan!
    I just wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed your addition of the tragic backstory to the creator because I feel like it gives a more in-depth analysis of the character and allows us to see deeper into what he is going through/why he may be an outcast or unwanted. Also, I want to ask what you would think of adding more dialogue into the story. Perhaps it would add to a more real-life feeling of the characters, but I could be wrong. I think adding dialogue could bring the story to life, maybe even dialogue as in the thoughts of Carl and Gary during everything they are going through. But, with that being said, I did not read this story, so you know best. I admire your author's note and wanted to give you credit for addressing the epidemic that has been growing inner society: depression. It is so important for people to know they are never alone, and they can always find somewhere or some person to run to. Great work!

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  2. Hi Ethan! I really liked reading your rendition of this tale. In particular, I think your description of Carl's circumstances and his home life, leading to his depression was done well. I think it would've been nice to know a little more about how Carl lost his mother and how he was coping with her loss in addition to Gary's. I was also a little confused as to what you meant by "construct a life-size version of Gary" until I came across the bit about technology. This might've been because I didn't read the original story and didn't know the context of robot building. I had a great time reading this story and I stand behind the message you were trying to impart in your author's note.

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  3. Hi Ethan! Let's pretend I am Gary II:
    "Hi Ethan. I am still in shock that you were able to create me. It is quite incredible how intelligent you are and how handy you are. Since being destroyed life has been pretty dull and I wish I was back home. You seemed so mad when you destroyed me and I wanted to say sorry. I don't quite know why I should be sorry, but I am. I saw how sad the town of Fluffle made you, so I took it upon myself to make you happier by destroying it. I hated how mad and scared people got, but I knew it would make you better. I was wrong though. While I may have only been an object of creation, I was your Gary II. I hope you find it in your heart to recreate me so we can play with lasers and stuffed mice again."

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