PED-O-MATIQUE Critique

              “The boots tightened their clasp around Karen’s ankles.  They began to vibrate. Karen tensed for a moment against the unfamiliar sensation, finding it oddly intimate.  She half-tried to remove her feet, but they were firmly clamped in position.  Relax.” - “Ped-o-Matique” by Jane Rogers

                “Ped-o-Matique” by Jane Rogers is a certifiably strange story about a woman named Karen who gets her feet/legs trapped in a foot massager.  This short story exhumes the concept of the uncanny because it portrays an inanimate object as animate when the machine appeared to develop a mind of its own by refusing to turn off when requested.  In a sense, I found the story somewhat relatable because we have all been in situations where we have wondered what we would do if the worst, most awkward situation aroused putting us in an uneasy state.  I know one time when I was little, I put my hands in one of those machines that squeeze your arm and take your blood pressure just for the heck of it. In fact, I didn’t even mean to turn it on.  Needless to say, I got stuck in it, and my mom had to get someone to come over and shut it off.  Now I know it’s not as dramatic as Karen’s situation, but it’s comparable nonetheless.  Now why was that fun fact about my life necessary to this blog?  Well, since Freud’s concept on the uncanny developed based on childhood fears or uncomfortable moments in our past, it’s easier for me to feel connected and relate to the story thus getting the true impression of the weird and strange.

                One of the most interesting points about this story was the gradual transgression of Karen’s panic.  In the beginning we’re shown a (somewhat) comfortable and relaxed character, who goes from one end of the spectrum to the other as the minutes tick by to the closing of the gate to her flight.  First we see her try to convince herself that there is nothing really wrong, and that she must be hitting the wrong button. Then, the fear builds and she starts to look for the control switch to turn the machine off all together.  When that fails, she tries to break out of it, but soon realizes the pain that the massager is inflicting on her as it grabs and grinds at her bones making it physically impossible to slip out of.   It’s at this point that she starts screaming for help in a panicked frenzy.   I liked that the author portrayed her breakdown slowly, and essentially stretched it out for the entire story to show the fear growing inside her.  Combine this with the stress of her job and the fact that she’s missing her child and we have an emotionally uptight damsel in distress.

                Another side note that crossed my mind when reading this short story was the subject of her feet appearing alive; this could go along with the whole inanimate object appearing animate detail that I mentioned earlier in the critique.  There is a great focus on the kneading of her muscles and the way that the machine grabs her, making it appear like the feet are the center focal point of the story.  Then, at the end, she exclaims something along the lines of her being so happy that she could dance; this addition would not only add comic relief to a tense story, but also give the limbs a sense of control that Karen does not appear to have.