April 5, 2005
Mero, the Half-skinned Man
Click here to see the emu picture taken from the online version of this story, published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine's November 1997 edition (although our textbook lists this story as 1998).
Mero's problem is that he is a half-skinned man. He is constantly running, running after something but never quite getting it. He's a vegetarian who orders steak but of course can't eat it because of the guilt. Women come and go; he's been married 3 times now and looking for another. He can buy cars like cigarettes, no matter if they break down on him because he has the money. Yet, Mero does not feel completed or fulfilled. Even at his ripe old grandfatherly age, he still dreams about sex at night and daydreams about his brother's pseudo-incestuous relationships. Yet, he does not have a female counterpart in his life. He is reduced to a shell of a man plagued by the vicious reality of look but don't touch, dream but never attain, fantasize but never actualize... He is only half of a man.
Trackback Link: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/mt/mt-tb1122.cgi/2713
OOOOOO!!!!! I get it. The half skinned steer..the half man. He has everything but nothing. He has all these possessions but nothing inside. It reminds me of a country song, "...I've been told that he is rich, but he seems so poor.....he wonders through his empty home surrounded by his things..."
thanks for the comment, because of it I had to check out yours and now I have somewhat of an understanding of the story.
Great insight, John. I can make the comparison with the half-skinned steer and the half-man, too. I didn't see it like that, really, but it makes quite a bit of sense. Thanks for that.
What did you think about the Indian drawings story--do you feel that impacted his "ability" to stay with a woman in marriage because of his "stony" perception?
Posted by: Karissa at April 7, 2005 11:22 AM