“The School” by Donald Barthelme

Hi, this is Lucy Liang. This story is written in a very casual way. Barthelme also uses “you” throughout this first person narrative. I read it as if “you” is directed at me, and felt very involved with the situation. The narrator talks about the deaths that had occurred in this school, but starting with plants, even though it sets up a sad and depressing tone, I didn’t feel much affect by it. As the story goes on, the narrator talks about deaths one after another, from trees to snakes to fish to puppies, and then to human beings, from orphan to parents, and to kids from the class, which becomes more and more relatable, and the impact of the deaths becomes increasingly greater. Just as I thought was the end of this list of deaths, there comes more. This puts the reader in a very depressed mood, but at the same time, I start to wonder how closely did these deaths happen?  If we think back a long time and count all the deaths we have experienced it isn’t necessarily less than what the narrator has told us. At the end of the story, the discussion about life and death with the children makes me think. What is the meaning of death? What about life? We do, indeed, need an assertion of value constantly. That is what the new gerbil did, no matter if it’ll die in the end.