Derrick Dennis
God once said to the people: "I see that you are
unhappy and always
striving for
something that you have not yet
achieved I cannot help you in
fulfilling your wishes but I can
organize the redistribution of your brains. I'll take them all back and then you can choose whatever brain you like".
What God said, God did.
One might think that there was an awful mess, a fight even, for particular brains. Not even close to that. The majority of the people opted quietly for their own brain.
The short novel Through The Skin And Out is mostly about minority of the people who believe that there is something they can change.
The married woman...talks and talks; she is unhappy with everything; with her first husband, with her second husband with her friends with money. And the strange thing is that everybody is against her although she thinks that she is such an honest and clever person unlike anybody she ever met. She has no doubt that people around her should listen to her and do what she says. Her life is one long monologue; nobody is welcomed to interrupt it.
She is a person who would not go for another brain; however, there are two or three moments, like flashes of lightning, when she doubts her sanity.
The old man lived his life constrained; doing what is the best for majority; his children and his always-unhappy wife. He eventually left his wife and got his freedom, and obtained freedom of choice. But then- his dilemma was what to do with it?
He is old and feels that he can't fit in anymore; so he chooses to play the game of tennis. Does he play to live or to die?
The old man's opponent in the tennis match is clearly aware of his shortcomings. He would love to have some other personal characteristics. He would choose another brain. Yet he tries to behave according to the image he has of himself. But it is not easy to get into the image of another God's creature.
The elderly lady, confined into a shell of solitude, sees that the shell is cracking. She was pushed into it although she ultimately accepted it. After many years and after a tragic event she is out of her skin and into the world of challenge and opportunity.
The story is smoothly narrated and metaphorically depicts jay walking as freedom; the freedom is risky and has a price.
Anthony Hutchins
Can small ugly words or small nice words make a big difference in our lives? Or is it that the small ugly ones are only a trigger for explosive accumulated during an unhappy life. What words can expel a man out of a car on freeway? Why he should jaywalk and do that until he is arrested.
Can a jaywalking of one person be contagious and why should this be so? Is jaywalking the symbol for freedom? A symbol of an attempt to change the stream of life into something more fulfilling and more human.
The novel Through the Skin and Out has these questions in the background. It can sound like philosophical essay. But it is not philosophical at all. It is not a boring discussion on the meaning of life. People can be provoked into thinking about it.
For those who love to know what happened, there is an interesting story. The story takes place at a tennis club where two men are playing first round championship match. A young man is playing an old man. Who is going to win and why?
During the match the old man reminiscences on his life and marriage. Parallel with it is his wife's monologue on the marriage as well. Her view is completely different.
The novel is written as a detective story. From the beginning puzzles make their appearance and nothing is clear until the end.
Some might view the story as a romance. It is up to the reader to decide whether it ends happily or not..
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