My Last Attempt to Explain What Happened with the Lion Tamer
Ferrán Arimon
Professor Beeber
Rhetoric A
March 6, 2011
Brutal training and practice, near death experiences night after night, the ability to make or break a night where everything you are your fellow circus mates have been working for day after day is finally displayed. All these are things that should and probably would bring most people together and allow them to generate respect for each other. However, in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer that is not the case at all. All of the characters in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer continuously demonstrate the extreme lack of respect they have for each other. Although there are many different relationships among characters in the story the one thing all the relationships share is the lack of regard for one another. Whether it is through spiteful action or words, there is no respect among the characters. In My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer there is no respect among men nor is there respect for women, and chivalry is nonexistent in the story. It is apparent that the men do not respect each other because they are always trying to get a girl from one of their colleagues and do not care whether they are in a relationship or not. The clown both hates and admires the lion tamer, but does not really respect him as a person at all. Lastly, both the trapeze artist and the clown lack respect for themselves. Cheating is a very recurrent happening in this short story. The first time cheating is mentioned it is when the clown is warning the trapeze artist to stay away from the midget couple – Tom and Tina Thumb. He mentions that both of them have cheated and still they cannot call it quits because they are perfectly matched. Tina Thumb had cheated with the dog-faced boy. This shows the lack of respect Tina Thumb had toward Tom and their relationship as well as the lack of respect the dog-faced boy had for Tom. The
Professor Beeber
Rhetoric A
March 6, 2011
Brutal training and practice, near death experiences night after night, the ability to make or break a night where everything you are your fellow circus mates have been working for day after day is finally displayed. All these are things that should and probably would bring most people together and allow them to generate respect for each other. However, in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer that is not the case at all. All of the characters in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer continuously demonstrate the extreme lack of respect they have for each other. Although there are many different relationships among characters in the story the one thing all the relationships share is the lack of regard for one another. Whether it is through spiteful action or words, there is no respect among the characters. In My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer there is no respect among men nor is there respect for women, and chivalry is nonexistent in the story. It is apparent that the men do not respect each other because they are always trying to get a girl from one of their colleagues and do not care whether they are in a relationship or not. The clown both hates and admires the lion tamer, but does not really respect him as a person at all. Lastly, both the trapeze artist and the clown lack respect for themselves. Cheating is a very recurrent happening in this short story. The first time cheating is mentioned it is when the clown is warning the trapeze artist to stay away from the midget couple – Tom and Tina Thumb. He mentions that both of them have cheated and still they cannot call it quits because they are perfectly matched. Tina Thumb had cheated with the dog-faced boy. This shows the lack of respect Tina Thumb had toward Tom and their relationship as well as the lack of respect the dog-faced boy had for Tom. The
Cited: Mathews, Brendan. "Last Attempt to Explain What Happened with the Lion Tamer." The Best American Short Stories 2010: Selected from U.S. and Canadian Magazines. By Richard Russo. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. 198-212. Print.