A RESEARCH ON MY FRIEND LUKE BY FERNANDO SORRENTINO 2

A RESEARCH ON MY FRIEND LUKE BY FERNANDO SORRENTINO

Fernando Sorrentino is a notable Argentine writer born in Buenos Aires on November 8, 1942.Sorrentino was married to Alicia Fraiman in 1969 and they have three children: Juan Manuel (1970), and the twins María Angélica and María Victoria (1978). And since October of 2009, they also have a granddaughter, Pilar, Juan Manuel’s daughter. He is been writing short stories for more than thirty – two years. Fernando Sorrentino books for youngsters and youthful grown-ups pretty much have the same attributes at an alternate level. Some of his stories have been incorporated in compilations in Spanish, English and different dialects. From my survey toward his books compilation, I can find that his book has been translated into English, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian, Chinese, and Vietnamese and Tamil version. Not to be shocked though, he had been nominated and won several literary awards (“Goodreads”,n.d). I chose the story My friend Luke by Fernando Sorrentino (translated by Gustavo Artiles and Alex Patterson) as my project paper title because this story is a one in a million, the whole story is describing the character of a guy called Luke where it emphasize on his character on and off the bus, I am ensured that some of reader may perhaps find it Sarcastically Prosaic but I kind of enjoyed it. In this story, there is a character of a nice yet eccentric man; with a decent, polite name, Luke. He is described as the author’s ‘friend’ and the whole story was about character description. The author, Fernando Sorrentino, perfectly provides readers an image of what Luke looked like in the beginning; short, skinny, wears glasses and has a thick moustache. It was also illustrated that Luke was shy, timid and pathetic. The story went on with Luke’s sad and sorry life.. For the project paper, I am researching on the theme identity crisis, rebellion and patient/tolerate which shown in the short story My Friend Luke. RESPOND

About several researches carried out upon the reason for Fernando Sorrentino writes the short story My Friend Luke but unfortunately it is not stated clearly or specifically. According to some creditable sources, Sorrentino tends to write more shorts stories compared to novels. Sorrentino (n.d), states that “Let’s just say that my head can’t imagine plots long enough to write novels (although I did publish one, not too long: Sanitary Centennial). On the other hand, it’s easy for me to imagine situations or conversations that could eventually turn into relatively enjoyable stories. In other words: I follow mere pleasure, simplicity, or, even worse, the “path of least resistance” (flash fiction flash newsletter, 2011). As the survey went through all of Sorrentino stories, the stories are distinguished by a fusion of humour and imagination such as My Friend Luke and Sanitary Centenaries which makes the story credible.
Fernando Sorrentino has portrayed three main theme in the story of my friend Luke which is identity crisis, rebellion and patient/tolerant. First of all, the theme identity crisis is shown in the story is with respect to Luke. Sorrentino has portrayed Luke (main character) as a person who is suffering from split personality. As the story starts, Luke was shown as very shy and unsociable person. At the climax, there is a drastic change of his behaviour occurs once he enters the bus. The author writes the story My Friend Luke because he wanted to share his unique experience to the world by having a friend undergoing a weird lifestyle. On the other hand, letting the world know about existence of a weird character with a complicated lifestyle could be the reason for the author to write the story. In my opinion, having a split personality could affect the individual and host. A person suffering from spilt personality might commit suicide and also he/she could commit a crime without realising it. Every problem will have its own causes, same goes to split personality. A stressful and troubled life could be the factor for having split personalities as shown in the story where Luke is treated badly among his family, workmates and boss. Split personalities can be controlled if the factor engage to the problem is eliminated from a person’s life.
Moreover, the theme rebellion is showed when Luke is in the bus. The word rebellion brings the meaning of refusal of obedience or order. In general, a rebellious action is categorized as an immoral act. A person is being rebellious because they are struggling for identity, acceptance, attention and control. For an example consuming drugs, vandalism and sexual situation is one of the rebellious acts. The author showed several incident that done by Luke when he was in the bus, such as “If anyone is reading, they are easy prey for Luke. Watching him or her closely, Luke places his head near the light so as to throw a shadow on the victim's book” (Sorrentino, n.d). Basically, by carrying out this immoral act, we know that the community will be annoyed and isolate from us. In my opinion, the people should avoid this act as it will harm the self-reputation and there is a lot of ways to relieve the stress from doing an immoral act.
Furthermore, the theme patient/tolerate with Luke and his family members is portrayed by the author. Patient is defined as able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. Luke is a very polite and patient person; he could be said as one in a million. In most of the scene in the story, Luke is showing the act of tolerate and patient. “…Luke sits on the doorstep until someone arrives” (Sorrentino, n.d). The author is trying to convey the message where by being a patient and tolerate person in life, one could keep away from unnecessary trouble. Why the people should be vengeful and malicious? Luke could be used as a role model in this case where “the test of good manners is to be patient with the bad ones” (Gabirol, n.d).
React

Theme is characterized as a primary thought or an underlying importance of an artistic work that may be expressed specifically or in a roundabout way. An author presents themes through the sentiments of his primary character. The encounters of the primary character over the span of a scholarly work provide for us a thought regarding its theme. The moves and occasions making place in a story are noteworthy in deciding its topic. One of the themes of this story is identity crisis. Luke is experiencing an identity crisis. He has split personalities when he is on and off the bus. According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself (“Psychology”, n.d). According to Sorrentino (n.d), states that “In order not to inconvenience anyone, he always walk sideways”. This tells us that Luke is an unique and also a kind person where in every behaviour of him, his priority is the person around him. He is still patient even though he is treated badly or being bullied. This is proven when “His salary is ludicrously low, but he still stays behind in the office every day and works for another three or four hours: the tasks don Aqueróntido gives him are so huge that he has no chance of accomplishing them within normal hours”(Sorrentino,n.d). Besides, Luke shows his greatest tolerance when he was told by her wife to put Juan Manuel in an expensive institution although his wages is too little but still he did not argues with his wife. Sorrentino (n.d), states that “Now, just after the don Aqueróntido cut his salary yet again, … his wife has chosen to put his name down for a very costly institution in the Belgrano area”. Moreover, Luke is a very shy person where he is not socialised and has a very subtle voice. Sorrentino (n.d) states that “He speaks with a very thin, subtle voice, so inaudible that it is hard to tell if he is speaking at all. There is drastic difference in Luke’s behaviour when he enters the bus. Once he enters the bus, in a glimpse of second Luke transform to a very notorious and rude personality. According to Sorrentino (n.d), “… he walks along the vehicle shouting loudly, 'Excuse me'”. As Luke off the bus he was a very shy and timid person with a subtle voice but he ended up having a manly voice and rude when he is in the bus. Additionally, Luke was being contrary to people on the bus where it actually annoys the people in the bus. This is proven when “Luke begins to defend his rights, employing arguments so contradictory that it is impossible to understand what point he is actually trying to make” (Sorrentino, n.d). This event took place when Luke is paying a large amount of coins including an old Paraguayan coin which is worthless to the bus driver. As a result, it makes the driver to piss off and threw away those coins but Luke still defends himself with an illogical justice. The act of Luke on and off the bus is so opposing where it agrees with the term of identity crisis. The other theme that appears on this story is rebellion. Rebellion brings a meaning of “the action or process of resisting authority” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). This means that a person is showing tantrum to others for the sake of revenge by being rebellious. For an example consuming drugs, vandalism and sexual situation is one of the rebellious acts. This characteristic seems to appear on Luke when he was in the bus, where he did distract the passenger by doing immoral acts. According to Sorrentino(n.d), “If anyone is reading, they are easy prey for Luke. Watching him or her closely, Luke places his head near the light so as to throw a shadow on the victim's book”. Luke is showing tantrum to the passenger who read books because he have no chance to read one as he have sacrifices to buy his favourite book “Reader Digest” for sake of saving money to Juan Manuel’s education. Besides, Luke is a person who hates smoking but he does smoke a cheap cigar in the bus just to make the passengers to suffer the effect of it. If Luke does not get a place to sit in the bus , “he always keeps his jacket unbuttoned, carefully adjusting his posture so that the lower edge of his jacket hits the face or the eyes of those sitting down” (Sorrentino, n.d). There had been comments saying that Luke was being quiet and timid because his life off the bus was oppressive. His wife and employer oppress him as if Luke was worthless to the world. Luke make use the bus as an arena for him with total strangers to express all his anger and dissatisfaction towards the people around him. Furthermore, patient/ tolerate is the most shown theme in the story of My friend Luke. Luke’s character throughout the story except in the bus was having a good ethics where it is impossible to find someone like him in the current real world. According to Sorrentino(n.d), “the two of them have always agreed that Luke has little to offer the world and therefore choose to ignore his scarce and rarely expressed opinions”. This means that Juan Manuel and his wife does not respect Luke at all, but Luke still shows the love towards them, where Luke tolerate his wife and Juan Manuel’s immoral act. “Just after the don Aqueróntido cut his salary … She has chosen to put his name down for a very costly institution in the Belgrano area” (Sorrentino,n.d). Luke patient was tested to the maximum level when his boss cut his salary and additionally, his wife put Juan Manuel in an expensive institution where he is the one who is responsible to pay the tuition fee. Amazingly, Luke again been patient and tolerate the circumstance by stop buying one of his favourite book “Readers Digest” so it would help him to save some money for his son’s education fee. There is any evidence says that “His salary is ludicrously low, but he still stays behind in the office every day and works for another three or four hours: the tasks don Aqueróntido gives him are so huge …” (Sorrentino,n.d). Although his getting a very low pay, but then he tolerate with his boss attitude and also colossal amount of task. Lastly, Sorrentino(n.d) states that “Luke sits on the doorstep until someone arrives”. Although it take ages for the family members to come back home but still Luke patiently waits for them. Patient and tolerance is a beautiful ethics that can change whole world into peace if everyone follow the step of Luke in this case.
RELATE

To relate to current issues, Luke’s situation can be referred to a personality disorder. Examination proposes that hereditary qualities, misuse and different components help the improvement of over the top enthusiastic, narcissistic or other identity issue. Previously, some accepted that individuals with identity issue were simply sluggish or even underhanded. Yet new research has started to investigate such potential causes as hereditary qualities, child rearing and associate impacts. (Huff, 2004) Personality disorder cases are vast in our current society. When stress piles up and haunts a person; that is when disaster strikes. In 27th April 2013, A South Carolina lady with various identities was seized by one that didn't know right from wrong when she slaughtered her family and attempted to stick the killings on one of her children she had quite recently shot in the head, a therapist affirmed Friday as she admitted to the slayings. Susan Hendricks, 49, confessed yet rationally sick to four tallies of homicide and acknowledged a lifelong incarceration in a supplication deal with prosecutors. (Associated Press Reporter, 2013) From cases like this, people with personality disorders are highly dangerous and vulnerable. As friends or family members of those affected, it is highly encouraged that these people seek treatment as soon as possible because to be safe is better than to be sorry.

Besides, rebellion act could be seen anywhere in the world nowadays. Most of them who tend to rebels are teenagers and adolescent. According to Mckenney and Renk (2011), states that “normative adolescent development entails rebellion, excessive parent–adolescent conflict, and disengagement”(p.443). There is main causes of people being rebellious which is grievance and greed. According to Ted Robert Gurr, for why a few individuals does rebel is called "grievance theory." This hypothesis holds that if individuals are abused sufficiently long and gravely enough, they will in the end, given the chance, take up arms against their oppressors ( Asal and Sin, 2015,p.753). There are number of term that can be associated with rebellion such as terrorism, subversion, revolution and resistance movement. In current live, gangsterism and vandalism . According to Waterbury ( 2013), states that “Syria's contribution to the Arab revolts of 2011 began as an uprising, hardened into a rebellion, and has finally exploded into a full-fledged civil war”(p.201). This explains that rebellion is the core factor for the civil war in Syria. Ajami (2012) states that, the populace of Syria long for the political flexibility they delighted in before the Assad years; in their valiant battle towards this end, Ajami eloquently chronicles their grief and hopes (p.35). This means that the Syrian people was enjoying the bless of freedom on the era of Assad years but then being ruled by the great dictator Hafez al-Assad and his successor and son, Bashar al-Assad and finally discovered the valour to ascend against an administration of pitilessness. This aspect of rebellion could be seen in positive way where they stand for their rights and fight back with associate with the term rebellion. Gangsterism could be defined as “the use of tactics associated with gangsters, as intimidation or violence, in order to achieve something”( Dictionary.com. (n.d.). According to Khor (2000), states that being not able to be the experts they could call their own fate, and having no other workable response, they regularly fall back on the old-as-time system for rebellion. Student request, expect and need a certain measure of appreciation, trust, love and consideration. They need consideration and approbation. The term rebellion could be seen in two ways positive and negative case. As a comparison, act of rebellion done by the Syrian and gangsterism carried out by the student is opposing completely. As a conclusion, rebellion has advantages and disadvantages.

The third theme showed in the story is patient or tolerance. Patient or tolerance is a vital moral value that every human being on the surface of earth should practice. As a person tolerates or being patient in any circumstance, there is a huge change of isolating him/her from any commotions or problems. For an example, divorce is one of the problems that most human face when the value of tolerate is not considered in their relationship. According to Boo Su-Lyn (2012), states that there is “one divorce was filed every 10 minutes”. As referring the statement, there is one divorce per 10 minutes. How about a year? This must be going on to hundreds of thousands in a year. Rafie Mohd Shafie states that, “With the rat race, better education, economic independence, influence of multimedia and the women having access to legal advice, and better understanding of the laws, they know their rights and they are not as tolerant as the last generation was”( as cited in Boo Su-Lyn ,2012 ). According to Chavez (1998) states that, Tolerance has turned into the main socially adequate state of mind toward separation (p.223). Therefore, tolerate provides the means to add brick after brick to the foundation of your relationship, building a stronger platform upon which you can whether life’s up or down together.

CONCLUSION
Last but not least, Fernando Sorrentino deserves much appraisal for this prestigious and anticipating short story. The precise descriptions Sorrentino implied in My Friend Luke captivated many inquisitive minds to generate creativity. From this short story I have learned many values of rebellious, identity crisis and patient. Dissecting upon the change in personality of Luke and a short research on personality disorder cases has brought upon me the challenges faced by people affected with personality disorders. In conclusion, this story is heartfelt and much appreciated.

Reference List

Asal, Victor, and Steve Sin. 'Anger Or Ability: Arguing The Causes Of Rebellion - Globalecco'. Globalecco.org. N.p., 2015. Web.
Associated Press Reporter. (2013, April 27). Mother with 'split personality disorder' admits shooting dead two sons, stepmother AND her ex-husband - then trying to frame it as murder-suicide to get life insurance. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315608/Susan-Hendricks-case-Mother-split-personality-disorder-admits-shooting-dead-sons-stepmother-AND-ex-husband--trying-frame-murder-suicide-life-insurance.html
BOO SU-LYN,. 'One Divorce In Malaysia Every 10 Minutes'. Themalaymailonline.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.
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Huff, C. American Psychological Association. (2004, March, Vol 35, No. 3). What Causes
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Khor, S. K. (2000, Jun 17). Delve deeper, devise workable plans to beat gangsterism. New Straits Times Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/266584858?accountid=14543
Marenco, A. L. (2001). Predicting divorce: Direct and moderating effects of resources, barriers, and life course factors over the last quarter of the 20th century (Order No. 3054777). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (251004369). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/251004369?accountid=14543
Sorrentino, Fernando. 'Fiction Southeast – A Conversation With Fernando Sorrentino'. Fictionsoutheast.org. N.p., 2014. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
Waterbury, J. (2013). Recent books: Middle east: Revolt in syria: Eyewitness to the Uprising/Syria: The fall of the house of Assad/Business networks in syria: The political economy of authoritarian Resilience/The syrian rebellion. Foreign Affairs,92(1), 200-202. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/1269079432?accountid=14543