Blog Post 4- Questions Anyone?

The Dumb Waiter is such an abstract piece of literature that it almost has to be considered "art." So much is left for the reader to infer, that the reader is almost forced into participating in an interactive learning expirience. Just like abstract art work the interpretation lies in the prespective that each indivdual takes. It may hold a different meaning to everyone who reads it. The appearence of random objects in the story is a major aspect of creativity. The entire purpose of the piece is for the reader to reflect on the story, and even their own lives and try to recognize the absurdity that is shrouded by routine. The placement of the random objects in the story serves to get the reader in the right mindset. It will start to cause them to question certain things significance. We are then led to begin to fill in the blanks for ourselves. We have to make assumptions and inferences based on what we know and how we relate the story back to our own lives.
The writer does a good job exposing to the reader the complexity of the human mind. We wonder if we are justified in feeling sympathy for a man who posesses a certain innocence, but at the same time kills for a living. Did he deserve to die in the manner that he did (that is if he actually died at all)? We begin to ask ourselves if what happens between Gus and Ben is fair. Who ultimately determines what is fair or not? Does ones lifestyle ultimately act as judge in the end, or are their actions outweighed by their circumstances? The randomness and the characters relationship and the absurdity in the story all provoke thought. If at the end of the story you sit back and question the life that you are living and the effect of the decisions that you make on your future, then you have captured the essence of the story and the author has achieved his goal.