Big vs. Little

“End of the Line” was an interesting story, involving two men, one little and one big. At first, the two men got along reasonably well, but the little man began to tell stories about his family and his experiences. The big man did not have any experiences like these, nor did he have any family. He was not the smartest man, and he was kind of a brute. Frankly, the big man was jealous of everything this little man had managed to accomplish, so he started to torture and beat the little man.

This jealousy is one of the big emotions in the story, and we all experience this kind of emotion at one time or another in our lives. I think that is why this story read like it was real to me, despite the obvious fantastical parts. The emotions in this story are everyday emotions, that all people experience. While we might not resort to beating on the person we are jealous of, we might certainly feel like we should.

The big man is a bully. Whenever anything went wrong in his life, like being turned down by a woman that he liked at work, he would come home and humiliate and beat the small man. The little man soon learned that he wasn’t afraid of the pain anymore, and started standing up to the big man. Like any typical bully, the big man backed down when stood up to because he was just making up for his lack of self esteem by making someone feel worse than he did. The big man soon let the little man go and return to his family.

The title also plays a major role in this story. When I first related it to the story, I thought of the bus, and how the big man rode it all the way to the end of the line to try to find the little people’s village. But when looking at it a little more, I think that it also applies to how far one human being can push another, little or big, until one party breaks. The big man pushed the little man in almost every way, and yet he is the one that ended up the weaker of the two. The little girl at the end of the story pities the big man because without the little man, he doesn’t have anyone. That is all the big man wanted, to belong to someone, or some group of people.

(Sarah Jaworowicz, Post 10)