In the short story "End of the Line," Aimee Bender demonstrates the age old axiom; what goes around comes around. The big man treats the little man as an inferior being. He tortures, drugs, abuses and humiliates the little man. His treatment of the little man is so horrible that it causes the the little man to feel completely helpless. At the beginning of his stay at the big man's house, the little man would speak of his family and how much he missed them. After weeks of being beat he no longer spoke of his family. He gave up on any hope to see them again, and therefore awaited his death. This however, did not stop the big man from continuing his torture.
Finally, the big man decides to set the little man free. After doing so he follows the little man back home. This is when the big man truly realizes the vastness of his loneliness. He states, "I just want to be part of your society" (26). The big man is so lonely and companionless that he is now desperate to become part of a society that he once treated as lesser than he. At the very end the roles reverse with the little girl's reaction towards the big man's desperate attempts to be accepted. Her pity for the big man portrays Bender's moral; what goes around comes around.
Cailee Januszkiewicz-5
Interesting reading of the character of the big man. Because Bender often writes stories that are like fairy tales or fables, I think it was very effective for you to identify what the "moral" of this particular story is. Excellent comments on the end of the story in which the roles between big and little are reversed.
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