The Weight of the World

"Ironhead" was a rather intriguing but depressing story. It was a weird concept to incorperate people with pumpkin heads giving birth to a child with an ironhead, but I can see the underlying meaning to this analogy. The pumpkinhead parents are different from society in their own way with their two daughters possessing pumpkin heads as well. They would be classified as "social outcasts" in a modern society, because they are so different in appearance from people like ourselves. However, they seem content with their life and appear to dismiss the ridicule from any outside inferences such as the police officer from the store. They are able to blend in with the rest of society based upon the fact that they themselves are secure in their own little society of pumpkin heads (family). The ironhead child has no one, and represents a life of misery and woe. He has no one else like him and is made fun of by the outside society of humans who most likely see him as a freak. It was real sad when he wanders off to the convience store to talk to objects that look like him but have no life or meaning. He really is truly alone.

The character of ironhead is quite sad and unnerving. He is alone in the world with no one else that really looks like him. He is an outcast, a minority, different. It is evident from his behavior that he is discontent with his life, because he is always mentioned as letting off steam and is not able to sleep. The sleep portion of the story seems interesting because he is unable to do so, while the rest of his family can sleep without any problems. It is as if his overall appearance has even prevented him from performing an action that is achieved by all people no matter what their appearance is. In a sense, ironhead is a completely different entity entirely. He is made fun of and is not accepted by society making him truly alone in the world. When it was announced that he had died of exhaustion, it is as if he really died of being alone and was exhausted from trying to find his own identity, not because of sleep deprivation. His head, which is what set him apart from the others, was too heavy for him to handle and had tired him out ultimately killing him. It was as if the weight of his own identity was too much for him to handle.
(David Roberts, Post 11)