The second short contemporary British story I read was 'Psychopolis' by Ian McEwan. This one was longer than the last one, but still very interesting. All of the events that take place in the story are fairly bizarre and absurd, and I believe that that is part of the author's claim. I mainly noticed a lot about the events, the characters, and the relationships between the characters in the story. I claim that through these ideas, the author illustrates how complex and absurd life can be, and how everyone deals with it differently.
First, the events. Well, it starts out with Mary (a main character) wanting to be tied up by the narrator for an entire weekend. Bizarre. They then go on to be a sort of 'friends' and 'lovers' throughout the story. This illustrates that total out of the ordinary events that take place in the narrator's life. He has just moved to Los Angeles and is trying to get a grasp on everything when one of the very first things to happen is being asked to tie up a woman for the weekend. This is a bit of an extreme way to illustrate the complexities that occur in life, but effective nonetheless.
Another bizarre event is Terence's encounter with Sylvia. He is madly in love with her, and after finally going out on a date with her and professing his love, he says he'll do anything for her. So what does she ask him to do? Pee, in his pants, right in the middle of the restaurant. Totally bizarre. To make matters worse her parents then come over and Terence has to make small talk with them. This, again, is completely absurd, but it illustrates an idea quite nicely:
One, humans are sometimes completely irrational and will do anything to get what they want.
Two, we all have the ability to deceive and take advantage of others when we want to.
Three, life can be completely bizarre and weird, and all any of us can do is try to make the best of it. Which is what the narrator has to do.
As for the characters, first you've got Mary. She's the feminist woman who asked to be tied up by the narrator. Completely contradictory desires.
You also have George and Terence who can't seem to relate to the narrator or his desires and observations on life.
And then of course theres Sylvie, the one who messed with Terence.
Not only are each of these characters pretty odd on their own, their relationships with each other (as has already been mentioned) are also very absurd.
Through these events and characters, I believe McEwan portrays how life is completely out of our control and all of us are trying to just make sense of our lives and everything that is happening.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and really appreciated it.
