'He-Y, Come On Out !' By Shinichi Woods
Cutting Corners Leads to Repercussions There is no such thing as a shortcut in life, everything must be balanced, either put the demanding work in now and do it the right way or take a shorter path and suffer the consequences. In both the short stories “He-y, Come on Out!” by Shinichi Hoshi and “The Elephant” by Slawomir Mrozek, the characters are put into situations in which two possible routes can be taken. The stories particularly focus on the consequences the characters ended up facing by choosing the wrong path. The two short stories start off by presenting the issue to the characters and capturing their reaction, followed by their attempt at trying to solve the problem at hand and finishes off by demonstrating the consequences of their
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In “He-y, Come on Out!” when the hole was determined to be extremely deep, the locals turned it into a dumpster, use it to rid themselves and the city of all unnecessary items. “Young girls discarded old dairies in the hole. There were also those who were inaugurating new love affairs and threw into the hole old photographs of themselves taken with former sweethearts. The police felt comforted as they used the hole to get rid of accumulations of expertly done counterfeit bills. Criminals breathed easier after throwing material evidence into the hole” (Hoshi 155). Instead of attempting to fill it in for their original purpose of build the shrine, the village had used it as a shortcut to rid themselves of their mistake and regretful past. It is impossible for one to run away from his or her past, and mistakes can only be forgiven with the passage of time, not by throwing them down a hole. As for “The Elephant” the director proposed the idea of making the elephant out of rubber, which was then approved by a “soulless” official, and the job of blowing up the enormous inflatable then hand to his staff. “We can make an elephant out of rubber, of the correct size, fill it with air and place it behind railings. It will be carefully painted the correct color and even on close inspection will be indistinguishable from the real animal” (Mrozek 104). The director had made yet another compromise in hopes of becoming successful quicker, rather than proving himself worthy of a promotion by doing his job correctly. He instead chose to cheat the public. Thus, both stories have chosen the shorter, easier path to success without intaking into account the consequences of their
In “He-y, Come on Out!” when the hole was determined to be extremely deep, the locals turned it into a dumpster, use it to rid themselves and the city of all unnecessary items. “Young girls discarded old dairies in the hole. There were also those who were inaugurating new love affairs and threw into the hole old photographs of themselves taken with former sweethearts. The police felt comforted as they used the hole to get rid of accumulations of expertly done counterfeit bills. Criminals breathed easier after throwing material evidence into the hole” (Hoshi 155). Instead of attempting to fill it in for their original purpose of build the shrine, the village had used it as a shortcut to rid themselves of their mistake and regretful past. It is impossible for one to run away from his or her past, and mistakes can only be forgiven with the passage of time, not by throwing them down a hole. As for “The Elephant” the director proposed the idea of making the elephant out of rubber, which was then approved by a “soulless” official, and the job of blowing up the enormous inflatable then hand to his staff. “We can make an elephant out of rubber, of the correct size, fill it with air and place it behind railings. It will be carefully painted the correct color and even on close inspection will be indistinguishable from the real animal” (Mrozek 104). The director had made yet another compromise in hopes of becoming successful quicker, rather than proving himself worthy of a promotion by doing his job correctly. He instead chose to cheat the public. Thus, both stories have chosen the shorter, easier path to success without intaking into account the consequences of their