Punching Lucky in the nose (and other questionable decisions): Chapter 10 analysis · 8:01pm Jul 31st, 2013
A lot of stuff has happened since my first analysis of The Man With Two Names, and in the interest of enhancing your appreciation of the story (and in the interest of procrastinating), I decided to do another! Without further ado, I’m going to break down several elements in the chapter, and in the story as a whole.
And then he punched me in the nose. Hard.
This line nags at me a lot. On one hand, I’m so worried for Jerry. Trial after trial has been slowly wearing away at his soul, breaking down the good man that he is into a baser, violent creature. Instead of expressing his frustration, he internalized it, until he began to become the monster that everypony made him out to be. Jerry’s beginning to show fracture lines, and it’s only a matter of time before he completely snaps.
And yet, I can’t help but feel a smug satisfaction. By god, did Lucky freaking deserve that. Sure, Jerry might have screwed up his employment with Lucky, but ultimately, that’s a good thing. He was an abusive duckweed, and the sooner Jerry stops associating with him, the better. Jerry’s finally putting his foot down, and saying he’s not going to just roll over and take these ponies’ crap. Jerry finally grew a pair and he’s done being a doormat.
Really, you should be very proud of him, and very worried.
Lucky, the unreliable-est of all the narrators
Lucky, I constructed as the bastard child of Gaston, Iago, Orsino, and Richard the third. Particularly Iago and Orsino.
The first time we are introduced to Lucky, he shows how skewed his world view is, and completely glosses over the fact that he was abusive towards Lyra. In this chapter, he unsuccessfully hides his motivations for firing Jerry, and attempts to cover up inconsistencies in his story. He’s really a cut and dried case of unreliable narrator. However, why is he so upfront about the unglamorous truth that he broke the window, at least initially?
The answer is, I had to temporarily break the unreliable narrator aspect to show that Jerry did punch him in the face, and that wasn’t just a lie that Lucky was telling. So, that part of the story got a little wonky for a bit. If it starts bugging you, imagine that Lucky was getting ready to go into his villainous explanation monologue, but then he realized who he was talking to. Speaking of which…
The unseen audience
I began writing this fic with idea that the ponies narrating this story were somehow aware of the audience’s reactions to their stories, and would adjust their story accordingly. I started the naming schemes of the chapters as if somepony were to ask the character, “Hey, Cheerilee, how did you know the human?” To which they would reply with the chapter name: “Oh, we was the guest speaker for my class.”
Then I started imagining that all of these ponies were talking to the same pony(ies)/people, and that’s how where we started off with chapter 9. Let’s hope this plot device doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass.
Stuff you might have missed:
- A reference to “time machine” by hg wells.
- The fact that Lucky completely misconstrued the plot of Othello, telling the villain’s perspective. Modern interpretations of the play read more into Iago’s seeming lack of convincing motivation for plotting against Othello, and the effect racism has on Othello’s psyche and social standing. The reference to Othello serves to highlight how warped Lucky’s world view is.
- The recurring anise/fennel motif.
Fennel is a bulb vegetable that is also called anise interchangeably. In chapter four, Jerry takes Apple Bloom’s anise, chops it up, and calls it fennel, so she’ll eat it. Fennel, has two names, one which Apple Bloom wrinkles her nose at in disgust, and the other which she happily accepts. and I use frequently as a motif to represent whenever something is being misconstrued. Jerry deceives Apple Bloom with the ultimate goal of getting her to eat her veggies. But Lucky also makes frequent mention of anise, especially in regards to Lyra. He met her buying a bulb of anise. He considers anise her favorite variety of tea. Etc etc. In the future, watch out anytime there’s mention of a specific vegetable.
- The two names motif. I want you to think about that a bit. Derpy changed her name from Ditzy, and Cheerilee also changed her name. Anise/fennel has two names. Jerry has a first and last name. 1 + 1 = 2. There are two chapters told from Cheerilee’s point of view, and two from Lucky’s. Jerry has two boots. The story has been rejected from EQD twice for poor grammar. Coincidence? [insert wild guesses here]
I only have two fingers, therefore, I am Donald Trump Card's long lost brother, and Jerry.
It's nice to see that you are taking your readers' concerns into consideration
Fennel is amazing when cooked into a creamy potato dish like you would see at a thanksgiving dinner; it has a bit of a licorice flavor that spices up your boring potato casserole dish.
This has been Neo's Cooking Hour, we hope you enjoyed the show.
This is rather interesting. I find it impressive how much thought you put into this fic.
I missed the Time Machine reference (Though I have read the book)
Keep up the good work!
Some parts of this story make my blood boil, but it's still worth reading.Keep it up!
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I too missed the time machine reference...
You gonna make sequel cuz I want to see Lucky rot in a prison cell