In class this week we read two different, yet equally intriguing stories by Aimee Bender. The first of the two was a story called "Ironhead." This story features a family of pumpkinheads in a magical realist world. When the two parents decide to have a third child, he comes out with an ironhead. For this reason he is neglected and seen as an outcast in society. I think that the pumpkinheads represented a different race within a society and that their ironhead child represents a child with a deformity. However, when reading Bender's work it's never easy to discover what messages she is attempting to send to her audience.
The other story that we read this week was called "Motherfucker." As opposed to the other stories that we have read by Bender, this one seems more realistic or more likely to happen in reality. Bender characterizes the motherfucker, saying that he was reasonable because, "he didn't fuck married mothers, only available ones." One night at a party he meets a starlet and decides to make her his next target. For a few days he dines with her instead of having sex although this is what she wanted. He also teaches her that she has to control her desires before they have any other relations and this lesson helped her in her acting career. However, it seems as if the motherfucker becomes attached to her at the end of the story which was unusual because normally he has no trouble leaving women behind. Ultimately he decides to never contact her even though he lusts for her.
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