Jan 24th: The Winter Flies

The Winter Flies by: Fritz Leiber

 

So I am not really sure what to think about the reading for this week. I have never read anything like this before, and I think if I picked up a book that started out like that I would put it back on the shelf! I am clearly not a big Science Fiction fan, so I am pretty sure that I will not get all of the hidden meanings and messages in the short story, because I know that there is a reason for all of the weird things going on like the messages the mother hears from the appliances, Heinie and his wild imagination and Gott creating these people (if you could call them that) out of black putty. 

So the first thing that struck me about the characters in this story was that they all live together as a family but they are also all in their own worlds.  They all have very wild imaginations.  

The mother Jane hears these messages coming from her appliances: The clocks ticking sounded like, “Mystery, mystery, mystery, mystery”,  then the refrigerator spoke to her, “Watch your children, they’re in danger”, then the furnace repeated, “Oh, My God, my God…Demons, demons…”  and the kitchen clock ticking, “Now, now, now…”. I think all of these voices Jane was hearing were warning for her.  I think that the voices were trying to worn her that their is more than just the three of them in the house, and also a possible warning to her that her husband is kind of going crazy!  That there are unwanted people/spirits in the house and they are evil.  She is warned to watch out for her son that he is in possible danger.  These voice that she hears are like her conscience or instinct. 

Henine’s space helmet made me think that he was in one of those virtual reality things. 

At first I didn’t know what to think about the characters Gott was creating or imagining.  The characters he creates are all with black putty.  And to me the color black represents dark, cold,evil and death.  So these characters don’t represent something good in the story.  I think part of it has to do with the guilt or anxiety Gott is feeling.  I get the sense from the story that Gott has not been himself, that his life has been better.  Losing a good job, not writing anymore, Jane commenting that the house is not as occupied as before…  Also, these characters seem to come to Gott after he takes a drink from his martini.  These character are trying to pursuade and/or convince him to do thinks.  It is all very weird.

So even though this family lives together, it is like they all live it different worlds.  Their imaginations run wild and it seems to me like they are trying to escape reality. 

 However, after reading The Winter Flies a couple of times I am still left posing questions about this short story it is a little confusing to understand everything and determine what everything means.  So I could be totally wrong in the way that I interpreted the story, but I guess everyone has their own opinions! 

I am looking forward to talking about this in class and to hear what everyone else thinks and the meanings behind all of the weird thinks going on in this house!