Critical Response 2

Critical Response 2:
“There’s a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella”

Great title. Sets the right tone of absurdity. Though maybe it was just the first sentence lifted by an editor. Either way, it’s funny. The image of the man “with a plain suit, graying at the temples, and a non-descript face” (233) hitting the narrator over the head is ridiculous and hysterical, but the writing does a great job of playing against that. It’s very subdued. Written out like a conversation with the reader: “everyone knows… to be more precise… at any rate…” (234) etc.

On that same page there’s a great characterization of the narrator feeling pity for the man hitting him with an umbrella, not explicitly stated, but demonstrated through the actions and focus of the narrator (he slows down, looks at him, we get a description of his face). It’s a great moment showing the narrator beginning to connect/feel sympathy for the umbrella man without simply saying: “I saw him and felt pity.”

Psychologically it’s an interesting piece, seeing the development by the author of the relationship of the narrator to his assailant, and the implications of that in the real world. Instead of making the story into some epic and comic battle between the narrator and this unstoppable force (the man with the umbrella), the Sorrentino instead looks at how we as humans can tune almost anything out. I don’t know what year this was written in, but it looks like the author’s from Argentina and I’d be curious if there’s a political message to the story.