The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

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kailhofer
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Re: The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

Post by kailhofer »

I must be missing the boat, because I didn't get it. I think I have a 'literary' mental block.

I got that this dude was homeless and nuts, but more deep than that... Perhaps I am not as well-rounded as I ought to be. What was the greater message here? Moms make you angry, but also set you right?

If he was just crazy, and the Fury was a figment of his imagination, was this really a SF story? What makes this Aphelion fare?

My head hurts.

Nate
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Robert_Moriyama
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Re: The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

I dunno -- it made as much sense to me as, say, "Another Sarah", ::) where the Sarahs were women / were chickens / were women but the farmer, wife and friends were giants or ogres of the fee-fi-fo-fum (grinding bones to make bread) variety. And the 'hero' wasn't homeless at the beginning -- he walked out of his home with its disloyal furniture and abandoned his job (along with his sanity?).
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kailhofer
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Re: The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

Post by kailhofer »

Well, I don't think that's a perfect parallel--I've always felt the giants were real, but I could see where it could be argued that it was just how the guy saw himself--but in fairness I stand corrected. Figment of imagination giants or furies belong here. :-[

Nevertheless, what was this really about?? I honestly do want to know.

Nate
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Re: The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

Post by Megawatts »

What goes on inside someone’s head is always interesting, sometimes frightening, and often unimaginable!  Who really knows except the person who owns the head? Just think for a moment about all the people who pass by you during the day! Your friends, co-workers, family, strangers, familiar faces, un-familiar faces-----know what they are thinking about?

Some sections of the story were not clear to me. But the author might have written the story with that intention. One sentence that interested me was: “Using the Greek muscles of his back and his wrists to their limit, he pulled on very difficult black working boots that in their advertising claimed to move anything that could be overtaken by an armored car.”

I don’t have the slightest idea as to what the author was trying to imply! An advertising gimmick? Some symbolism? Whatever, it has me stumped.

Now Sebastion. A homeless person who suffers from insanity, obviously. And a good look inside the life of the insane!

Sebastion can be seen in any city. The homeless with psychiatric problems who wonder unchecked, alone and unaided; often ignored by family and former friends.
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kailhofer
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Re: The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

Post by kailhofer »

you guys are way too "realistic", especially you Nate. this is a go with the flow tale, you can't analyze it too much. it's possible the protag has actually been homeless for a longer time than first implied, or maybe even imagines the whole pre-homelessness life, or maybe not. this story was about emotions and feelings: guilt, anger, love, joy...the part with his mother was truly touching. and a great many items here were also quite hilarious.
That's just the way I'm wired. Sorry.

So, it's point was just to convey the feelings of a character? That's it?

Nate
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Re: The Momma on the Beach by Chris Sharp

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

A young surfer named Barkley had arrived on the beach with his board in his hand and his new brand-new bachelor's degree in his head. He saw Sebastion at once, and at seemed that this poor man was now running at him. Barkley side-stepped just in time to give Sebastion – who was intensely talking from both sides of his mouth -- his running route. Barkley simply had no idea he had marked the spot where the town's best-known homeless person had finally started the road to love coming home.
Last paragraph of the story.  Seems obvious to me.

Bill Wolfe
"Love coming home" = "sanity"? But love is madness, madness, I tell you! (If he goes home to Momma, she will spray some Windex(TM) on his head. That will fix him up.)

:D
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