Author Topic: EP102: The Angle of My Dreams  (Read 26675 times)

Drwg

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Reply #25 on: May 04, 2007, 05:35:12 PM
oh yes, I forgot to comment on the outro.  Yay for Implausibility.  The Martian Chronicles is one of my favorites and look what the science in that is like  :)

I'm glad someone mentioned The Martian Chronicles because this story had a very Bradbury feel to it. That said though, I didn't really get into this story as much as I would have liked. It was childhood wonder but wrapped up in strange tradegies of how the boy's parents died, has a somewhat abusive relationship with his surrogate father, and was obsessed with a shuttle explosion.

Somehow I found that boy's ability to fly more beleivable than his grandfather's change of heart.



VBurn

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Reply #26 on: May 08, 2007, 12:25:31 PM
Quote
Somehow I found that boy's ability to fly more beleivable than his grandfather's change of heart.

Well put!  The ending was a little to crisp and clean and the bow that wrapped it up was way to big to be believed.



JoeFitz

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Reply #27 on: May 21, 2007, 08:55:48 PM
I thought this story had it's good points.  Especially the "beating children with belts for things that didn't warrent it" angle, that was a nice touch.

I agree with you, FNH. This story has a sweet coating, but an overbearing, child-beating grandfather finally learns to trust his grandson and "fly"?

I felt that the author wanted me to believe it was just a matter of perspective - the boy believed he was flying and the grandfather believed the boy was jumping off the roof - but it wasn't ambiguous enough for me to believe this.

Given that he was reacting to a series of major traumas, including regular beatings by his grandfather, dreams of "flight" were an appropriate response.

Joefitz
« Last Edit: May 21, 2007, 09:47:05 PM by JoeFitz »



Thaurismunths

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Reply #28 on: May 23, 2007, 03:53:35 PM
I thought this story had it's good points.  Especially the "beating children with belts for things that didn't warrent it" angle, that was a nice touch.

I agree with you, FNH. This story has a sweet coating, but an overbearing, child-beating grandfather finally learns to trust his grandson and "fly"?

I felt that the author wanted me to believe it was just a matter of perspective - the boy believed he was flying and the grandfather believed the boy was jumping off the roof - but it wasn't ambiguous enough for me to believe this.

Given that he was reacting to a series of major traumas, including regular beatings by his grandfather, dreams of "flight" were an appropriate response.

Joefitz

I get the impression form comments like these that a good portion of vocal listeners weren't farm kids and weren't raised by their grandparents.
Getting the belt when you did something wrong was just a fact of life. Being strict teaches respect and instills discipline. IMHO if a few more patents disciplined their kids we'd have a lot less trouble in the world.
Who honestly thinks that making a kid stand in a corner is going to make him/her understand right and wrong?

How do you fight a bully that can un-make history?


slic

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Reply #29 on: May 23, 2007, 05:17:04 PM
Quote from: Thaurismunths
Who honestly thinks that making a kid stand in a corner is going to make him/her understand right and wrong?
That comment certainly deserves it's own thread - once I get home from work, I'll set one up and we can discuss why hitting a child after a certain age is pointless, and also how teaching consequences/right from wrong isn't a simple matter of standing them in a corner either.



ClintMemo

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Reply #30 on: May 23, 2007, 05:46:46 PM
I humbly suggest you read this thread first (Reactive Attachment Disorder).
http://forum.escapeartists.info/index.php?topic=845.0


Life is a multiple choice test. Unfortunately, the answers are not provided.  You have to go and find them before picking the best one.


ClintMemo

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Reply #31 on: May 24, 2007, 01:47:10 PM
Physical punishment issues aside, the way in which the grandfather did it was proper:

You did x.
You know x is against the rules.
You know the punishment for x is y.
Here comes y.




Life is a multiple choice test. Unfortunately, the answers are not provided.  You have to go and find them before picking the best one.


SFEley

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Reply #32 on: May 24, 2007, 04:16:50 PM
Quote from: Thaurismunths
Who honestly thinks that making a kid stand in a corner is going to make him/her understand right and wrong?
That comment certainly deserves it's own thread -

I agree.  Or to be more precise, I really don't want that conversation to take over this thread.

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bamugo

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Reply #33 on: June 15, 2007, 04:03:21 PM
This story made me so angry at physics. Much in the same way that D. Adams made me angry at physics when he described human flight in the same terms (missing the ground when you fall).

The simplicity of the idea is so attractive and compelling, that a person like me, whose favourite superhero is Superman simply because he can fly, is nearly moved to believe it was true! I have a strange deal going on (my Mom has it too), that whenever I am high up, overlooking a landscape, I have an urge to leap out into the open, and fly over the landscape. I so want to be able to do that that I nearly believe I could every time I am faced with that sort of situation. You can imagine how frustrating a story like this would make me feel. How jealous of fictitious characters.



Planish

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Reply #34 on: July 07, 2007, 12:43:24 AM
I felt that the author wanted me to believe it was just a matter of perspective - the boy believed he was flying and the grandfather believed the boy was jumping off the roof - but it wasn't ambiguous enough for me to believe this.
My understanding was that the boy really was flying, and the grandfather knew it, but didn't want the boy to cultivate the talent. A bit like the reaction to the mutant kids talents in Wyndham's The Chrysalids.
Just to complicate things, the boy's method of flight is not a lot different from my own technique when I dream of flying. You don't simply just "think about flying" and take off. Things have to be just right and you sort of initiate [something] and after that it's like using muscle memory to walk.

Not so implausible when you've done it yourself, if only in dreams.

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #35 on: February 10, 2008, 10:40:05 PM
Forgive me for resurrecting this after so long just to add this, but...


The idea of "forgetting to fall" reminded me of when I was ~9-ish, and I discovered the concept of "dead weight".  You know, how if you try to lift someone who is completely limp, they feel heavier than trying to lift someone who has gone rigid?

I experimented with my sister, trying to hoist her off the floor while she either helped, or didn't.  It wasn't very scientific, but we were pretty sure that she was lighter when she stiffened up all of her muscles.

After that, I remember having dreams where I was able to hover, but I had to clench every muscle at the same time to become "bouyant" enough... and I woke up very, very sore.

Now, one question before I go try this new method... I wasn't clear on whether they ran UP the hill, or down...

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Unblinking

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Reply #36 on: September 16, 2010, 05:10:58 PM
This one had all the emotional hooks, but they were just too visible for me.  I could tell what I was supposed to feel, but never really felt anything.  And I wouldn't generally call myself a cynic, but nothing in this story really convinced me that they could fly, so to me the ending is not really open at all, and is rather depressing.