Theme of Human Nature
The Impossible Man by J. Robert Lennon
The Impossible Man by J. Robert Lennon is a short story that about Clay, a man who has issues with his life such that he hardly finds happiness. Throughout the story, Clay is not at peace with his wife and at his work place as well since no one seems to like him. The climax of the story sets in when he is attacked by a little guy on his way home from the supermarket. The story ends in some kind of suspense when clay bumps into the man who attacked him and begins to release all his frustrations on him. Clay, because of his human nature allows his emotional experience to overwhelm him and ends up a frustrated man.
The theme of human nature is most evident as one of the themes in this story. This is depicted through some factors that underlie human nature which include how all humans tend to think, act or behave. He, just like a normal human being gets angry when he was sent out by Tricia to purchase beef. This is depicted by the act he showed when he grabs his wallet and cigarettes from the top of the fridge as he walks out.
The fact that he wanted to have some time alone is characteristic of all humans which happens when one gets angry. One may avoid being with other people at this time so that they are able to take time, think and work out a few things on their own. This gives them some time to reflect which is what clay longed to experience when he walked out. He was annoyed with Tricia and this made him be prejudiced to take his time when giving her what she wanted.
The theme of human nature is further depicted by clay when he smoked three cigarettes as he drove off from the house. This happened because he was angry at Tricia. In a normal occasion, he probably would not have smoked all those within the little time. Due to his state of anger with Tricia at the time, he needed to do so. He also recalled his sexual experiences he had had before, which is characteristic of every human especially when trying to forget the bad current situations they are in. while the journey would have less than an hour, it took more time. This was brought about by the anger that still wanted to crack his bones.
It is in the human nature to think too. Clay, after being attacked on the streets finds himself later in hospital. He is asked to state his name by the doctor who was examining him and he can’t seem to remember it. This sets him thinking, until he finally gives up when he cannot recall what his name is. He thinks it is awkward, but cannot explain it and he feels bad about it. He feels crazy when he cannot bring to mind the name of the city he lives in. He is “disappointed” when for a moment he thinks he has gotten rid of the amnesia when he seems to reflect that he had watched baseball on television. He feels bad when he later realizes that t was nothing but “deductive reasoning”.
The cops feel irritated when clay is not able to respond to the questions they ask. This is an attribute of human nature. One feels aggravated when an individual cannot respond to obvious questions. This is what the cops could not grasp. Humans get irritated by such matters and is understood, especially when clay, a grown up could not remember his name. This act bores them and because they can do nothing about it, they depart. The doctor too grew weary of clay especially because he seemed to take too long to get well. He did not see much improvement in him and thus, unlike the nurses, he grows impatient which is something humans do often. They are not patient with other people and this makes them push them aside.
Clay hurt because of the injuries he had received from the earlier incident with the attacker. He had broken four of his ribs and his skull too was fractured. All humans have feelings and thus he felt the pain that the injuries caused. Clay depicts some inherent human characteristic of dreaming. He, like all humans dreams that he saw a squirrel touching a walnut. The squirrel had some womanly characteristics though and he could not comprehend exactly what it was. Its hands for instance had thumbs. Thus, this was purely a human behavior where all human beings experience dreams when lost in their sleep. Though some have meanings others are just imaginations or illusions.
When clay finally remembers all that had happened to him, he feels “stupid” and “embarrassed”. He cannot imagine, that it is the “little monkey guy” who caused him all the trouble he was going through. This happens to all humans especially when one feels something would not have happened to them the way did. One feels stupid, ashamed and irritated at the same time. They have regrets and wish they would have done something about it. He even felt embarrassed when he could finally narrate to the cops what had happened to him. The guy who seemed insignificant had caused him all the trouble(Lennon).
Tricia only acted human when she got mad about clay’s disappearance. This is characteristic of all humans. The fact that clay left the house mad and could not communicate for days, made Tricia believe that he was mad and had decided to leave her. Out of the ignorance and anger that this brought with it, clay decides to throw him out, and sell most his stuff. She only acts out of anger that the whole incidence caused. She does not seem to understand when clay explains to her what had happened and thinks he is only creating a story. All humans behave in weird manners when angry.
Due to Tricia’s reaction when clay comes back from the hospital, clay becomes mad and even decides that he too does not need Tricia back again. He wonders what kind of a wife she is because she does not care to call the police and find out his whereabouts. He acts normal because all humans need love and he thinks Tricia has not proved that she cares for him through this. He can only feel sorry for his mother, whom he had promised to call on mother’s day and calls her to apologize (Lennon).
Clay feels bad when people begin becoming suspicious of him after the incident .they avoided his company and when he went to take beer, guys made excuses just to avoid him. His own mother, for instance he feels is suspicious of him too. This makes him uncomfortable until he is compelled to ask why. He does not seem to enjoy the sudden change in the treatment he gets from others after the incident. This builds more anger in him and he feels like the world does not care about him.
After some time, clay ended up getting depressed because of what he was going through. This happens to all humans when undergoing trying moments. The consequence of this was him losing interest in women(Lennon). The kind of treatment they had gone through from Tricia made him lose interest in women. He thought they all lacked feelings and would treat him the same way. This resulted in him losing feelings for them.
Clay gets angry when he tries to call the cops and no one seems to be interested in talking to him. This was after he waited for too long without getting any communication from them about the attack. The best they could do however was to harass him and ask him to quit calling them. He ends up hurling abuses at them because of how mad he felt at them. All humans undergo such when harassed and are capable of doing anything in order to try take away the anger. As a result, clay ends up abusing the cops (Lennon).
All efforts to try and fit in with other people prove futile. Whenever he tries to he instead finds himself in problems. When he compliments a lady colleague, she accuses her of sexual harassment. He is finally fired by his boss and in a moment of weakness he asks himself, “What happened to me?” he is depressed, disgraced and disillusioned. He ends up fighting the little guy who attacked him when he finally meets him in the streets. This he does because of the anger that had built up in him. He cannot comprehend how things are working out in his life. He is so angry he beats him up until a family that is watching almost calls up the police. This happens to humans when they are under taxing conditions. This thus clearly depicts the theme of human nature in the story.
Work Cited
Lennon, Robert. Impossible Man .New York: The Paris Review.2010
