Monday, June 29, 2009

The Sandwich Board "Man"

The sandwich board man stands there, a position for which compensation is put in question yet is that enough to accomodate for his humiliation? Perhaps a minimum wage salary is given but here's the thing, he needs to do what he needs to do survive. Regardless of his purpose here, whether it's advertising some silly product for which he himself is too poor to buy due to the superficiality of this modern age. So he stands there, maybe he's forced to do a little dance, sing a little tune to attract visitors as this is merely a brief moment of amusement in their "perfect" lives. These passer byers gaze not at the human being that is trapped in this charade, but instead they gaze at this new product or deal in an animated way. The sandwich board man is entrapped between two entities, metaphoric to his lively condition in this lifetime. Stuck between two things without any hope of escape until the shitft is finally over and he can drag himself to job #2 or #3. What does the future hold for this poor man? Does he one day break free from the confines of his uniform or does he stand tall and find his destiny's calling, one day fulfilling his dream after facing a threshold he eventually breaks. Hope is in his hands after advertising viagra medicine in a senior citizen populated area, hope is fleeting yet it exists in his mind. Actions speak louder than words however, but if not taken soon then his time will leave him and all who depended on this tiny man with a big heart will be let down, suffering the wrath of a wrongful society that didn't give this man a better opportunity or maybe it's all..........his............fault......

1 comment:

  1. Abis, I like how this short story operates as kind of morality tale. I would like to see it have some more descriptive details. What do the passers by look like? What are they wearing? Are they clean-shaven, well-groomed, coifed, manicured? Is one wearing a red polkadot tie?

    Also, you really go for long sentences, which is great. Just be conscious of long sentences and throw a comma in where you think the reader might need to stop and breathe.


    Abis, will you look up the artists Ed and Nancy Keinholz at the UCI library and bring a book on them to class July 9th...

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