"Stolpestad"

We can all feel stagnated, and go into a state of doldrums inactivity. We throw away the things that matter, so much sometimes that we lose our compassion and we become impervious to emotions. Can someone be so stagnated, that you can take the life of a helpless animal and still feel nothing? Could one take the life of a boy’s dog and show no feelings towards neither of them? The short story from 2008 called “Stolpestad” was written by William Lychack, an American author with a talent for short stories, and in this one he writes about a man who is called out to put down the dog of a nine-year-old boy. The protagonist is a police officer; he is a husband and father of two. Later on the day he was sent out to kill the dog, the little boy and his father came to his door, the father tells the police officer that the dog had survived the police officer´s attempt to kill it, and so they were forced to call someone else to get it done. The story touches upon several themes and morals that we all see in our everyday life, although it might seem odd, it is fairly relatable to the everyday person. The short story looks at the feeling of stagnation, a feeling that most of us is all too familiar with. The setting of the story is introduced really well, as the story lists the places of Stolpestad`s life up; the liquor stores, Laundromats, the police, fire and gas stations, as well as the coffee shops.

Lychack expresses the stagnated feelings of Stolpestad already in the beginning of the story with the line “Another one of those long slow lazy afternoons of summer (…)” A line clearly showing the stagnated, unproductive and dull life, a life where nothing happens and nothing new develops throughout the day. Especially in this line “(…) - sun n...

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...worst possible ramifications of stagnation over a long period of your life; how it can consume even the people we would normally see as role model and noble men, such as we would normally see a police officer like Stolpestad. It truly is a captivating and intriguing subject for one to cogitate upon, and eventually learn from in order to avoid the point of social inertia that Stolpestad reaches.

The narration of the story really brings a different feel to it, as it speaks so directly to us, and therefore brings a very “interactive” and fascinating story that is relatable for everyone. We can really see the suffering of Stolpestad, and how one will always stand with a choice, a choice to break free of your bonds just as he could by shooting the dog, and then move on, or stay in the dark and end up not living life away from the cold grasp of stagnation and inertia.