plot

In "Me and Miss Mandible", written by Donald Barthelme, is a short story written in a journal entry format. The writer is a thirty-five year old man who stands six feet one inch tall who has already experienced the struggles of preteen embarrassments of hair growth and pubescient changes. He describes some of the most experienced elementary school moments that most all of us remember, such as passing notes, witnessing the class bully in action, class crushes, and enduring school day activities, such as roll call and lectures. The strange thing amongst these are those of the student teacher relationship taken further between Miss Mandible and the writer. The format that the short story by Donald Barthelme is written is a new and unfamiliar method of writing in which allows the reader a completely different outlook on this particular situation at hand. The theme of this story is that truth is punishment. The writer compares his experience of being back in school with his experience of being in the army. In my opinion, the way the plot is delivered relates to the theme which is illustrated in the words of the second to last sentence, “Like the Old Guard marching through the Russian drifts, the class marches to the conclusion that truth is punishment.” Through out the story, the writer includes his own experiences in the Army in comparison with the on goings in his experience as a school boy at the elementary school. All of the stories that I read for this week all include different ways to portray plot in original and different methods.