Informal Response: Reaction-Response Piece, Fancies and Goodnights

If You Want to Be Happy For the Rest of Your Life…

I was not sure what to expect from the book “Fancies and goodnights”. I did not even know the type of structure the book was written in, or why it has such an unusual title. Just from the title it made me think it was a collection of bedtime stories, either for children, or adults who like to have interesting readings before they go to sleep. I was a little hesitant to start the novel, because I was in a skeptical mood at that time. From the look of the cover, I was sure that the book was going to be weird, and probably confusing. I noticed that there were no women on the cover. The only characters on the book were men dressed in green wearing trench coats that appear to be from the 1950’s era. They appear to be playing hockey as well, with a man stuck in an ice cube. This led me to believe that the book would be about fictional stories, and possibly dreams that the writer may have had. I get this idea, because the men are floating. For some reason, floating always reminds me of either a dream, or love. After I read the first story, the “Bottle Party”, my earlier skepticism subsided and I enjoyed the creativity that the author possessed. I found that my expectations of the first story were mostly correct. It was fictional and the main character Frank had his dreams come true with the man in the bottle doing whatever Frank asked of him. He also had the love of his life come into the picture as the most beautiful woman in the world. How anyone can call that love, I’m not sure. This is more of an example of obsessed appreciation rather than love. I felt that the character in the “Bottle Party” was quite shallow, interested in only material joys that don’t bring true happiness.  

The author started his short stories usually in the same way. Each story had a main character, usually a man, where the plot began and then that character was challenged with something odd and obscure. Then in the end the main character was duped into some crazy outcome they never wanted to happen in the first place. In the “Evening Primrose”, the “Bottle Party”, the “Fallen Star”, and in “Halfway to Hell”, the main characters all had an outcome that they would think undesirable at the beginning of the story. This appears to be the authors writing style, but it does tend to get bland after reading five stories with the same punch line. The Stories also have the same dreary mood. They start out sad and depressing and then move on to satirical irony. In the “Bottle Party”, the man was tricked by his own jealous distrust and was locked in the bottle while his servant spent his days with the man’s love. Also, in the “Evening Primrose”, the man fell in love with the girl who was in love with the night security guard. They are both after objects that neither one of them can have, and when they tempt fate and try for their obsessions they become bitter wax statues which denies them of their emotions, much like what a heart break does to a person.

After reading these stories, a dark mood is cast over my mind and I become frustrated and depressed that his characters so rarely find what they were looking for. I also find it superficial and hollow that most, if not all, of the characters are obsessed with beauty. In the “Bottle Party”, Frank’s entire paradise was governed by harsh beauty that rejected his superfluous nature. In the “Fallen Star” as well, the ugly devil was cast away from heaven, and the only way to receive the beauty he longed for was to steal an angel. By being rejected, he turned to evil crime, when all he really wanted was acceptance. To gain this, he had to change himself completely into an attractive man. Which leads me to believe that to be happy is to be beautiful. When beauty is obtained however, the ugly and evil selfishly try to steal your happiness away to make themselves feel better.

What I see here is that beauty is a curse. Beauty is only meant for the beautiful. Ugliness and attractiveness do not mix. It’s the same concept as good and evil. There is one or the other, but not both. Everyone wants beauty, and those who don’t have it will do almost anything to get it. People will change their face with plastic surgery, spend all their resources on painful procedures to become the same make and model as the person who walked in right before them. However, to gain this attractive lifestyle, are they selling their souls? Suddenly, they have status. The people once closest to them become the people beneath them, and they will be left behind for equally empowered individuals just trying to find their own little paradise.

From life experience, I’ve found that truly happy people are not usually the most attractive. Take a look at any Hollywood actor. Famous couples everyone thought would live happily ever after like in a fairy tale are now facing bitter divorces, regrets, and wishing they’d signed that prenuptial agreement, all after only a few years of marriage. The main point is that people all over the world assume that beauty equals happiness, and the more attractive a person is, then the more friendly and impressionable they are. It is the opposite in fact.  On average, I’d say the unattractive, or ugly, people are much nicer than the beautiful crowd. They have the gift of inner beauty, and the quality of genuine kindness. Beauty means materialistic, while ugly equals a personality. This brings up and interesting observation from a song entitled, “If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make an ugly woman your wife”. Well said.