Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Need A Sin Eat'a


         The Sin Eater is a story about a physician named Joseph who is compared to a Sin Eater. A Sin Eater is defined as someone who is paid to take out someone’s sins. Throughout the short story, we are able to identify the techniques the author uses to compare Joseph to the Sin Eater and how Joseph had more than just a patient-physician relationship with all of his patients.
            While reading the short story, we pick up on the fact that Joseph is only using his patients to get rid of his sins, thus making it seem as if he is looking for a Sin Eater himself. Even when the patients do not talk, Joseph will go on talking about himself. We see this when the author mentions, “If you won’t talk to him, he’ll bloody well talk to you, about the most boring things…He says he thinks it’s healthy for his patients to know he’s a human being too” (page 35). This gives the reader the idea that Joseph is himself looking for a Sin Eater. Furthermore, we see that Joseph is upset by a sin in his past. This sin refers to the little boy that Joseph talks about when he says, “I myself cherish an abiding hatred for the boy who lived next door to me…but if I ran into the little sod tomorrow I’d stick a knife into him” (page 39). Rather than listening to what his patients are having problems with, he talks to them about his sins.
            At points in the story, I felt as if Joseph was having more than just a patient-physician relationship with his patients. Towards the beginning of the short story, we see how Joseph seems to extremely “close” to his patients when the author states, “…ever, though he does try to help me on with my coat a bit to lingeringly” (page 35). We also see that he is not very serious about women in his life. We are told that he had three wives, of which all of them were fairly similar. This is seen when the author mentions, “The three wives have a family resemblance—they’re all blondish and vague around the edges...” (page 39). We see that Joseph seems to be interested in the same kind of women or women in general.
            After Joseph’s death, his second wife states, “He (Joseph) wasn’t happy.” The second wife inferred that Joseph committed suicide. If this holds true then Joseph clearly has issues in his own life. He was not happy about his sins, and could not find an outlet to get rid of these sins. I believe this may have been the driving force for him to commit suicide.
            This short story provides great room for analysis. As readers, we realize what Joseph’s true intentions are as he attempts to find a Sin Eater to eat his sins. We also become aware of how Joseph wanted more than a patient-physician relationship with his clients. Towards the end, the author has a dream in which Joseph offers her food and Joseph tells her that those are his sins. This is what engages the reader into identifying Joseph’s true character.

1 comment:

  1. P.s. grab a copy of the news paper today and theres a free jersey mikes sub coupon in there

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