Journal Entry 6-25-10

I’ve barely read the first page and already I’m shocked. Personally, the thought to leave the man as he is would not cross my mind, as a human being. I would automatically do my best to find a way to help him. The fact that these kids simply toyed with him and then ran away was quite cruel, and I’m actually quite interested to see where this attitude comes from. They kind of redeem themselves with the food and water they bring him, but they are still lying about having gotten help, treating him almost as they would a pet that they had tied up. I understand why they wouldn’t want the man to know their names, so that if he was found, he wouldn’t be able to identify the kids who tormented him by leaving him there and lying to him about getting help. Then giving him all of their names, I still suspected that they may truly go get help. The man’s plea using their names is known to be effective in making something personal and getting a reaction out of someone, but the kids didn’t react as one normally would. These kids had just enough sympathy to feed the man, but kept him prisoner still. I rained the last night, and I suppose we are to assume that the man drowned. I really don’t see how he could have survived. We know that he has been stuck in the well for at least 3 days now, and only had to eat what the kids brought him. I can’t imagine that he would have been able to tread water very long, if the level got up that high, or if there was enough water to get him out, since the ground was pretty dry at that point anyway, it probably would have soaked a lot of the rain up before the well could get much.
I don’t see a very clear plot, or a point to the story. It has a definite emotional pull, with sadness and sympathy for the man in the well, and confusion and disappointment in the kids. I really still don’t comprehend why they left him there still. I also don’t understand the significance of the boy’s mother crying at home. We have no background on him or on the times, so we have no idea of anything besides the timeline of the man in the well.