Morgan McMahan

“The Man in the Well”

Journal Writing #3

Topics in Lit

6/25/2010

Sher’s story of “The Man in the Well” is a very interesting story. When I first started reading, I thought it might be a tale of rescue, but upon further reading I became confused by the children. I honestly didn’t understand what the text was supposed to mean. I realize there must be some kind of symbolism for this man in a well, but I can’t figure out what it is, and it’s very frustrating.

My thoughts as the story progressed were that the children should get help for him, that they had to do something for this poor man. After reading the part where he kind of yells at them, I find myself less sympathetic for the man. I understand his frustration, but I also feel like he almost becomes a villain. He doesn’t want to tell him his name, anything about himself, or even how he got down there in the first place.

The thing I kept wondering was how he got down there, and if it is a deep, dry well, how he didn’t die upon his landing. If I were one of those children and this man was yelling from a well from help, and wasn’t very nice, and didn’t want to share anything about himself, I wouldn’t be too keen on helping him either. But, I would get the police.

I also found it interesting how the children didn’t want to share their names, and when Aaron told the guy all their names, all the children were furious. There are so many people with the same names, why would it matter if this man knew their first names? I also wondered how the man in the well could remember all their names. Their seemed to be a good number of children, and I know if someone just said a bunch of names to me, I could not recite them back with as much ease as the man did.

At the end, I was disturbed. I think what the children did was very wrong. They got some kind of pleasure out of hanging out by this well and talking with this man. I don’t understand why, after it rained, they never returned. I can understand him never wanting to return the place were he did nothing to help a man in need.

At the end of the story, I was as confused as I was in the beginning. I think the story might have something to do with the children growing up. I did notice he told his age, 9, at the beginning of the narrative and I wonder if that as any specific importance. I also thought that the man being in a well far below then, maybe he was a symbol for sin or hell. I don’t really see any other strong evidence of this being the case, besides the fact that the children were so disturbed by the man knowing their names, and I would defiantly be upset if someone told someone from Hell my name.