Too Many People [Explanation via Q & A]
If you haven’t read the short story yet, it is advisable to read the short story first before continuing. Click this link to read the short story : Too Many People [Satirical Fiction]
DISCLAIMER: Once a piece of art is out to the consumer, it is theirs and they have all liberty and power to interpret it in any way they want. This post is directed only to those people who couldn’t understand a lot of elements pertaining to the story. I had to post this, as I was asked the same type of questions by many of my readers. As a responsible servant to my readers, it is my duty to answer the queries and explain them. So here are 5 questions which were repeatedly asked.
Why did the Old man, who lived across the river, die in the story?
The old man was so lonely and the smile from the loner encouraged him to cross the river and go to his house. Here, the river suggests the coating of layers/walls we add to ourselves to keep people away from us. Most of the times, it feels uncomfortable when someone breaks those walls unannounced and here, the old man encroached the loner’s private space, and thereby his mental space. The loner, who has a wavering mind, looks at this as a sign of danger (his comfortable lifestyle of staying away from people has been ruined and he kills the old man instinctively) Loneliness creeps back and he cries in pain, as he just killed the only person who was there in his life.
Why did you kill off the loner in the end of the story?
The loner had to die, just because it was time for him. He couldn’t live alone in his forest after the death of the old man, and he couldn’t live in the town either, and his issues grew every day. His time was up and he had to pass on the pain to the girl, almost like passing a baton to the next runner. The story’s theme required that kind of an ending. Any other ending would have mellowed down the intensity of the character’s issues and the weight of the theme.
What is the reasoning behind the series of events?
The story has signs indicating that the old man (and possibly the two others too) was suffering from some unknown mental illness. The reality of the events itself is in question here.
So there are 2 possibilities
Possibility 1 – Everything happened as it happened. In which case, he kills the old man because of the above said reason, then decides to follow the girl to the town and give the human civilisation another shot. But his mental health deteriorated day by day, and he realises that there is no escape from the reality — The “Vultures” will always follow him, he’ll be alone even amidst people, he did kill the old man, and depression will always be a part of him. A million thoughts hit him, and what happens later is self-explanatory.
Possibility 2 – Everything is a figment of an imagination created by their mind, only 2 other people can relate to this world, as they themselves are in it. There’s a high chance that they’re just inmates in a psych ward who share the same pain. Or maybe, as the line in the story suggests, maybe we’re all the patients in this psych ward called “The Society”, and maybe these 3 are the only sane “prisoners” in it. They never knew, and so we would never know too!
So, “Maybe there was no forest. Maybe that girl was in fact his daughter or some relative.” Maybe his life in the forest is some hallucination. Maybe that is why he never knew how he got his factory-made, roasted coffee beans.
What do the Vultures signify?
The vultures are like the people who feed on us and follow us to our graves. But on a deeper level, the vultures signify the issues the loner has been facing. He fed them for so long, unintentionally, and they feasted on him even after he died.
This is why the girl sees the vultures only after the loner is dead, because now the pain is transferred onto her.
Should stories be so eerie and dark? Why can’t such stories have a happy ending?
No. “Should” is a wrong word. But, stories can be eerie and dark. Stories can be anything and everything. Mental health issues are topics I take very seriously and sincerely. A small deviation can trivialise mental illnesses. In order to keep it true to my heart, it required that the story be formatted and written in such a way. This story contains no direct information regarding any particular illness and I want to write more stories, in more genres, in a million different ways, and stories that also talk about mental health issues.
Thanks a ton for reading my short story and the explanation Q & A.
Much love, and some more love to you.