Arezou Esmaeeli

Bryan Dunn

23 January 2016

 

 

 

 

    I recently read the short story "Riding the Doghouse" by Randy Devita. "Riding the Doghouse" is a story about a father and son. The father has a job as a truck driver and the son sits alongside him on the doghouse. At one point on the road, the son is upset as to why his father is a trucker but his friend's father has a job wearing a suit. The father, has only one rule in the truck which is to not touch anything in the truck while he is away. One night, the boy is alone in the truck and decides to talk on the CB. A guy named Midnight starts talking to him on the CB and the son stops talking after he realizes he possibly put his father in danger. The story ends with the son, now a father, thinking about how the next day it is his son's tweltfth birthday.

 

    The short story incorprates a lot of imagery. I'd like to show you photos that I thought best matched the imagery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I listen as rain sleets against our bedroom window; oak branches, stripped by autumn, scrape at the back of the house" (75).

I chose this picture because I believe it represents my feelings toward the quote very well, and it is the image that came to my head when reading this. This piece of imagery gives me a sort of eery feeling. Mainly because, rain and scraping noises at the back of the house are tied to be negative. You may not feel this way but I associate rain and scraping to not be positive things. Mostly due to me watching cartoons where the character would mistake the tree branches tapping the window outside for a monster. Maybe you had a different interpretation of this imagery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Night and darkness flooded past, washing clean the monotony of day and bruising the spine like cirrus clouds, which extended toward the horizon" (77).

I really enjoy the sensory image. It gives me a nice feeling of comfort. I'm not really sure why. I guess it's because sometimes after a great day I had, I will sit and watch the sky growing dark anxious for the next day. Occasionally, I wish it would stay night for a longer time. Night time doesn't require work, the day begs for it. By work I mean school.  The phot above is just beautiful. I wish I could've been there with the photographer. The clouds are spine like as the protagonist describes and the sun is setting. Darkness is slowly talking over the light, daytime sky.

Do you feel as though you can relate to the imagery? I believe the author has done a great job for having me quickly connecting this to my life.

 

 

 

 

Not only does the story  incorporate a lot of sensory details, it also has great characters. One character that is especially creepy and unique is Midnight, the guy the son talks to on the CB. I'd like to take a moment to tell you my thoughts on Midnight. Midnight is the character that adds the drama and spice to this story. Otherwise, the story is all about a trucker dad and his son traveling on the road together. That doesn't sound like the most exciting does it? Especially seeing how the dad doesn't really have an open and welcoming personality. The father and son have this tense relationship. Sort of awkward, if you ask me.

Midnight is kind of terrifying. I mean, Midnight obviously knows the dad because their jobs cause them to be on the same highway. One of the creepiest things Midnight has ever said is, "I watch your daddy, Scooter. We're out working the same highway, clocking and recycling the same miles. But one of these trips I'll find him. He'll close his eyes and see me. He has only so many miles before-" (82). That is definetly scary. Midnight sort of implies that he wants to kill the son's father. If it were me, I'd tell my father and probably be horrified for the rest of my life. The fact that Midnight says this makes me wonder, is Midnight Death in physical form? I mean he mentions the darkness a lot. " When you close your eyes, what do you see? Nothing, yet. But the dark stares back. Every time you close your eyes, it sees you" (82). Darkness is associated with evil. Death is also considered to be a negative thing and so is evil. 

Also another point I want to give to support my case of Midnight being Death in physical form is when the son's son is talking to someone in the room at 3 A.M. on his twelfth birthday. I assume the son has no access to any communication that early in the morning so who could he be talking to? If Midnight were to be some super natural being, the son's son wouldn't need anything to communicate. I'm pretty sure super natural beings possess some sort of magic if they needed to contact anyone. I, obviously, don't know how super natural things work, but this is just my guess. Midnight and the son also first communicated at 3 A.M. on his twelfth birthday.

What do you think about the case I make? Does it have enough information to make your opinion change? Please mention your own theory because I'd love to know different point of views.