Sunday, May 8, 2011

"Me and Miss Mandible" Summary and Interpretation

"Me and Miss Mandible" was first published in 1964.  Although it is written as a journal entry over several weeks, it is a little difficult to follow.  The first sentence makes the reader's stomach churn a little bit because that narrator says, "Miss Mandible wantes to make love to me but she hesitates because I am officially a child" (Barthelme).  He goes on to list the things that make him seem as though he is a child, her gradebook and the records in the principal's office.  The "true age" of the narrator, according to him, is thirty-five.  He has been in the Army and is over six feet tall.  Aside from the beginning of the story being completely absurd, later the narrator discusses the fact that a fellow "student" is also interested in him.  The absurd and disgusting part of that is that he actually thinks that he likes her too.  It is never revealed exactly what was done or what has occured to have an older man in a childs class but he does mention that he was married before and that the last thing that he remembers is having an argument with his wife.  At one point, the narrator mentions that perhaps he could re-learn things and be better.  He can feel Miss Mandible fighting her feelings for him.  The final entry is the man trying to convince the school that he is not a child because he and Miss Mandible were caught in the cloakroom. 
In a sense, the narrator is trying to find himself again after his wife has had an affair with another man.  He is re-learning all the things that he might have missed while a child.  The children call him teacher's pet and one even tries to start a fight with him. 

2 comments:

  1. Hi! This was very informative. I want to qoute parts of it and was wondering what the author of this blog's name is. I understand that the information is almost directly from The Bedford Anthology of Literature which I own and have read) and was wondering if that should be what I cite?
    Thanks!

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  2. Any similar information would need to be quoted from the Bedford book. The rest is my interpretation of it. Where are you going to school?

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