A Critical Reading of Donald Barthelme’s The School

Donald Barthelme is one of the most famous American postmodern writers. One of his masterpieces， The School enrolls a panorama of a strange school for the extremely high mortality of plants， animals and even human beings related to the school. All of those death cases galvanize students into constantly thinking the cause of death and the existence of death and life， and the teacher and students have a vehement discussion about the meaning of death and life， through which both have a clearer understanding of existence.

The quest of being can be found throughout the whole passage. A string of death incidents place both students and the teacher in a dilemma of cognition. Not only students but Edgar feels puzzled， towards existence， the existence of death and life. Facing constant death cases， students keep asking in their mind and the teacher also guesses the causes of death and their mutual quest can be categorized as follow.

Dead things snakes orange

trees herb gardens some animals tropical fish puppy Kim parents; Matthew and Tony

Students’ attitudes aren’t too disturbed " feel depressed "---------------------gt; take it pretty hard

Death is a motif in this passage， which bears a marked brand of existentialism. The death causes of those dead are various including boilers which have been shut off in the case of dead snakes， overwatering in the case of herb gardens guessed by the teacher， and are explicable to some extent that the students can still accept them， however， the turning point of their attitude occurs when Kim， an orphan they’ve adopted dies， a real human being. Toward the transformation of the death of plants and animals to the death of human beings， it is pretty hard for them to take. They start to ask Edgar those puzzles which have been buried in their mind long time ago， which we call the awakening of existentialism. Before that， the students sound like children， from which we may make a smart guess that it is a primary school， whereas they ask further about death -- “Is death that which gives meaning to life？” The teacher first denies， however， he later admits that death is the means by which the taken-for-granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of.... I would like to interpret the incomplete sentence into “in the direction of value”， which attests to the meaning of death. Feeling depressed， students need somebody to attest to the value of life， which explains their begging Edgar to make love with Helen. Luckily they perk up and feel hopeful after witnessing the love of Edgar and Helen， and the coming of a new gerbil， which symbolize the value of life， or rather being. In conclusion， death and life are relevant and can not be split up， based on which one’s secret of being， existence can be decoded.

Criticism toward school education is another theme of this passage. From the discussion above on being， I think it is very important to understand the real meaning of being， which should be implemented and rooted in the school education， and The School written by Donald Barthelme， in that sense， has presented a brand new chapter for school education -- exploring the meaning of being. However， the school in The School does not do well in that aspect. Donald Barthelme’s averseness to the school education can be found between the lines. The existence of the puppy which is saved by the Murdoch girl is supposed to be a gift for those students， however， it does not turn out that way. Edgar has mentioned that they are not supposed to have a puppy on the grounds of the regulation of the school， which reflects the inflexible rule of the school. Since the girl has brought the puppy to the school already， it is meaningless to talk about the fostering problem of the puppy any more and Edgar predicts the puppy will live for about two weeks which turns out to be true. We may ask is it all the ominous experiences of all those dead animals， or the regulations of the school that make the puppy dead？ Maybe the school regulations do. Edgar’s delivering the dead body of the puppy to the custodian may be explainable that he is afraid they will shoulder some serious responsibility for not conforming to the rules of the school. His action， transferring the dead body， announces that their “illegal” behavior has stopped since the puppy has died， or he can simply deposit the dead body himself not by transferring to a third party， the custodian. We can make a smart guess that the school can not tolerate those behaviors of raising various animals like snakes， the salamander and etc. Turning back to the first paragraph of the passage which states that planting is part of kids’ education， we find the learning objectives of the school dreadful and inhuman.

As far as I am concerned， Donald Barthelem has succeeded his unique style of collage and narration in this short story， The School， creating a darkly comedic fable. The copious meanings of existentialism and criticism are well represented in the passage along with the profound thought of the world， death and life. When confronted with kids’ fear， uncertainty and desperation， Edgar responses to them that value is everywhere. So what is the value？ Different people， without doubt， have different standards， and the passage presents us with love between man and woman， with the vitality of animals， which both give us energy， hope and limitless possibilities. At any moment， we are learning how to conduct ourselves in the face of our inevitable personal doom. Barthelme， that comforting surrealist， shows us what we will find most useful： wonder， affection， and the embrace of mystery.

References：

[1] Yang Wuqiu， 2002， The interpretation of Donald Barthelme’s postmodernist language[D]. B.A. Dissertation. Harbin： Heilongjiang University.

[2] Tang Shuzhe， 2015， On Donald Barthelme’s The School[J]， New University Entrance Examination， （Z2）： 39-42.