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Mere Suggestion

My friends say I am very suggestible. I think they're right. As evidence of this, they bring up a little incident that I was involved in last Thursday.

That morning I was reading a horror novel and, although it was broad daylight, I fell victim to the power of suggestion. This suggestion implanted in me the idea that there was a bloodthirsty murderer in the kitchen; and this bloodthirsty murderer, brandishing an enormous dagger, was waiting for me to enter the kitchen so he could leap upon me and plunge the knife into my back. So, in spite of my being seated directly across from the kitchen door, in spite of the fact that no one could have gone into the kitchen without my having seen him, and that there was no other access to the kitchen but that door; in spite of all these facts, I, nonetheless, was fully convinced that the murderer lurked behind the closed door.

So I fell victim to the power of suggestion and did not have the courage to enter the kitchen. This worried me, because lunch time was approaching and it would be indispensable for me to go into the kitchen. Then the doorbell rang.

"Come in!" I yelled without standing up. "It's not locked."

The building superintendent came in, with two or three letters.

"My leg fell asleep," I said. "Could you go to the kitchen and bring me a glass of water?"

The super said, "Of course," opened the kitchen door and went in. I heard a cry of pain and the sound of a body that, in collapsing, dragged with it dishes or bottles. Then I leaped from my chair and ran to the kitchen. The super, half his body on the table and an enormous dagger plunged into his back, lay dead. Now, calmed down, I was able to determine that, of course, there was no murderer in the kitchen.

As is logical, it was a case of mere suggestion.

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Comments

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/27/2004 - 10:45

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could someone please explain this story to me, because i really dont get it. how could it have been a mere suggestion if the super was stabbed with an enormous dagger? i know i am missing the point to this one but really, what is it?

Submitted by admin on Wed, 06/08/2005 - 15:32

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I thought it was fairly clear that it was the main character who not only killed the super, but was the "bloodthirsty murderer", because he was crazy. Thereby, the voice of the story is the scitzo portion that is trying to repress.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 07/28/2005 - 12:42

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At first, I had thought the super committed suicide in the kitchen. One suggestion might be the letters in his hand. But it is also possible that everything was imagined by the self-frightened main character.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 10/09/2005 - 02:45

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I enjoyed this story immensely and am almost certain that Sorrentino writes in a fairly insane state of mind. I look at it in two possible aspects, either the speaker felt it was mere suggestion because it was not he that was killed in the fashion he had idealized, or that the murderer took off shortly after killing the super in a matter of mere seconds and that he no longer had anything to fear. Take your pick, I lean toward the first option.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 02/12/2006 - 23:11

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I didnt get it. I mean, if it had been in another section like fiction, for instance it would have been very intrestiong and easy to understeand, but as a humorous story, it is really difficult to get the point. Was there the superintendent at all? Did he die?...

Submitted by admin on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 14:38

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This was an increadible story.
Ive been thinking of it for three days. It has a very
"sixth sense" quality to it. It is a very dark humor
which I love. The character, so absorbed by his
book, brought that fear into his own world. His
imagination gets the best of him, thereby scaring
himself. Its a lot like we did when we were kids and
were scared to go into our closets or look under
our beds after seeing a scary movie.
Because of his book, his imagination gets the best
of him.
The story, though only in his mind, comes to life
before him. Only until it plays out in his mind can
he enter the kitchen and move on.
Nobody enters the apt. Nobody dies.
It was all a case of mere suggestion.
Brilliant.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/24/2006 - 13:32

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I wouldnt claim to know what the author meant at all.

I understood the ending to mean that it was mere suggestion that killed the super. That is to say, the narrator believed so strongly that there was a killer in the kitchen, that his imagination became reality (and killed the super) until he had contrary evidence (when he went int he kitchen).

It reminds me of a game I played as a kid, where one kid isnt allowed to move until nobody else is looking.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/09/2006 - 09:07

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What a wasted page of prose. The story makes no sense whatsover, and the author himself appears to have no clue as to what happened. To those whizbangs that made comments about suicide: stabbing yourself in the back is a far less common method than you might think.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 03/17/2006 - 16:15

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At the end of the story the main character says that there was no murderer in the kitchen. He is implying to all of the dumb people out there that he himself is the murderer. Therfor there was no murderer in the kitchen, but one sitting just outside of it(main character)

Submitted by admin on Fri, 03/23/2007 - 23:50

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Oh my gosh! I love this story. At first I was like, "Man, it didnt make any sense." But now after I gave it some thought it has so many possibilities. The author left it up to us to decide what happened. He either imagined it, he killed the Super, or the Super killed himself, or there was a murderer. LOVE IT!!!

Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 13:34

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0_0 im bewildered...

a very strange story, i think that the murder did actually happen since its the friends that brought up the incident, if it didnt happen why would they bring it up?

But then again, it says, fell VICTIM to the power of SUGGESTION, which could imply that it all was imagination and what not.

The main character couldnt have killed the super as he was still sitting outside when he heard the crash and he OPENED the door to see the super stabbed in the back.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 17:12

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of course there are many possibilities, what was most apparent to me was that his fear was so irrational that in spite of the inexplicable (?) murder of the super, the authors first reaction is relief that there is no one waiting to murder him in the kitchen....

Submitted by admin on Sun, 12/21/2008 - 10:59

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A true cock and bull stuff! My son (10) writes such tales. You keep asking him what this meant, and how come that occured, and his curt reply is always - "draw out your own meanings - it is creative writing"!

Mushy

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 12:52

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I felt that this story was very well written. Like many other short stories it somewhat keeps you in the dark about what happened. I believe he wants you to decide. Did the man kill his super? This is my theory, but in the end it’s what you believed happened.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 10:55

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I believe this very well written story conveys what I would call a “smart ambiguety”. In relation to what our friend Mushy states (“My son (10) writes such tales.”), we should never forget that sometimes rather dull people have extremely intelligent children.
Best,
Julia Martha Nolan

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 02:36

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i didnt really get the ending but i thought that theres nothing happened. no murderer and nodobys killed. its all just his imagination.. id relate to this.. i was like this when still a little kid

15 years old

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