A Coin

The creative technique for this short story written by Hemon is macabre images and grotesque textual content. That doesn't necessarily seem like a technique but none could argue that the story is not shockingly gruesome and gory. I believe what the story is really getting at is focused around the symbolism of the last paragraph when the narrator is talking about the feeling you get when you run from point a to point b without getting your head, arms, legs, or chest blown to bits. "When you get to point B the adrenaline rush is so strong that you feel too alive. You see everything clearly, but you can't comprehend anything...the feeling is always the same but i've never had it before...You pick yourself up and walk back into your besieged life, happy to be...(you) put your hand in your pocket where you may or may not find a worthless coin..." The point a to point b symbolism is much like flipping a coin. Heads or tails- a or b. Your life is in the hands of chance. Will you live? And if you do live did the snipers just decide to not shoot at you today because of the particular clothes you are wearing? Did they miss? Or was someone else simply more interesting? Maybe the story is an allegory (ha that rhymes) relating to life's brevity or longevity. Everything can be taken from you at any one moment. The camera man Kevin is like the apathetic citizen to me. He uses his camera, his "third eye," to take himself out of the realness of the situation. He only faces things with his camera. That's why the narrator likes him. But that is also why he leaves her. I like the ambiguity this story offers. If i were to relate it to something less surreal i would have to pair it with the baddest bad of America. Every slum, ghetto, dirty street in America would have to be thrown into one scene and every bad thing that had ever happened on those streets or places would have to be replaying all at once. To me this story represents things as extreme as that. The really deep dark and twistyness of life. I think the snipers could potentially be symbols for the power heads of America. They get to choose everyones fate. And everyones fate still likes to chance. This story was an awesome read but i really can't fathom the true meaning of most of its content. What were the letters purpose?