It is about time that I focused on another short story. This time, I have chosen Similarities. Similarities is a piece that was designed around trying to write two separate narrators in a single piece. What I wanted was two points of view that were third person and describing two separate events. The experiment here would eventually go on and be fully fleshed out in Death by Comedy – my fifth manuscript – where I use five narrators to tell a story. While the voices in this piece are very similar, Death by Comedy experiences five unique voices with five completely different backgrounds. In this piece, there is also an underlying criticism which is explained below.
I wanted to discuss death as something that is the same no matter who you are and that it isn’t beautiful. That death can strike at any moment. The two narrators are from the a conflict region, and their names will actually tell you which region they come from, and thus, their motivations. I tend to shy from political issues, but I was growing upset at how everyone focused on the political issues in this conflict and not on the fact that death is striking both sides. That, a missile strike isn’t a glorious way to die but a horrible thing. That’s why the main character, who is terminally ill, is hated by the first narrator. Unlike this person, the narrator was never able to give goodbyes or put a bow on their life. It just ended. Enjoy, I hope you weren’t looking for something joyful.