Deal Me in Challenge: The School by Donald Barthelme

Card Drawn:

"Okay class, settle down. Eyes up front. Now, who wants to tell me what happens when you forget to feed our pet fish?"

I recall reading Donald Barthelme's "The School" a few years back and found it completely baffling. Although I could appreciate its dark humor and unconventional narrative, I was left with mixed feelings. His writing came across as arrogantly esoteric, frustrating me to no end because it seemed that he was the only one in on the joke, while I struggled to comprehend the underlying meanings that continually slipped through my grasp. I wanted to read the story again to see if my opinion changed or if I could ascertain any new insights. Suffice it to say, I have had a complete change of heart and it is amazing what a second reading will do. "The School" is as close to perfection as a short-story gets and now I am beginning to understand why he is highly regarded as one of the most influential short-story writers of the 20th century.

Donald Barthelme was part of the post-modernist movement of avant-garde American literature that emerged in the 1960’s. Conventional plot and characterization is rejected. The aesthetics of literature--more specifically, the difficulties associated with writing and using language to reflect the reality of a rapidly changing and incomprehensible world is often seen in these works as linguistically, structurally and thematically fragmented or unusual as a mimetic portrait of modern life. While one can make the argument that he is a surrealist, stories such as "The School" reveal that there is a specific technique behind all of the playful absurdity. Barthelme skillfully subverts traditional narrative conventions through parody, irony and paradox to present a idiosyncratic vision of the contemporary world. The juxtaposition between the trivial and the extraordinary is a recurring motif in his writing and we see this most profoundly in "The School" where a classroom becomes the symposium for philosophical discussion on existentialism, love, sexual desire and most importantly--death, but through the unique perspective of children. The dichotomy between childhood innocence and death is at the center of this story, highlighting what seems to be the author's parody of philosophical conundrums. 

These precocious children do not speak like children at all; rather, they articulate themselves with sophisticated eloquence. The psyche of these children shows an advanced maturity (I could not help but imagine these children living in our current digital age of mass information, growing up with the internet and social media) and it is ironic that they seem more knowledgeable and engaged with the world around them than their teacher who also narrates the story. His general demeanor is rather elusive and taciturn, preferring to remain a disinterested observer. Ironically, it is the children, who seem more perceptive and fastidious in their learning than the adults. Much of the humor in this story is generated from the incongruity between the children's refined language and naiveté. Another layer of irony is that the school is supposed to be a place of higher learning that should provide answers but fails to do so. 

Then we come to the weird ending, which I found confusing and slightly uncomfortable on my first read. Yet, I think that is exactly what Barthelme intended. Paradoxically, love and death become intrinsically connected in this triumphant moment of transcendence. My initial understanding of the story, especially the ending, could not have been more wrong. It's damn near perfect.