Stories to know for the LIT2020 Midterm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Hitchhiking Game by Milan Kundera The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman Big Blonde by Dorothy Parker Elimination by John Campbell The Destructors by Graham Greene Good Country People by Fennery O Connor The Day they Burned the Books by Jean Rhys Bernice Bobs her Hair by Scott Fitzgerald Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut The Hitchhiking Game Milan Kundera Author Year published Written as a narrative point of view Third person limited perspective 1969 o The point of view of the story alternates between the internal thoughts and feelings of the young woman and those of the young man Main Characters o The girl Roughly 22 years old Demanding to the young man Has known the young man for a year Not happy often Has a sic mother at home Calls the girl s usual expression childish and simple o The young man 28 years old It seemed to him that he was old and knew everything that a man could know about women He valued the girl s purity virginity and shyness Drives a sports car Always happy when his girlfriend was happy because it didn t happen often Setting s o Communist Russia Czechoslovakia Main theme s o The way in which sexual relationships become power struggles between individuals in a political and social climate in which the individual has no power over a repressive socialist state Jokes humor and games have serious implications Plot o The story centers on a young couple on vacation together the vacation is for two weeks and it is a vacation the girl has been dreaming of for a year o The story is broken up into 12 sections all by a different narrator Either a limited perspective narrator the girl or the young man Section 1 The plot begins by a gas gauge dipping to empty o o o Section 2 o Section 3 The girl gets annoyed about the gas being empty stating that this has happened to them several places before She reflects on the previous time it happened saying that the young man had hidden and she had to make ill use of her charms by thumbing a ride and letting herself be driven to the nearest gas station She states that because she had to get gas she had to leave the men who gave her a ride before she could get anything going The boy calls her a pig for saying the above The couple pulls into a gas station and the girl goes to the restroom the young man knowing she s shy and embarrassed about it asks her where she s going The girl states that she doesn t like it how the boy drives around for several hours without stopping and she has to ask him to stop for her to use the bathroom She gets angry when he asks her what for because she is self conscious of her shyness calling it ridiculous and old fashioned She states how she longs to feel free about her body the way most women around her did Because she is so self conscious of her body she made up a special course in self persuasion and convinced herself that the body was only a readymade borrowed thing She experiences anxiety with showing her body to the young man as well She says that she was happy with the boy perhaps because he never separated her body from her soul revealing that she is a virgin She says that in this unity there was happiness but right around the corner suspicion lurked behind It often occurred to her that the other women were more attractive and seductive and that one day he would leave her for a woman like that She wants to be completely his and for him to be completely hers However it seems to her that the more she tried to give him everything the more she denied him something the very thing that a light and superficial love or flirtation gives to a person It worried her that she was not able to combine seriousness with lightheartedness She then proceeds to say that now she isn t worried because it was the first day of their vacation After she sees that the boy has pulled in to get gas she walks along the highway and pretends to be a hitchhiker The boy pulls over and says Where are you headed miss to which she replies Are you going to Bystritsa The boy states that he is always happy when his girlfriend is happy because this didn t happen too often because she had a tiresome job in an unpleasant environment many hours of overtime without compensatory leisure and had a sick mother at home The girl says that he looks like a man that would enjoy lying to women after he tries to give her a compliment about her being pretty He states that the girl s jealousy often irritates him The couple is pretending to not know each other The girl is pretending to be a hitchhiker The boy says that he misses his girlfriend s childish and simple face because she is jealous because of the way he s treating her who is supposed to be a stranger with such flirtation and sexual innuendos and tries to lean in and whisper her name but the girl says you re going a bit too fast and stays in character a the hitchhiker o Section 4 The girl realizes that she was pitifully jealous because she knew this was merely a game She tries to continue the game but the man is furious with her for not listening to him and refusing to be herself when that was what he wanted He stopped flattering the hitchhiker and began to play the tough guy who treats women to the coarser aspects of his masculinity willfulness sarcasm self assurance This role was a complete contradiction to his usual role She states that this behavior suited her very well because it freed her from herself For she herself was above all the epitome of jealousy The girl could forget herself and give herself up to her role Her role was out of trashy literature the hitchhiker stopped the car not to get a ride but to seduce the man who was driving the car She was an artful seductress cleverly knowing how to use her charms There was nothing the boy missed more in his life than lightheartedness His job didn t use up even 8 hours a day and his remaining time was filled with boring meetings and home study He had little time for his private life but his private life never remained secret and sometimes even became the subject of gossip and public discussion The young man then decides to stray from his straight road and go to the hitchhikers desired destination Bystrista The young man was moving away from himself and from the implacable straight road from which he had never strayed until now The couple arrive in Nove Zamky The …