THE MAN UPSTAIRS

"The Man Upstairs" by Ray Bradbury

"The Man Upstairs" by Ray Bradbury

Thesis Statement

In "The man upstairs", the protagonist structure is unusually complex because of the fact that in a protagonist community, there is also a lack of privacy that makes it unlikely that anyone will live there.

Introduction

The Man Upstairs" a story about a young boy who lives in a bordering house that his mother owns. One of the things that he likes to do is watch his grandmother gut chickens. I am not certain if this is a sign of normal interest or of a budding psychopath but for the sake of the story I believe that you are supposed to assume the first (www.helium.com).

Another thing that is rarely done anymore is people killing their own animals to eat. A great many farmers who raise cattle don't even do this anymore, instead taking it to a slaughterhouse.

The man upstairs is a strange man who moves into the house. The boy has an instant dislike for him and he has an instant dislike for the boy as well and it only gets worse as the boy examines who he is more. Eventually after the boy looks through the man several times through the stain glass window he takes the boy's basketball and breaks the window to keep him from doing so. But getting in trouble only makes the young boy more determined (www.fantasticmetropolis.com). (Assuming that you believe the boy who says he wasn't the one who did it).

Finally the boy is convinced that there is something very wrong about the man who works and night and sleeps all day, in fact he seems completely unable to wake up or move during the day, so finally he does the same thing to the man that his grandmother does with the birds, cutting open his stomach and pulling out the insides (www.xmission.com). The members of the city seem to accept the boy's word at who this man is and even celebrate him. I suspect that this is not what would really happen in this situation. In fact it seems likely to me that the boy would be spending the next few years in a mental asylum, but it is still an interesting story.

Discussion and Analysis

“The Man Upstairs” is, for me, a classic story of “the outsider,” “the alien,” “the stranger.” Bradbury's writing in this piece, as evidenced by the quote above, is absolutely flawless—no excess baggage, no poetic gibberish. The point of view from which the story is told could very easily cause one to miss the depth of its grim nature on the first reading. Douglas and the man upstairs might have more in common than we at first suspect.

Ray Bradbury has been one of the most influential and entertaining writers of his time period. He aided in producing the Science Fiction genre respectable. Bradbury has furthermore mastered numerous other fields. He has written fantasies, crime and mystery stories, supernatural tales, mainstream literature, and of course research fiction ...