Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Donald Barthelme
- First Published: 1973
- Type of Plot: Absurdist
- Time of Work: About 1973
- Setting: The United States
- Principal Characters: Colby Williams, His friends
- Genres: Short fiction, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: Friendship, Punishment, Loyalty, Lynching, Rites or ceremonies
- Locales: United States
The Story
The story concerns the punishment of Colby Williams by his friends. Colby, it seems, has “gone too far”—when, how, and at what, the reader is not told. He readily admits that he has done this, claiming, however, that “going too far . . . was something everybody did sometimes.” His friends, an anonymous, all-male group, are unswayed by his reasoning and remain firm in their benevolent conviction that as his “dear friends” they have an obligation to punish him for his transgression by hanging him.
The hanging itself will be the climax of a gala...
[The entire page is 1879 words long]
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