Discussion Topic
The significance and message conveyed by the ending of "He-y, Come On Ou-t!"
Summary:
The ending of "He-y, Come On Ou-t!" signifies the inevitable consequences of human irresponsibility and environmental neglect. The villagers' careless disposal of waste into the seemingly bottomless pit ultimately leads to their own downfall, highlighting the theme that actions have repercussions and that neglecting environmental stewardship can have dire consequences.
What does the ending of "He-y, Come On Ou-t!" signify?
The main point of this story is that one reaps what one sows. The story can be taken as an allegory, representing how, in this modern era, we burn fossil fuels (and in the process pollute the atmosphere with billions of tons of carbon dioxide every year), shove garbage into landfills, pump sewage into the oceans, fire more rubbish into space, and we do all of this seemingly regardless of the damage we are doing to our planet and the consequences that future generations will suffer. We continue to produce and build, thinking only of the present and sparing hardly a thought for the future.
The twist, at the end of the story, when a small pebble falls past a construction worker, links back to the beginning of the story, when one of the villagers throws a pebble into the hole to see if he can hear it hitting...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
the bottom. When the villagers realize that the hole seems to be endless, they decide to throw into it everything that they don't want—rubbish, corpses, nuclear waste. And meanwhile, "Aiming at the heavens, new buildings (go) on being constructed, one after the other," and the villagers assume that all of this production comes at no cost, because all of the waste products are being thrown into the seemingly bottomless hole. When the same pebble falls at the end, ironically past a construction worker, the reader realizes that all of the production does have a cost after all. The villagers will reap what they sow, and all of the waste that they threw into the hole shall soon come back to them.
This is a very neat, clever allegory to represent the modern world. We too surge ahead with endless production, with skyscrapers that reach to the sky and more and more cars for our roads, without thinking about how all of this production is polluting and damaging the earth. We think only of the immediate present, and behave as if there will be no consequences to face in the future.
The Japanese science fiction story, “He-y Come On Ou-t,” by Shinichi Hoshi is an allegory. It’s an allegory meant to show how taking something so critically important--like the environment for granted can have disastrous consequences. The concept NIMBY or “not in my backyard” clearly addresses the attitude of the villagers. They didn’t want the items they threw in the hole polluting their village, and they didn’t care what kind of awful things were being thrown in the hole because it didn’t affect them--or so they thought. The pebble that came falling past the villager, was the first pebble thrown into the hole by the villagers. They don’t realize it yet, but their sinful disregard is about to be revisited upon them.
check out the e-notes link for this story: http://www.enotes.com/jax/index.php/enotes/gsearch?m=co&q=he-y+come+on+ou-t
What message does the author convey at the end of "He-y, Come On Ou-t!"?
I think what the author is trying to convey is that humankind cannot evade responsibility for environmental damage, no matter how hard it tries.
The gigantic hole, which over the years has become a dumping ground for every kind of garbage, has come back to haunt society. For many years, people thought that whatever they didn't want could be safely deposited in the hole and that they'd never have to deal with it or worry about it ever again. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.
But the reappearance of the pebble at the end of the story, the very same pebble that was the first item put into the hole, indicates that society may be able to run from its past but cannot hide. Sooner or later, how we treat the world in which we live will always come back to haunt us. If we see the environment as just a thing, an object of exploitation that exists purely and solely for our benefit, then at some point we will have to pay for what we've done.
And it's the same in the story. People treated their environment with contempt, as if it were nothing more than a giant trash can. But what goes around, comes around, and that little pebble dropping from the sky is the harbinger of a severe backlash from Mother Nature.