Summary

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The first-person plural narrator, “we,” begins by recounting when the townspeople first learn that the renowned knife thrower, Hensch, would be giving a single performance at 8 p.m. on Saturday night. The ambiguity of the townspeople’s response to the news is based on the reputation of Hensch, who is a skilled artist but is surrounded by strange rumors. Although the townspeople know that Hensch is a knife thrower, they are not certain exactly what he does. Some say Hensch has crossed the line and has built his reputation from disreputable acts because he has introduced the element of an artistic wound into the simple discipline of knife throwing. Young women particularly have willingly let themselves be wounded by him, and the townspeople acknowledge that without this hint of the forbidden and sadistic, they would not have been drawn to the performance.

Precisely at 8:00 p.m., Hensch walks on stage. He begins with simple knife throwing and the pinning of objects that have been tossed in the air. His beautiful female assistant, wearing a flowing white gown, releases six hoops that his knives catch against the wall in a complicated pattern. Hensch successfully completes a number of throws but he ignores one hoop that she releases. Tension begins to grow in the crowd as the audience wonders why Hensch ignored the hoop. Did he not like the throw? Was he displeased with his assistant? Was he losing his skill? The crowd takes a deep breath as the hoops are tossed again, and suddenly, he fixes three hoops against the wall with a single knife.

Following this act, the assistant brings out a live fluttering butterfly in a bowl. She releases the butterfly, and it ascends. So fast that the audience almost does not see him do it, Hensch throws his knife and perfectly impales the innocent and beautiful butterfly against the boards. The audience marvels and wonders what Hensch could possibly do next to exceed that feat.

Hensch places his own hand, palm up, on a table. He tosses a knife in the air, and the audience cries out as the knife lands, tip down, on what appears to be his palm. However, Hensch shows the audience his hand, uncut, and wiggles his fingers in the air.

The knife throwing takes an increasingly dangerous and suspenseful turn as Hensch’s assistant stands against the wall while he throws the knives, one after the other and they strike nearer and nearer to her flesh. After a series of throws, the assistant tells the audience to be very quiet as the master knife thrower is going to mark her with a knife. She removes her long white gloves and stands against the wall. The knife strikes the wood beside her neck. The audience, the narrator says, feels a twinge of disappointment—had the master missed his mark? Then they see the trickle of blood down her neck, and they applaud as she takes her bow.

When she returns after leaving the stage for a few minutes, she is dressed in a long black gown with long sleeves and a high collar that conceals her wound. The narrator reports that the audience imagines the white bandage beneath the collar and imagines her body scarred by similar, equally concealed wounds. Then the assistant asks for volunteers from the audience who wish to be marked. A girl, Susan Parker, steps forward, and while the assistant holds Susan’s arm in the air, the knife thrower slightly marks her forearm with a knife. The assistant leads her off the stage and tells her she has been very brave but...

(This entire section contains 783 words.)

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tells the audience that the knife thrower can mark more deeply, but the sacrificial person must show himself or herself to be worthy. A young man, Thomas, comes forward and he, too, is marked, though more deeply.

The assistant then asks if there is anyone who is willing to make the “ultimate sacrifice” and be fatally marked by the master. Silence prevails in the audience until finally a young woman named Laura steps forward. Amid awe in the audience, she ascends the stage. The knife thrower tosses the fatal knife, and Laura falls to the ground. The audience gasps, and the curtain falls. The story begins to come to an end with a description of the girl and her look of surprise, and then the audience departs, everyone believing it was a setup, just a show. However, there is enough doubt in their minds that they begin to see themselves as implicated in the wrongdoing, guilty and outraged at a man such as Hensch who, although he had the right to make his living, did so by going too far.

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