Kooks And Killers Essay
Nick Peralta
23 March 2015
Professor Hodges
ENWR106-BH
Kooks and Killers Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Hi Howya Doin,” follows a “good-looking husky guy,” who is described as “six-foot-four in late twenties or early thirties,” and is a “Caucasian male” (Oates 214) through his jogging session around a college campus. Throughout the man’s route he comes across strangers in his path that all seem to have lackluster lives, and every time the man comes across these strangers he shouts the phrase “Hi! Howya doin!” at them. The man continues to shout the phrase at anyone in his path until he comes across the one person he shouldn’t have said it to. As the man comes across this person who seems to not want to be bothered by anybody, he shouts his infamous phrase and gets a bullet to his body as a response. Readers might ask themselves how someone can just murder another person for just asking them a question, but was the man really an innocent victim? Could the phrase “hi howya doin” really be as harmless as it sounds? Oates asks this in the literary piece and it is up to the readers to find out the answers on their own based on the subtle hints and details. For instance, Oates’ description of the man makes him seem as though he is the epitome of perfection, and her description of the people he comes across is quite the opposite. This could cause the people to interpret the phrase “hi howya doin” as a sort of condescending insult. For this reasoning, the story should be considered a Marxist read and thus requiring the readers to use a Marxist lense. Joyce Carol Oates writes “Hi, Howya Doin” with a hidden message of sorts, thus having the readers interpret the story in different ways. For instance, a reader might interpret this story as a perfectly normal man who was unfortunate enough to come across the wrong person to talk to and is murdered. Although this may be the summary of “Hi, Howya Doin,” there is more to the story. The way that Oates describes her
23 March 2015
Professor Hodges
ENWR106-BH
Kooks and Killers Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Hi Howya Doin,” follows a “good-looking husky guy,” who is described as “six-foot-four in late twenties or early thirties,” and is a “Caucasian male” (Oates 214) through his jogging session around a college campus. Throughout the man’s route he comes across strangers in his path that all seem to have lackluster lives, and every time the man comes across these strangers he shouts the phrase “Hi! Howya doin!” at them. The man continues to shout the phrase at anyone in his path until he comes across the one person he shouldn’t have said it to. As the man comes across this person who seems to not want to be bothered by anybody, he shouts his infamous phrase and gets a bullet to his body as a response. Readers might ask themselves how someone can just murder another person for just asking them a question, but was the man really an innocent victim? Could the phrase “hi howya doin” really be as harmless as it sounds? Oates asks this in the literary piece and it is up to the readers to find out the answers on their own based on the subtle hints and details. For instance, Oates’ description of the man makes him seem as though he is the epitome of perfection, and her description of the people he comes across is quite the opposite. This could cause the people to interpret the phrase “hi howya doin” as a sort of condescending insult. For this reasoning, the story should be considered a Marxist read and thus requiring the readers to use a Marxist lense. Joyce Carol Oates writes “Hi, Howya Doin” with a hidden message of sorts, thus having the readers interpret the story in different ways. For instance, a reader might interpret this story as a perfectly normal man who was unfortunate enough to come across the wrong person to talk to and is murdered. Although this may be the summary of “Hi, Howya Doin,” there is more to the story. The way that Oates describes her
Cited: Oates, Joyce Carol. "Hi Howya Doin." Literature to Go. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 214-217. Print.