Adam Smith "Animals"

It is often difficult to cover a long period of time in a short story, but this piece succeeds in doing so by telling us about the relationship between an unnamed bad boy and his more innocent counterpart, Jenny. The story begins with the narrator stealing a jacket in Italy, but the story as a whole focuses on what kind of attraction exists between a good girl and a bad boy. This piece did what I thought was a great job of capturing the insights of a troubled young man and his attempts to have a good relationship with Jenny. The central conflict is vastly internal, but the tension given to us between the protagonist’s animalistic desires and moralistic longings was more than sufficient to support a structured story. What is interesting about this piece too is that more than character appears to change by the end. The protagonist goes through somewhat of a roller coaster between trying to be “good” and falling back into his more base desires while Jenny goes from being sweet and innocent to more sensuous and thieving.

            I really thought a lot was working for this story. At the onset, I was afraid the main character was going to be one-dimensional and boring, but he turned out to be an emotionally and mentally complex figure that was interesting to follow. I especially liked his insights into the relationship between a sweet girl and a rough rider like himself on page 2; this showed how aware he was of his own situation and how difficult it is to control himself. The events leading up to the end were chalk full of emotion, and I appreciated the weight that the protagonist felt at changing Jenny into what he calls an “animal.” One of the few suggestions I would have for improving this piece would be to rework the beginning. This is the only portion of the piece that feels shallower than the others, but I think a little revision could very easily remedy this issue. All in all, a great story with a lot of insights and intrigue for the audience; I really enjoyed it