"Escape from Spiderhead" was about a teenager named Jeff who is a part of an experiment to test different drugs and how they react with humans. After weeks of testing, Jeff is required to choose between two girls he had recently become romantically involved with and decide who would be given Darkenfloxx (a drug that makes the user want to hurt themselves). Not wanting to cause anyone any harm, Jeff gives himself Darkenfloxx instead, killing himself.
While Saunders has an amazing collection of short stories and he never ceases to enchant his readers, his short story, "Escape from Spiderhead" left me feeling confused and somewhat disappointed. I was mildly frustrated when I found out that Jeff had decided to kill himself instead of figure out another solution to the problem. Just because Jeff killed himself does not mean that one of the girls is not going to be given the Darkenfloxx. Killing himself only postponed the inevitable. I thought that the story could have had a more logical solution to the problem. I preferred Saunders' stories, "Victory Lap" and "Tenth of December" over "Escape from Spiderhead".
While I agree that the ending was not exactly a happy ending, I think that it was in the sense that he overcame the system. He was put into this institution where he has no control over what he does or even what he thinks and feels. The control that they have over him reaches such an extent that he can't even control the emotions that he has. All of his actions are predetermined by the Spiderhead and ending his life was the one thing that he could do that they did not have control over. Although it could be viewed as an action of weakness, it also exemplifies a sort of strength to not succumb to the power of the Spiderhead.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I agree with your assumption that the experiment would be redone with other people once Jeff killed himself. I think it is possible that the result of the failed experiment (two dead people and no definitive answer to their question) could dissuade them from further testing.
ReplyDeleteAnother, unrelated thought: Jeff's approach reminds me of people who go on hunger strikes because both Jeff and people on hunger strikes risk (and, sometimes, give up) their lives in hopes of effecting change.
While i disagree with Jeff's course of action i still think he achieved a happy ending. He could not be forced to murder someone, he stood by his principles and in the end gave his life for them. The decision could not have been an easy one but he obviously felt strong enough about the idea of murdering another person to make that ultimate sacrifice. So in a way he did "Escape", as he achieved true freedom by standing by his convictions.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am able to sympathize with your dissatisfaction with the ending of the story, I do not believe that it was necessarily Saunders' direct intention to have Jeff "escape from Spiderhead" in the story. While the and the plot line obviously lead the reader to anticipate some sort of grand escape from a place of oppression and misery, knowing Saunders' complex style of storytelling, I believe that he did not intentionally set up the story to cause the reader to anticipate a grand escape at the end because doing so would make for a simple, predictable story. Therefore, I believe that Jeff's "escape" was not supposed to be an escape at all but an open-ended, Saunders-style plot element which the reader is invited to make his or her own meaning of.
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