Bolt Fast Or Weather
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Honors Theses Department of English 2-5-2007 Bolt Fast or Weather McCormick Stephan Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_hontheses Recommended Citation Stephan, McCormick, "Bolt Fast or Weather." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_hontheses/3 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BOLT FAST OR WEATHER by STEPHAN MCCORMICK Under the Direction of Josh Russell ABSTRACT Just graduated, Livy McHaney moves into a loft owned by father and daughter Wallace and Keegan Sammler. As Livy gets to know the Sammlers, he becomes fascinated by the sense Wallace makes out the world, a skill difficult for Livy. At the same time, Livy starts working at Zoo Dunn conducting its Tournado Train. Wallace explains to Livy his reflections on animals, enthralling Livy with his big ideas about freedom and questioning when one is supposed to not. In an attempt to make his grand pronouncements concrete, Wallace recruits Livy into a secret plan to kidnap and set free a popular young elephant from Zoo Dunn. Once in motion, much of their plan fails and everything appears less certain. Livy is forced to rethink the kidnapping's meaning, the possibility of changing the way people view animals, and ultimately the allure of Wallace's "truth" in forging his own ideas about life. INDEX WORDS: Elephants, Zoo, Captivity, Animal representation, BOLT FAST OR WEATHER by STEPHAN MCCORMICK An Honors Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation with Undergraduate Research Honors in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2006 BOLT FAST OR WEATHER by STEPHAN MCCORMICK Honors Thesis Director: Josh Russell Honors Program Director: Robert Sattlemeyer Electronic Version Approved: Honors Program College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University Spring 2007 Copyright by Stephan R. McCormick, Jr. 2006 iv Table of Contents THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008 ...............................................................................................1 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14 ...............................................................................................................1 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15 .........................................................................................................3 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16..............................................................................................................4 Monday, November 17................................................................................................................5 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19 ......................................................................................................8 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 .......................................................................................................13 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21 .............................................................................................................24 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 .......................................................................................................25 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23............................................................................................................27 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24 ..........................................................................................................31 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25..........................................................................................................36 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26 ....................................................................................................41 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, FULL MOON..................................................................................44 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28 .............................................................................................................54 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29 .......................................................................................................54 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30............................................................................................................58 MONDAY, DECEMBER 1.............................................................................................................60 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2 ............................................................................................................62 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3.......................................................................................................65 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4..........................................................................................................66 MONDAY, DECEMBER 8.............................................................................................................67 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 ............................................................................................................68 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10.....................................................................................................70 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11........................................................................................................73 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13........................................................................................................73 MONDAY, DECEMBER 15...........................................................................................................74 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16 ..........................................................................................................74 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17.....................................................................................................75 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18........................................................................................................76 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19..............................................................................................................77 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20........................................................................................................78 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21 ............................................................................................................82 MONDAY, DECEMBER 22...........................................................................................................86 THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2009...................................................................................................87 FRIDAY, JANUARY 2 ..................................................................................................................99 SUNDAY, JANUARY 4...............................................................................................................100 FRIDAY, JANUARY 30 ..............................................................................................................101 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 ......................................................................................................102 MONDAY, MARCH 2 ................................................................................................................102 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 ...........................................................................................................102 1 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008 I found a junk e-mail in my inbox this morning entitled LEARN TO BE A MAN AT THE ZOO. After such a bold claim, I had to open it: Zoo Dunn has five positions open, and Friday afternoon it’s holding an ‘open call’ interview. I double checked the e-mail’s veracity at the zoo’s website (and legit it was, if in odd taste) and submitted an application online. The prospect of working in a zoo excites me since I don’t do anything here at home – three months since graduation, I can’t get through five pages in a book. Television and music hurt more than help. Nobody but robots e- mail. And my bank account’s almost empty. But I am doing something. This counts as something. Hello, journal. The novelty of working around animals should at least get me through a security deposit at a new place. Of the jobs on the website listed, I doubt I’m qualified to be an elephant keeper. And I'm finished serving food. So that leaves ticket ripper, carousel conductor or tour-train driver. I think I’ll try for the carousel. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14 There was a time when people were in the habit of keeping things to themselves. I once heard it termed hardboiled-dom: an austere, scrupulous, outward focus which mirrored well-made interiority (if only by way of the whip). Thus all it took to understand a person’s character was to watch them, to listen to how they spoke for the habits of their thought. When a person speaks of herself, a sensitive looker feigns interest. A person’s character is a construction and should be like a tangible map; but take away the activity from the construction and he’s as ill-equipped to know himself by relying on his emotions as he is to find double-sided glass in a hall of mirrors. But this constructive idea hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just evolved. We are enjoined by it now to forge ourselves out of base materials. I can’t imagine any more pressure, even in a town with every judging moral eye on you than the weight of an empty personality when nothing is disallowed.