Flypaper
Art is the expression of human creativity and imagination, and art comes in many different forms and can be very abstract or very simple. Art is about innovative thinking and seeing things in a different way. The short story ‘Flypaper’ is written by Simon Armitage in year 2000.
The story takes place in a small town in Northern England, we determine the place because we are told council leader Perry is there. The time is indefinite as the first sentence of the story starts out with ‘it was an age like today’. Therefore it could actually take place in the past, the present or in the future. In the first 35 lines, the narrator describes how an anonymous man creates art in unusual places in wet concrete. We hear about his quick rise to fame and his reputation. In the rest of the story, we follow council leader Perry and chief architect Rossiter who is desperately trying to find out who this artist is. The short story is mainly told by a third person narrator, and we get the facts and the visible details, but we do not know what Perry or the artist thinks or feels, although on the last page we get an insight in Perry’s thoughts.
There are two main characters, the artist and council leader Perry. The artist is anonymous so we do not know that much about him; we know he is a male, from his fingerprints. The artist makes fun of everyone in a way, by being anonymous, because everyone is desperate to know who he is. There is even a chat show host and a magazine who offer a sum of money for the person who can reveal the identity of the artist. However, the artist remains anonymous. He even makes a mark of his butt at the entrance of the New National Gallery of Sculpture. This gives the impression of a person that does not think highly of the art world. Many people want to promote themselves by revealing the anonymous artist. One of them is Council leader Perry, who is rather selfish as he tears down an old fountain for his own benefit. He has seen the latest popularity ratings, where his name has dropped halfway down the list. Therefore he decides that he must be the one to catch this anonymous artist, so that he and his town can get popular again “they’ll be flocking here from Timbuktu - I’ll be the man with balls, and you’ll still have a job, so keep your mouth shut. We’ll nail that cunt” (linjehenvisning…). The artist and council leader are described through their actions, but the artist also gets described directly, when Perry sees him walk around the town square.
The story is written in an imagery technique (bedre forklaring), which makes the story come alive. The language is very descriptive (eksempel); it makes us feel present in the story. Another factor that makes us feel present is the use of direct speech. The writer uses a humoristic tone of voice “Tentatively Rossiter began wading into the concrete, holding the hand of another for support, who held the hand of another, until four of them made a human chain, with Rossiter getting only ten or twelve feet into the creamy mush before it rose above his knees, then suddenly to his middle. The four men fell over, but finally made it back to firm ground, covered in the thick white mud. As Perry bawled up from in his building, Rossiter tried again with the rope, then again with the human chain from seven or eight places around the circle. Eventually they collapsed under the trees, exhausted.” (linjehenvisning…). It is funny how these men in hard hats make a human chain, and then all just fell in the cement, and they have to hurry up before they sink deeper. (also a tragedy = death - so why this tone of voice?)
The artist is describes as wearing a loincloth and a ‘crown’ of barbed wire and as he lie in the concrete with his arms spread to the sides and one leg crossed over the other at the ankles, which makes us think of Jesus as he hangs on the cross. The title Flypaper is paper coated with a sticky substance, used to catch flies. In the short story, Perry uses the freshly laid cement to catch the anonymous artist, so that is his flypaper. The last sentences “Perry had left the balcony and closed and locked the doors. Inside his darkened room, the glow of a cigarette was the only light. Just now he wanted to fill his whole body with smoke, breathe in until it filled every inch of him, until it smothered every sense and every thought, until he was too dizzy to think. Then hold it there for as long as he could.” (linjehenvisning…). It gives the impression that he wants to be as dead as the artist when it says; “he wanted to fill his whole body with smoke, breathe in until it filled every inch of him, until it smothered every sense and every thought, until he was too dizzy to think.” (linjehenvisning…). Like how the artist probably breathed in the cement and slowly died from it.
The story takes place in the art world, but could have been a statement in other settings (beskriv bedre) where big money rules and “the latest news” is hot. The reader is left with a feeling that the artist makes fun of the whole art world by making an indentation of his butt right by the entrance of the New National Gallery of Sculpture. The story makes you think that it is silly how people will pay millions of pounds for some art, when he gets famous in the whole country by making some footsteps in concrete and making a life mask of his face in a pavement. Everyone hunts this unknown artist; they want part of his fame. Whilst the artist is more like a symbol of Christianity and Jesus’ sacrifice, as the artist ends his life in the concrete, dressed like Jesus in loincloth and with a crown of barbed wire on his head, laying with his arms outstretched and legs crossed at the ankles, like Jesus on the cross. It was not a wish of fame, that lead him to the fame – rather a statement made in concrete about priorities.