Reaction paper: The Interlude
Michael Anthony, born 1932 in Trinidad and Tobago, is a West Indian author of novels, short stories and travelogues about life in his homeland. In “The interlude”, Anthony tells of some events he imagined could have taken place a few minutes when someone’s past deeds cause an unfortunate event to happen. The story starts when Willis returns to San Fernando after two years in prison for fatally injuring Cyril and leaving him cripple. Willis hoped that the people of San Fernando had forgotten and forgiven his past self; however they had not. When he returned he was confronted by Little John who was enraged at him for what he had done to Cyril. Willis had no choice to try and defend himself from Little John. This made him the killer he was once; reliving his past. The author’s message is clearly showing that no one can escape from his or her past. This happens in reality each and every day. I can relate to Anthony’s message extensively. I was not always a Christian. In my younger days I use to be a very rebellious person, who would fight a lot and even curse out my parents. I went to a youth camp and the pastor’s message touched me. I no longer wanted to be the impure person I was. I wanted a change and a new mind set, but sadly, change does not come that easy. My past was still there, waiting to be dug up somehow. People who I had hurt still remembered me. They did not believe that a person can change so easily. One day I was walking from school and I was confronted by a young girl’s mother, who had supposedly committed suicide because of me. Her mother was frantic and attacked me. The police even had to pry her off of me. This is proof that a person can never get away or hide from their past. I had forgotten about so many things I did in my past but the people I hurt will never forget it. The author’s message is a very strong message and should not be taken lightly. In Belize this happens more than you think. Gang leaders try to change their lives and in the longer run their past catches up on them.
In the story Anthony was very descriptive in how he portrayed the characters and this made the story interesting and stirred up a lot of emotions within me; emotions such as pity, fear and excitement. While reading, I could not wait to find out what would have been the out come of Willis returning back to San Fernando after he spent time in jail for injuring Cyril. As in my own community people never forget a criminal’s face, they are marked for life by the horrible things they did. Willis however, hoped that San Fernando had forgotten. Willis also called “Tiger” returned and the tiger in him had been tamed. It two took years in prison for him to realize that he wanted a change. Maybe going home to San Fernando was not a good choice though. He had not been there for at least a day and he got arrested again for protecting himself from being killed by Little John. I felt so sorry for Willis because people used his past to judge him without even trying to see the new him. He wanted to change so badly, but sadly people never forget the past.
Even though Anthony’s story was fiction it portrays the sad reality of what is happening today.