Blog #1

"This rebuke during the sober hours of school paled much of the glory of the Wild West for me and the confused puffy face of Leo Dillon awakened one of my consciences. But when the restraining influence of the school was at a distance I began to hunger again for wild sensations, for the escape which those chronicles of disorder alone seemed to offer me. The mimic warfare of the evening became at last as wearisome to me as the routine of school in the morning because I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought out." An Encounter

The passage and the short story reflect the idea of routines and repetition. The boy wanted to do something new, rather to engage in his usual day of school. However, the story teaches that although you can want change and adventure, routine is inevitable, and new experiences can be scary. The boy and his friends "encounter" an old man whose's really strange. This creepy figure serves as a symbol of routine and shows that repetition exists even within strange, new experiences. The man walks in circles and he mimics this action in his speech by repeating points already discussed.