The Colonel

A detailed Summary of The Colonel

The Colonel is not a stable man. More importantly he is a paranoid one. It does not take a whole lot to be able to tell this. Multiple supporting details will point this out. At the end of this essay you will probably see a point of view that you have never thought of before, but you will also believe this point of view.

The first point that would lead one to believe that the Colonel is a paranoid freak would be the one that is stated in the fifth sentence. The statement is, "There were daily papers, pet dogs, a pistol on the cushion beside him (Forche 612)." The mentioning of a weapon so close at hand and so early in the poem shows that the Colonel seems to have a need to defend himself at all times. A man that is not paranoid of his surroundings would be comfortable in his own home and would have no need to have a weapon so close at hand. After all if one cannot be comfortable in one's own home the it might stand to reason that there is something not quite right with that person.

The next point that was noticed is the fact that the Colonel has a wall surrounding his home (Forche 612). Now, a fence or even a privacy wall is a normal thing, however; what is not normal about this situatio

The Colonel also states something else that would lead one to believe that he is not a stable man. That statement is as follows: "Something for your poetry, no (Forche 612)?" Now, granted this statement by itself is not that strange, but when coupled with the statement in the previous paragraph it almost seems as though he is proud of the way he is acting in front of his guests. A stable man would not want an incident like this published about him for the reason that it would make him look like a tyrant.

n is the fact that the Colonel has implanted into the wall broken bottles. The broken bottles are to scoop the kneecaps of a man's legs or to cut his hands to lace. This is just a little strange. Now, granted a privacy wall with a camera or two wouldn't be an odd thing to see, but seeing a wall with glass implanted into it would make on think that the owner of the house is not a stable person.

The narrator's friend knew not to try and reason with the Colonel. This is stated by the statement, "My friend said to me with his eyes: say nothing (Forche 612)." Having received this comment one would think that the Colonel is not a man that could be reasoned with. A stable man could be reasoned with; therefore one could deduce that the Colonel is an unstable man.

Another point that goes along with the walls is the fact that the Colonel has gratings on his windows (Forche 612). Gratings are typically found on liquor store windows. It is common to find gratings on a homeowner's home for safety precautions, but it is not common to find gratings and shards of glass implanted into the walls of one's home.

There have been multipl

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1111
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English