The Ogre pgs 3-93

1. When I first read the beginning, and it said he was an ogre, the image that immediately came to my mind was Shrek. We then find out that Abel wrote about how Rachel saw him as an ogre. Even though he said he is not crazy, it seemed to me that Abel was crazy. He works in a garage, and writes about ogres, sounds like he’s crazy to me. When we find out about him as being the owner of a garage, he seemed more normal, because he talked about his life, and it made sense to the readers. Though I have to say, it was a bit confusing in some parts, reading through his letters, because it jumped back and forth. The mythical part of this book was in large part due to the ogre. It reminded me of a fairytale, when the ogre helped carry the guy across to the other side. Also, it reminded me of Don Quixote a little bit, when the ogre was fighting, like there were fighting scenes in Don Quixote, it wasn’t real. These two characters differs from one another. They live different lives, though Nestor is seen as the hero, saving Abel in different situations. Another fairytale character mentioned was Pinocchio, and the wicked fairy that turns the coach into the pumpkin.

4. I think that Rachel is an important character because she was the one who told Abel “You’re an ogre.” Because she said this, Abel probably wrote about the ogre, incorporated the ogre’s in the stories, and took a liking towards the ogre. Abel lost Rachel, which is why the Ogre is an important subject in the story. He already lost Rachel, he doesn’t want to lose the Ogre as well. He wrote about the Ogre, Nestor, so now it has become part of his life, his stories. In the bible, Rachel means purity. In the book, Nester said, “Condensation is full of intriguing mysteries. Because it is life. But there’s something about purity just the same. Purity equals nothingness, and we find it irresistibly attractive because we are all sons of nothingness.” This tells me that purity equals Rachel, which equals nothingness. Abel thought Rachel was nothing, so he created the ogre because of Rachel.