Analyse af novellen 'The Fatal Board Game'

What would you do if you found yourself trapped in an unhappy marriage? While that is not something most people consciously reflect on in their day-to-day lives, it is a situation that for many can become more relevant than ever expected. The story of The Fatal Board Game explores how years and years of suppressed resentment in an unhappy marriage can escalate into destructive, possibly fatal fantasies if given the power.

The story opens in medias res with the line: “It’s a hot day and I hate my wife.” This blunt statement immediately introduces both the story’s central conflict, and the narrator’s dissatisfaction with his life. Both points are repeated various times throughout the story and are also the primary reason that the narrator ends up acting as maliciously as he ultimately does. The story is set inside the narrator’s and his wife’s home. We don’t get told much, except for the fact that we quickly establish that it’s abnormally hot outside, and that the narrator feels very constricted in his position of life. He speaks bitterly about wishing for a more exciting life than the one he is currently living. He wishes that he was out exploring, and not stuck inside his too warm home, playing a simple board game with his wife, whom he deeply loathes.