'The Knife Thrower', analyse

Excitements, mysterious, forbidden, fascination, entertainment, sensual, are some of the words

which characterize this short story and its themes very well. Some of the themes are the forbidden,

barrier-breaking, sacrificing and entertainment. The audience knows that knife throwing is

compared with the forbidden and barrier-breaking, and when the girls sacrifice themselves the

audience get exhilarated by the excitement, “(…) still we had been entertained by our knife thrower,

had we not, we had been carried a long way, so that even as we questioned his cruel art we were

ready to offer our applause.” (Page 4-5 lines 142-145) The audience know that the knife thrower is

a cruel man, but still they are fond of him, and that’s what makes the story so real and fascinating.

The story takes place in a small American village, everyone knows each other and therefore it’s also

a “we” narrator, “And we knew her, Susan Parker, a high school girl, who might have been our

daughter.” (Page 3 lines 87-88) From this quotation you can conclude that it might be a couple in

the audience who are telling the story through their own eyes. The story takes place on a Saturday

evening and the show lasts about half an hour.