The Edge
The time was seven o’clock in the morning, and the glowing ball of heat had began to take its ascent into the sky over the desert. A loudspeaker with a voice connected to every part of the town produced an obnoxious ring, then proceeded to say, “good morning citizens, another fine day in the town of Limbo.” The coordinated town members awoke in exact relation, while others had been awake for hours sitting in chairs behind there houses, there gaze being met by a barbed wire fence. Its twines and curls at the top of the chain link yielding twisted razors placed ten feet of the surface of the sand.
As the day began its creep through minutes and hours, one by one the citizens of Limbo would arrive at the center of the community. If you were to look directly down at the town of Limbo, you would notice one single street leading through the center. On either end weaving left and right to accommodate the citizens residences lining the back roads. This street you would notice, even though having the expanse of a ⅕ mile, retains a median down it’s focus, with glowing red stop signs positioned at each end of this two lane passage. The loudspeaker then again came to life, “Don’t forget, citizens, today outlet one, nine, and thirteen will be selling at 50% off, get there fast, before there’s nothing left.”
Beyond the chain barriers of Limbo, sometimes during the height of the day, or the dead middle of night the bombs would fall. There magnified oval appearance met by the fins guiding them to the earth. The pockmarked landscape was showered with downpours of black sand as the falling metal detonated on impact sending shrapnel from the charge in guidance to the area around them. The citizens of Limbo could hear the concussion, could see them, but only a handful of the town members gave it modest study.
As the residents of the town resided to there homes for the evening, the cold crept across the desert. At nine o’clock sharp the loudspeaker switched on with contortion in the background. The words vented themselves into every household, as the loudspeaker proceeded, “Citizens of Limbo, we hope you have a good evening, we would permit you to get some rest, tomorrow outlets eighteen and nineteen will open there doors.”
Explanation:
The theme or message that this story is revealing is the fact that living in the American society, our perception of the rest of the world is very clouded. To a point a majority of us, as many of us believe can be very one-minded, resulting in more focus from the population on things of little importance like materialistic objects. This certain story shows this through the portrayal of a small town placed in the middle of a desert, miles from any other civilization. The name of the town, Limbo, gives the meaning that in history it has been referred to as the edge of hell. However I am in no way relating these two, but putting across that meaning that the lifestyle and citizens found in this town are somewhat are not in the violence and conflict present in other countries around us, therefor showing that this town or, the American experience is on the edge of conflict while the majority of American in a way look over while not being involved.
The setting incorporates falling bombs around the town of Limbo, displaying the little attention the citizens present to the destruction around them. This also relates to the barbed wire fence, and the safety that it poses to the town. The reason for the old American, wealthy cliche society is to present to the reader the setting of the American experience, and while this kind of a lifestyle does not apply to many, I exaggerated in my writing. Apart from the setting, the only dialogue within this story is through the town intercom. I tried to make this the only dialogue as to make the lifestyle and the town itself the only voice that sent the citizens into action.
However the main focus of this short story was to posses the theme of materialistic objects, and how they steal our concentration from other, more important situations around the world that the majority do not personally come in contact with. This is shown not only through the exaggerated life style, but the towns focus on sales, stores, and unnecessary objects like cars. These known to exist through the median and street signs running down the streets of a town all accessible by walking. The town of Limbo, a town built around the purchase and selling of materialistic objects, surrounded by destruction.
