"Vincent" Response

As with all pieces of art, there are two ways to view Vincent’s story: optimistically or pessimistically. The radio show hosts could be saying that there is no hope for “special” people. They do not think in our world, so they cannot be expected to operate in our world. Perhaps it is best to let “special” people operate in their own little world, where they operate in uncanny ways, such as Steven when he sat in his room 10 inches from the T.V. and watched old movies. Perhaps they cannot coexist in our world where the slightest eccentric behavior immediately defines who you are. Then again, the story ends on a brief, yet clear, positive note when Vincent gets involved with the chicken project, and his other activities fall in place again. This is what makes me believe that the show is about (to steal a quote from presidential candidate Barrack Obama’s campaign) “the audacity of hope”; the daring dreams that “special people” and “us” can coexist in one world. Maybe these people are just like us, maybe there is no difference between them and us, maybe everyone’s behavior is fatefully eccentric. Ultimately, though, the basic meaning of this story derives from these two contrasts in viewpoints, the optimistic view and the pessimistic view. Is the glass half empty or half full? Ultimately, this is more than just a metaphor; it is a truth of life. In life there are always two clashing forces: happiness and sadness, optimism and pessimism, half full and half empty, the Colts and the Patriots, the Greeks and the Persians (Ancient Greece tie-in), etc. That is, I believe, the basic essence of the story on this radio show; that life is a guaranteed clash, and it’s not necessarily what happens, but how you put it in perspective.
What is truly remarkable about this story is how incredibly similar it is to the classic literary novel “Of Mice and Men”. Fundamentally these stories are built around similar characters, similar themes, and similar messages. George Milton (the “normal” character in the novel) is remarkably similar to the Vincent’s family, both juggle the weight of dealing with a “special” person who is engaged in their own world, while also trying to still maintain a place in “our” world. Lennie Small (the “special” person in the novel) is remarkably similar to Vincent. Both act like babies despite their adult ages, both rely on people close to them for moral and physical support, and both have a remarkable fondness for small animals (Lennie rabbits and Vincent chickens). The plots have some notable similarities (such as the rabbits-chickens connections) but overall are not very similar. It is mostly the unwritten that makes these books so similar, the unwritten parts such as the fundamental message of clashing viewpoints, the struggle of “mentally challenged” people to coexist in “our” world, and the sameness they share with “us” that makes one embarrassed to ever think they are different.
Perhaps the most appealing part of this story is that (contrary to what I stated earlier about clashing viewpoints) this story is a metaphor. Differences are what separate us all. Perhaps this story is more of an extreme example, a man with a rare type of “mental disability” and the “normal” American, but an example regardless. This story begs the question, ‘how different can one be before it affects their coexistence with society (or the surrounding people)?’ When do those differences reach a certain point when racism, biases, cliques, or other social barriers separate us? This separation can cause serious emotional instability for the excluded people. A perfect example of this is the thesis in the radio show that perhaps Vincent quit his job and other activities because he was beginning to feel too far away from the world he struggled to exist in, the one “we” exist in. Clearly, he desperately wanted to fit in, and despite his family’s best efforts to keep him involved, he wasn’t fitting in. This leads us back to the first part of this radio show, when it is discussed whether “special” kids should be put in Special Ed. Are we solving the problem, or just further worsening it? Are we pushing the differences even further than they already were? Perhaps the reason “special” people are considered so different, is because we make them different.