Just like that
Just like that is a story about a man who takes a boy into the bush to shoot kangaroos in order to teach him what it means to be a man. In some way the man and the boy are related to each other, like a father-son relationship but we do not know how they are related.
The man forces the boy to shoot and the in the start the boy feels like he has to kill by default but in the end he expects something. After the boy takes the first shoot the boy is disappointed. He was surprised that it was so easy; he could not even remember when he pulled the trigger. He was disappointed; he had expected more he did not know what. He thought that this would make him a man but he could not feel a difference.
At last the boy aims at the man and “dead” he says.
I find it quiet difficult to understand the message of the story. You often say that you get amazed that so much power can come from such a small thing. In some way the man thinks that killing makes you a man, but it does not make a difference at all. I think that the writer tries to tell that killing isn’t a good thing.
We hear that the boy fells empty and is disappointed but in some way he is still amazed by the power he has in his hands. The boy wants to kill more and more and in the end he aims at the man, we do not know if he actually pulls the trigger, but something dies in him. Maybe he blames the man and wants to revenge.
“The boy stood over it, looked down, and felt nothing. He was empty as if his heart and his guts had been sucked out the barrel of his gun. The kangaroo twisted its head to look up. Its black eyes met his. He had never seen eyes so soft and so black. 'Kill it,' said the man.
The boy touched the rifle to the back of its skull. The kangaroo stiffened. The boy thought it rattled but afterwards he couldn't be sure. Then it was limp. Its mouth and nostrils ran blood. 'Good,' said the man.”
In this bit of the text we hear how he feels when he looks at the kangaroo. The man forces him...