Genre 5: "The Other side" through creative writing
This piece is written from the perspective of Mike Barbour, an antagonist in Whale Talk who is known for being somewhat violent and tormenting fellow student Chris Coughlin in particular. By approaching a scene in which Barbour has Coughlin pinned to a set of lockers and protagonist T.J. Jones intervenes from Barbour’s perspective, the piece examines the identity of an induvial in the process of actively traumatizing someone else rather than that of the individual being traumatized. This opposing viewpoint does not necessarily evoke sympathy for Barbour but does humanize him, thereby revealing a human capability for both heroic good and monstrous harm. It is only much later in the novel, as he watches his most influential mentor commit a horrific act in a traumatic scene that has the potential to change Barbour’s entire worldview, that he is able to come to this realization himself. It is worth noting that Barbour is known for various discriminatory attitudes and behaviors that I have chosen to depict in this piece; this includes one ableist and one racist slur that I wanted to incorporate but chose to censor.