An Analysis Of 'Game' By Donald Barthelme

Being alone is often questioned by humans with you if you were; that why a common job interview question is "What three things you would bring to a deserted island?" It's because individuals do like not being alone and isolated. The irony, mood, and conflicts show how this is an overall theme of the short story "Game" by Donald Barthelme. In this short story, where two individuals are in an underground bunker during the cold war. They are the men that when told launch the missile they would turn the key. They were told by the American Government to shoot the other one if they acted strangely, the narrator started to notice his companion acting strangely, but never pulled the trigger. Is it the thought of being with the enemy better than being alone?

According to the Oxford dictionary strange is "Unusual or surprising; difficult to understand or explain." In "Game" by Donald Barthelme, characters are armed with .45 caliber pistols in case one acts strangely, but the narrator brings up a compelling point, "Shotwell's behavior with the jacks is strange. Is it strange? I do not know. Perhaps he is merely a selfish bastard, perhaps his character is flawed, perhaps his childhood was twisted I do not know." (Barthelme Pg. 1) The Narrator must also contemplate if his own behavior would be considered strange on page 3 he writes, "Does Shotwell read what I have written? I do not know. I am aware that Shotwell regards my writing-behaviour as strange. Yet it is no stranger than his jacks-behaviour" (Pg.