Lit. of Fantasy, Horror and Sci-Fi: The Drowned Giant

"The Drowned Giant" 

This story, written by J.G. Ballard, really left me thinking about what was happening and why. At first glance, and after reading the first few sentences, I assumed the giant was meant to be a whale or marine animal that washed up; but later on it was revealed to be a human-like colossus that had suddenly appeared dead on the shores of this Lilliputian town--Lilliputian being in reference to "Gulliver's Travels". 

As I kept reading, I started thinking that it was a Greek god who had fallen from the heavens; I assumed so by how the narrator described the giant's appearance resembling Grecian style, or the possibility of being a character from The Odyssey. From then on, I started paying close attention to any description of the giant to see if I could identify it. 

I saw the behavior of the townspeople was similar to how scavengers acted when finding food; as crowds gathered and eventually started removing the giant piece by piece, I thought back to a video I once saw of sea creatures devouring a sunken whale carcass: clamoring onto the body, then stripping it of flesh until the skeleton remained. Even then, people from all corners used parts of the giant for their benefit, whether it be decoration or a display to gain profit. There was no true respect given to this fallen giant.

It reminded me of also how every day people tend to act; we are naturally drawn to the bizarre and the macabre, so when something happens, people will just come and watch. This is how circuses and freak shows gained attention, watching acts that are no better treated than some zoo animals. People will stare at other races of people, and oftentimes belittle them because they think themselves superior. It was even said in the story, no one sought to wonder why this giant had died and washed ashore, nor are they empathetic. After a few days, the shock is gone, like a trend, or a child grown bored of a toy. This giant is nothing more but an attraction, a place to explore, something to use, and use, and use until nothing is left. 

If there were to be anything symbolic about it, I suppose it'd potentially be the human mind trying to strip away the wonderment of some things, not seeing the fascinating elements around it, or comprehending why those elements are there. Rather than be like, "Wow, there is a giant! Why is it here, how did it get here, how did it die, what happened?" it behaves like, "Yeah, okay, it's cool, whatever." Then again, there could be nothing symbolic about it.