Prime Directive

The story takes place the evening before Halloween, and as most people have probably mentioned, there is definite symbolism in this story concerning masks. Despite having been desensitized to the notions of symbolism courtesy of sparknotes.com, I happened to really connect with both the message of this story.

The main character is a lonely guy who desperately seeks a good, drunken time as a means to quell his unhappiness with life. From the very beginning, we sense a desire in him to roleplay as a means to escape reality and make friends. He ends up going to three different Halloween parties that night, each one varying in both character and mood. The first party is set in the spirit of a nerdy Star Trek Convention, which soon turns into a full-out philosophical discussion suggesting that the governing system of the Star Trek universe is a representation of our own. The second party is a typical portrayal of various members of generation X looking to drown their sorrows in cheap booze and corny music. The narrator considers doing a Captain Kirk impression in front of his friends, but ultimately lacks the confidence. It's clear that the narrator isn't enjoying this party any more than the last one, and begins to think of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib and the black women in rap videos being portrayed as sex objects, and how both serve as models of American degradation. The final party is an untimely let-down. Like so many things in American culture, it sounds fantastic on the outside, but is ultimately a disappointment. It is at this party, however, that the narrator discovers a ghastly side of himself. His friend shows the narrator pictures of him posing with a guy wearing a sack over his head, and it becomes painfully obvious that both the narrator and his friend take great amusement in reinacting the various scenes of torture that took place at that prison.

The next day he snaps back to reality, and realizes the shameless act he had committed the night before. He realizes that although he was disgusted at reading about Abu Ghraib, he had no problem making fun of it and giving in to his carnal desires, just like the soldiers had done as well. The story effectively ends when he tries to scare the kids with his mask. One kid asks "Is that a real person?" and the other kid says "Kick him and find out." This is a prime example of the aforementioned symbolism towards masks, and how people tend to hide their true emotions and desires behind a mask in real life.