Review of story "The Prize" by Dagoberto Gilb
Created | Updated Feb 10, 2003
The story "The Prize" by Dagoberto Gilb is about one man's introduction into the world of magic. Although nothing remarkable happens in the story, the reader is left with a strong belief in the possible existence in magic, not only within the confines of the story, but within the real world as well.
One of the strong points of the story is that absolutely everything that happened in the story could have happened in real life as well, so that when the narrator brushes just barely against the unknown, the reader is given the feeling that the same thing could have happened to anyone. In addition, if you take a close look at the narrator, you find that there is no physical description of him, not even a name is given. The only things are the fact that he is male since he enjoys the female pornography on page 77 and the fact that he has to stand to urinate: "The sink next to which I stand..." (p.78). The only other physical description is the fact that he has sideburns, which it notes on page 80. You never even get a sense of relative height, because he is never "looking up" or "bending down" near objects we could correlate his height with. Read through the story and you see that he could easily be a giant or a midget with no contradictory descriptions in the story. The fact is that the character is so vague that the reader automatically places themselves in his position, and thus feel the brush with magic that much stronger. After all, at one time or another all people have tried to change something with their minds, by praying or even strongly wishing, and all halfway believed it would happen. While Chino IS the one doing the magic and not the narrator, you can still sense the narrator hoping that his wishing will create an almost "sympathetic" magic and help Chino along, and that is what people in general do when they know they don't have magic; they just sit there and wish strongly. Also, this "prize" as well that he is so strongly striving for is uncapitalized, which means that "the prize" is just his own name for it. Taking away the boundaries that it is some sort of contest we find that the description of the prize is almost as vague. The reader can deduce that it has something to do with money, that a person has to work hard and be deserving to get it, they also need connections to get it, and usually rich people get it. This could be applied to a great many things, and when it is considered what the average person considers their "prize", it will usually match that description. So not only does Gilb put the reader in the character's position, you can also subconsciously add your idea of the "prize" as well, sinking yourself deeper within the story.
The author also sets the mood for the story with the descriptions of Chino, his barbershop, and his stories. Chino is a small, skinny black man who lives in the humble abode of half a barber shop. His hands are gnarled, he has a face with character, and he has a very down-to-earth skill. His stories are not for the purpose of boosting his ego or pulling the wool over someone's eyes, but mere recollections of actual events. All of these facts describe someone the reader can easily imagine with "Bruja" magic. His magic, as well, is not extravagant or flashy and someone witnessing an event he had created would not think it was magic-related at all unless they had been informed so.
All this leads up to the conclusion of the story. Absolutely nothing remarkable happens. And that is the only way this story could have ended if the author wants to complete his intended purpose of giving the reader a belief in magic. If the narrator had obeyed all of the Bruja rules and had not promised to not give half of his windfall to Chino and still nothing had happened, then the reader would leave the story with the idea that it was a short story about two men deluding themselves in search of happiness. Conversely, had the narrator still gone by the rules of Bruja and received his "prize", we would immediately dismiss this as fiction, and not very good fiction at that unless the author had added some sort of twist into it. But left this way, with the rules of Bruja broken, and no windfall coming to the narrator it is much more realistic. Magic is rarely loud and brassy in realistic stories, those are classified more along the lines of "sword and sorcery". Using the idea subtly as he does, Mr. Gilb has not compromised the rules that make this story realistic but still we are left with the belief that had the narrator only agreed within himself to share "the prize", the letter would have been congratulatory, rather than apologetic. In the end even the narrator himself believes on some level of his mind that there is magic, because he has to deny it violently to himself ("What if I had [gone] along with Chino? Would the letter [have been different]? No way. No.") (p.85), and because he asks for Chino to try out something different, more stuff. You can tell that something has been opened within him and that he will eventually be able to believe in magic wholeheartedly with his conscious mind. All in all, the story leaves the reader with a resounding feeling of What If?
One of the strong points of the story is that absolutely everything that happened in the story could have happened in real life as well, so that when the narrator brushes just barely against the unknown, the reader is given the feeling that the same thing could have happened to anyone. In addition, if you take a close look at the narrator, you find that there is no physical description of him, not even a name is given. The only things are the fact that he is male since he enjoys the female pornography on page 77 and the fact that he has to stand to urinate: "The sink next to which I stand..." (p.78). The only other physical description is the fact that he has sideburns, which it notes on page 80. You never even get a sense of relative height, because he is never "looking up" or "bending down" near objects we could correlate his height with. Read through the story and you see that he could easily be a giant or a midget with no contradictory descriptions in the story. The fact is that the character is so vague that the reader automatically places themselves in his position, and thus feel the brush with magic that much stronger. After all, at one time or another all people have tried to change something with their minds, by praying or even strongly wishing, and all halfway believed it would happen. While Chino IS the one doing the magic and not the narrator, you can still sense the narrator hoping that his wishing will create an almost "sympathetic" magic and help Chino along, and that is what people in general do when they know they don't have magic; they just sit there and wish strongly. Also, this "prize" as well that he is so strongly striving for is uncapitalized, which means that "the prize" is just his own name for it. Taking away the boundaries that it is some sort of contest we find that the description of the prize is almost as vague. The reader can deduce that it has something to do with money, that a person has to work hard and be deserving to get it, they also need connections to get it, and usually rich people get it. This could be applied to a great many things, and when it is considered what the average person considers their "prize", it will usually match that description. So not only does Gilb put the reader in the character's position, you can also subconsciously add your idea of the "prize" as well, sinking yourself deeper within the story.
The author also sets the mood for the story with the descriptions of Chino, his barbershop, and his stories. Chino is a small, skinny black man who lives in the humble abode of half a barber shop. His hands are gnarled, he has a face with character, and he has a very down-to-earth skill. His stories are not for the purpose of boosting his ego or pulling the wool over someone's eyes, but mere recollections of actual events. All of these facts describe someone the reader can easily imagine with "Bruja" magic. His magic, as well, is not extravagant or flashy and someone witnessing an event he had created would not think it was magic-related at all unless they had been informed so.
All this leads up to the conclusion of the story. Absolutely nothing remarkable happens. And that is the only way this story could have ended if the author wants to complete his intended purpose of giving the reader a belief in magic. If the narrator had obeyed all of the Bruja rules and had not promised to not give half of his windfall to Chino and still nothing had happened, then the reader would leave the story with the idea that it was a short story about two men deluding themselves in search of happiness. Conversely, had the narrator still gone by the rules of Bruja and received his "prize", we would immediately dismiss this as fiction, and not very good fiction at that unless the author had added some sort of twist into it. But left this way, with the rules of Bruja broken, and no windfall coming to the narrator it is much more realistic. Magic is rarely loud and brassy in realistic stories, those are classified more along the lines of "sword and sorcery". Using the idea subtly as he does, Mr. Gilb has not compromised the rules that make this story realistic but still we are left with the belief that had the narrator only agreed within himself to share "the prize", the letter would have been congratulatory, rather than apologetic. In the end even the narrator himself believes on some level of his mind that there is magic, because he has to deny it violently to himself ("What if I had [gone] along with Chino? Would the letter [have been different]? No way. No.") (p.85), and because he asks for Chino to try out something different, more stuff. You can tell that something has been opened within him and that he will eventually be able to believe in magic wholeheartedly with his conscious mind. All in all, the story leaves the reader with a resounding feeling of What If?
