The Man in the Pepper Mill
Publication(s)
- First publication
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1996
- Wolfe collection(s)
Summary
A boy finds himself shrunken and within his dead sister's dollhouse on certain nights. THe only other living person he can see is a lighthouse keeper, since the pepper mill on the kitchen counter has become that lighthouse.
Analysis
- The magic transformation of plastic figures into real ones strongly resembles The Indian in the Cupboard.
- There may also be a reference to the play Tiny Alice.
- The name Tippy may be another nod to Tip in the Oz books. See The Eyeflash Miracles. If so, it's another sign of gender conflicts -- a boy named for a female writer, with a pink dinosaur toy. He needs a strong male role model like the man in the pepper mill.
- Tippy's (and Cathy's) plan to bring his mother together with the lighthouse keeper seems to have worked. He has converted the pink plastic stegosaurus to a real one, and now the family will need the man's help with the press.
- Sources of quotes
- Meanings of names
- References to other works
- Theories about what happens under the surface, what the narrator isn't telling us, who the narrator is and when and why s/he is telling the story, what the whole thing "means," etc.
If there are multiple or competing theories, each one should be given a name with a three-bang (!!!) header; if the page begins to get out-of-hand from the size of these, as could happen in a few cases, they should be shuffled off to their own page(s). - Etc.
Unresolved Questions
- Was it A or was it B, or was it X or Z?
- Was it he or was it she, or was it you or me?
- Who dunnit?
- Did the Star Child really start WWIII at the end of 2001?