The Walking Sticks

Publication(s)

• First publication
  • Taps and Sighs, 1999
• Wolfe collection(s)
  • Innocents Aboard (2004)
  • The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories (2023)

Wolfe's comments from the Introduction to Innocents Aboard

There were no comments on this story in the introduction.

Summary

A man receives a box containing the walking sticks of Dr. Jekyll, and becomes a new Mr. Hyde.

Analysis

It is difficult to make a consistent chronology from what the narrator tells us, which indicates that he is lying.

• 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?

< A Traveler in Desert Lands | Innocents Aboard | Queen >

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