Questions like ‘How would
you get rid of a murder weapon without causing suspicion?’ and ‘What if you
found out the tattoo on your back was worth over a million pounds?’ could make
the reader hungry for more dark tales with unexpected endings. How did you find
this story?
The story was incredible. I
liked it because the story it was a short story, but long enough to surprise the
reader with and unexpected and twisted ending. This story shows the talent of
the writer of writing stories capable of surprising any kind of reader. I also
liked the interesting way the writer used the flashbacks in the story.
Although I really liked the
story and enjoyed the twisted ending, I must say that it isn´t my favorite
story. I think stories such as “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Sound Machine”
are still better than “Skin” because they have a more interesting and developed plot, also with breathless
ending for the reader.
Which of the two proposals
made to Drioli sounds more appealing to you?
If I had to choose, I would
accept the proposal of the Hotel in Cannes, but I would give myself time enough
for researching information about the hotel and also about the man that is
supposed to be the owner of it. Then I
would see it was all a fake and I would accept none of the options.
I think it was the pressure
of the moment that made Drioli accept the offer of a man he didn’t know at all.
He could have chosen accepting none of the offers, because choosing to do
nothing is an option we always have.
Do you think Drioli
made a wise decision? Why (not)?
Drioli made a stupid
decision, because he didn’t know that man, but he still negotiated with him
what to do with HIS body. The proposal was very tempting- I would have been
tempted by it also- but it was his body and should have been more sensible when
making a decision – when “selling” his skin and also when he tattooed it.
Analyze the ending,
especially the last paragraph, and make your comments.
“It wasn’t more than a few weeks later that a picture by Soutine, of a woman’s head, painted in an unusual manner,
nicely framed and heavily varnished , turned up for sale in Buenos Aires. That - and the fact
that there is no hotel in Cannes called Bristol - causes one to wonder a little, and
to pray for the old man’s health, and to hope strongly that wherever he may be at this moment, there is a plump
attractive girl to manicure the nails of his fingers, and a maid to bring him
his breakfast in bed in the mornings.”
The ending suggests that
the man whose proposal he accepts kills him. Like in other stories, the writer
tells the reader to be careful with the people we think we know, because not
always everything is what it seems to be.
