James H. Pickering`s Bigfoot Stole My Wife: Summary and Literary Analysis

“Bigfoot Stole My Wife: Story of a Believer”

According to Contemporary Authors Online, Ron Carlson focuses on stories that include satire and humor (“Ron Carlson”). The short story “Bigfoot Stole My Wife” covers the life of Rick, a man married to a very attractive woman who is stolen from him by Bigfoot. However this was just an excuse for him, since she actually abandoned him. He backs up the first story with a second one, talking about his trailer being washed away in a flood. Mainly in this story, is seen subplot and a biting melodramatic satire directly criticizing uneducated people which gives it the humorous tone.

The author James H. Pickering in his glossary of literary terms, defines subplot as: “… a secondary action or complication within a fictional work that often serves to reinforce or contrast the main plot” (1168). In the story, “Bigfoot stole my Wife,” subplot is used to highlight the life of the main character, Rick, as an uneducated person who lives a poor life in a trailer and has a beautiful wife, but can’t make her happy due to his gambling problem. This is seen when he talks about her, saying “One of these days I’m not going to be here when you get home.” He also thinks this is a perfectly normal thing to say, and everybody in a relationship says that. He cannot accept the fact that he is not good enough for his wife due to his bad habits of not giving attention to her, but to other things that don’t matter. He uses Bigfoot to take the blame for his mistakes, because Bigfoot is fictional, and it is a good choice since Rick wouldn’t be able to argue with him. The fact that he believes in Bigfoot makes him relate to people who believe in conspiracy theories, which contrasts the main plot with these kinds of people who didn’t go to school or are just ignorant. Anyone who is educated properly can differenciate real information from conspiracy theories. For many men, being left by their wife is considered a shame. Most men would rather say that they left the woman, instead of her leaving him; for some people, whoever is getting dumped is the “loser” of the relationship. To escape from having to tell his family and friends that he got left, which could be humiliating for him, he made up the story of having someone, in this case Bigfoot, stealing her, therefore, he doesn’t need to deal with the sad reality. Halfway through the wife stealing story, he transitions to the unbelievable exciting story of him being in a trailer swept away in a flood for more than thirty miles away, but he never really does finish the first story. Did he go after his wife? Did he ask any of the people in the neighborhood? The story is clearly left unfinished. If he was really that devastated he would be out looking for her. He tries to change the subject of the story for a moment, focusing on something else. Overall Ron Carlson reinforces the main story with the subplot because Rick can be seen as a dumb person but his abilities to lie are so good even he ends up believing in his own lies, reinforcing the existence of bigfoot and the fact that it stole his wife.

A satire, according to James H. Pickering, is “A type of writing that hold up persons, ideas, or thing to varying degrees of amusement, ridicule, or contempt in order, presumably, to improve, correct, or bring about some desirable change.” This satire is directly pointed towards people who live in trailers and in poor neighborhoods which is realized when Rick recites his story of the flood he’s been through. He exaggerates the story and adds drama to it, and trying to make it more intense, when it is really not that big of a deal. He is making himself a fool by telling a story that no one will ever believe. It ends up becoming humorous because he is being serious the entire time. Another characteristic used to perhaps reinforce the satire is the melodramatic tone used to make him a victim, but it really does the exact opposite of that, this makes the reader dislike him even more. It is like he really deserved what happened to him. He could have a better life, better chances of succeeding at something if he was intelligent, or a little less dumb; life is hard, but it’s even harder when people are dumb. The best example of the melodramatic tone is, “ I close the fridge door. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever done.” , “... I close the fridge door and it’s like part of my life closed. Bigfoot steals your wife and you’re in for some changes.” It really does not get more dramatic than that. In addition, a short criticism written by David Abrams talks about how detailed the subplot is, to the point that it would almost be credible, and how it would make the reader perhaps lose the ability to believe in something. He also cites Bigfoot as being a metaphor for denial. Another important thing is how the narrator doesn’t talk a whole lot about his gambling addiction and how he tries to hide it; but that doesn’t keep the reader from being unaware of the addiction perhaps being the biggest contribution for his wife leaving him. Carlson makes us think that it is really hard for people to believe in something because, depending on what we hear, it sounds like a joke and we automatically take it as something not true.

This story is a great example of liars who are so used to doing it that they end up believing in anything, turning into a kind of crazy person . It is a good entertainment because the lies make the story interesting and funny, Obviously the author criticizes everything indirectly so the critic is not offensive to those he spotlights. Overall, very well written subplot.