Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft

Shane | Allentown High School, Grade 11

Rating: **

The main character is a morphine addict, and this short story is his suicide note. Haunted by the death of his navy men, as well as his horrific encounter with the fish-like god known as Dagon, he loses his grip on himself and eventually slips.

As saddening as this story was, I found it very intriguing to see a very human character that a number of people can connect to. It shows weakness, making our protagonist that much more real. Starting off with this as the first paragraph was a smart decision to allow the reader to think back to this later on as the events unfold and how this might reflect his decisions. It is also important to note that this is foreshadowing his death, but only at the end do we find out that it was he who took his own life. This is personally just way to dark for me. After all, it fails to see the character overcoming his problems and obstacles. The story paints it as if he gave up... all in all, I feel like there is no character arc.