The Wild West
The focus on the Wild West at the beginning of “An Encounter” frames the narrator’s ambivalence towards adventure and masculinity. With its stories about battles and exploration, the Wild West contains the mystery, adventure…
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The Pigeon House
When the narrator decides to skip school, he plans to go see the Pigeon House. The Pigeon house was a building whose history encompasses many different uses. That fact, along with the detail that he…
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Green Eyes
The narrator looks to see whether anyone around him has green eyes to confirm whether or not he is on a “real” adventure. While much of the adventure imagery in “An Encounter” relates back to…
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The Catapult (Slingshot)
One of the things that sets the traditionally-masculine, athletic Mahony apart from the timid and studious narrator is Mahony’s slingshot, or catapult. When Mahony first meets the narrator on the bridge before their journey, he…
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