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3. Ambrose His Mark
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lost in the Funhouse, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Creating a New Literary Form
The Limits of Metafiction
Alienation and Authorship
Rivalry, Individuality, and Self-Discovery
Summary
Analysis
An unnamed narrator begins by saying, “You who listen give me life in a manner of speaking.” It is unclear whom the narrator is speaking to. The narrator explains that they do not have a proper name and did not ask to be conceived. The narrator also admits that they do not know if they are real or imaginary; the same goes for whomever they are speaking to. In attempting to describe their existence, the narrator often directly contradicts themselves. For instance, they say that they “won’t last long” moments before stating “I just might live forever.”
Here, conception and creation are once again conflated, reaffirming the link Barth makes in the collection between procreation and artistic creation. Although this story looks as if it is riddled with contradictions on the surface, its meaning becomes clear when one considers its metafictional context. For instance, the narrator’s claim that they “won’t last long” is true in the sense that this is a short story. However, the possibility of the narrator living forever also makes sense, as new life is breathed into the narrator every time someone reads the story.
Active
Themes
The narrator speaks of “Dad” and “Mom,” though they say that Mom may just be “a mere novel device […] to which Dad resorted one day when he found himself by himself with pointless pen.” The narrator claims that Dad has been trying to turn them off since the moment of their birth. The narrator knows this because they are Dad’s “mirror.” However, moments later, the narrator says that he may be a distorted version of Dad and perhaps Dad loves them after all.
Again, the idea of having a “Dad” (authors are always men in this set of stories) and a “Mom” conflates artistic creation with sex, complete with the phallic imagery of the “pointless pen.” However, much like the sperm cell in “Night-Sea Journey,” this narrator is going through an existential crisis and is unsure of whether their fictional life is worth living.
Active
Themes
The narrator then says that they do not have a body and perhaps do not know anything about themselves or their existence. The narrator admits that they at first thought they were immortal and powerful. However, now they simply want to turn themselves off. Yet, when they try to turn themselves off, they cannot—their consciousness persists. Then, the narrator asks Dad to turn them off. Still, their consciousness continues. The story ends as the narrator says, “Nonsense, I’ll mutter to the end, one word after another, string the rascals out, mad or not, heard or not, my last words will be my last words.”
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