Primary Source

Web-friendly Text

Advanced Language
Mr. Wexler
November 18, 1988

Mordecai, the cowardly steer, was known to every zoo animal as a quiet, frightened mouse. In his small, dark cage, Mordecai hid timidly in the back corner. To escape, even under life and death circumstances would be an impossible feat for Mordecai to conquer. Through the creaky and dirty walls, all of Mordy’s friends would poke fun at the bashful brown-colored steer. Wondering, the young animal wished he could get back at the arrogant zoo animals.

Through the night, Mordecai tried to think of a plan. upset and determined, the steer woke up knowing he hadn’t achieved what he had wanted so much. Still, in the dull and boring corner, Mordecai waited for the cruel and unkind animals to make fun of him again. If they upset Mordy, he planned to tell his hateful and bitter enemies to go skydiving without a lifesaving parachute. At that very time, the loftiest giraffe shouted that Mordecai should get a life. In the same fashion, a venom-spitting serpent told the sad bull that he should take a walk on the wild side and live in the fast lane like the rest of the animals. As night flew in, Mordecai had had enough of the animals. He said to all the sleazy inhabitants of the zoo, short, tall, large, and small, that if they thought it was amusing or just some sort of game to make fun of him, they better stop.

In due time, the animals all said in exact unison that they had acted as they did to get timid Mordecai to be courageous and brave like the others. Mordecai still thought that they should have told him kindly and not in the manner that they had used.

In conclusion, the moral of the story is, if you want to say something to someone, don’t hide your feelings– just say what you want to say.

Modern-day Commentary

Wow, that’s a pretty complex statement for all these animals to exclaim “in exact unison”. This is just about the strangest fable I’ve ever read, and I have no recollection of writing this back in sixth grade.

It makes a nice statement. That moral is a good point, and not a bad story to wrap around it, though it’s got its share of problems. As with so many of my “A+++”-chasing papers from that year, it tends to get bogged down in its own flowery language. Phrases like “brown-colored” and “loftiest giraffe” make me cringe in their awkwardness. Wasn’t he just “brown” and wasn’t that just a giraffe?

It isn’t clear to me in the first paragraph whether Mordecai was bashful and that is why they poked fun, or if he had lost his confidence because they poked fun. And if the latter, why were they making such sport of him? He seems like an all right guy to me. If only there were a prequel.

That venom-spitting, catchphrase-spouting serpent is my favorite. Why not take a walk on the wild side and live in the fast lane? We should all take his advice.