cream of the crop 2

1.Goliath
1.The Matrix had been one of the most influential movie that I ever watched. So, it was a pleasant surprised that Neil Gaiman actually wrote a short story based on the Wachowski brothers' epic movie. The main themes of The Matrix had made 'Goliath' one of the most inspired part of the collection. The alternative universe, wherein machines rule the world and humans are just slaves had been creatively captured in literature by the author.

2.Other People
One of the Catholic dogma is that sinners are going to be punished in hell. According to the Holy Bible, they are going to suffer eternally in the river of fire. While in Dante Alighieri's classic, Inferno illustrated hell with nine circles of punishments according to gravity of sin. The genius in this short story of Gaiman is that it went beyond the physical pain one would experience after his death. He claimed that there is something far worse wherein he would learn about the consequences of his actions: 'He learned the results of things he had done; things he had been blind to as he did them; the ways he had hurt the world; the damage he had done to people he had never known, or met, or encountered.'

3.Keepsakes and Treasures
This story intrigued me because of the fictional Tribe of Shahinai which is 'a race of people whose only asset is the beauty of their men. So every century they sell one of their
men for enough money to keep the tribe going for another hundred years.' The 'mob' theme of it added a gritty tone to the story that made it even more remarkable.

4.The Problem of Susan
It is refreshing to know that even gifted writers like Gaiman can feel problematic sometimes. He had trouble accepting what happened to Susan, one of the characters in the Narnia series. I think he was dissatisfied how the book just eliminated Susan and the reason why. I was meaning to read the Chronicales of Narnia for the longest time. But the huge volume of the collection discourage me. I don't even watch any of the Narnia movies. In my opinion, “The Problem of Susan' is really disturbing and hard to forget, the only way to be comfortable with it is when you already read the original Narnia books.

5.How Do You Think It Feels?
It would really be nice if there is a gargoyle to guard our hearts. We won't feel the crushed feeling of a broken heart. We won't shed tears because of unrequited love. We won't see everything in black and white when we lose in the game of love. This story is easily relatable and wonderfully written because at the end, there is nothing but void and emptiness but no pain at all. Which means to say that there is always hope, and yes, love, after a terrible heart ache.