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Theme Of Here's Herbie By Mike Feder

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Analysis of here’s Herbie

This short story by Mike Feder, is about his own life as a discouraged teen in the 70’s society. When Mike was a young boy he was in a constant state of teenage depression, and one of the major reasons why, was his mother’s both mental and physical illness. This sickness of hers, made him sick as well, and it didn’t become any easier when his mother constantly reminded him, that he wasn’t wanted and that she wished she had never had children (p.62). This was just one of the many obstacles, that Mike had to face during his teenage years. Especially this factor is very clear to see in the story, since the narrator Mike, describes himself as a boy who was “possessed of great many psychosomatic complaints” (p. 62) …show more content…

This could indicate that the theme in “Here’s Herbie” had something to do with the initiation of adulthood, since he is so passionate about this, that he forgets some of his childish anxieties. This is obviously just one of the themes, where the main theme is growing up which in this case also contains being different.

Mike liked to sit in the front of the train, because of two things, firstly because he felt “some sort of identification with the surge of power in the front” and then also because he could peek out of the front window. He wanted to stand up and look out of the window, but he could never seem to find any courage to do so. He speculated too much about what the others passengers might think of him, and the attention that position would draw. So he had to live with just glancing out of the window, from the corner of his eyes, every now and then.
But this whole thing changed one day, because of one specific man named Herbie. Herbie was slump shouldered and had a nutty lopsided look on his face. He looked funny with his dim eyes and big hairy ears, but seemed careless anyways. This man just walked to the centre and started shouting: “Here’s Herbie! Here’s Herbie!” with absolutely no care in the world, and it was this kind of confidence Mike wanted to possess. Herbie then walked straight up to the front window of the train, with a plastic steering

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