The Dwarf story

rbt1985e3x01 · 1989-07-07

A carnival owner plays a cruel prank on an unsuspecting little person who frequents the hall of mirrors. Directed by: Costa Botes. Story by: Ray Bradbury.

10 total · 4 major · 6 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
creative writing	major	The diminutive Mr. Bigelow was a writer of pulp fiction. Amiee, an avid fan, was very much into his short stories. In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer something about the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writings.
cruelty	major	The story culminated with Ralph playing a cruel prank on the diminutive Mr. Bigelow: Ralph swapped the usual funhouse mirror that Mr. Bigelow used with one that distorted his image to make him seem even smaller than usual.
human self-esteem need	major	Mr. Bigelow, who was diminutive in statue, longed to be the size of a normal man, if not larger. One gathers that being small in size made him feel inferior.
the desire to be more like a normal person	major	Mr. Bigelow, who was diminutive in statue, longed to be the size of a normal man, if not larger. This is evidenced by his 1) habit of frequenting a hall of mirrors, where he would pose in front of a mirror that exaggerated his height; 2) writing of a story about being a 7 foot tall man; and 3) living in a miniature house that made him feel large.
coping with romantic rejection	minor	Ralph did not take kindly to Amiee turning him down. He took out his frustrations on Mr. Bigelow.
coping with unwelcome romantic attention	minor	Amiee did not take kindly to Ralph's amorous advances.
creative writing	minor	In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writing.
invasion of privacy	minor	Ralph was in the habit of peeping on people as they posed in the hall of mirrors.
stage magic	minor	In his introduction, Ray Bradbury described meeting the famed stage magician Harry Blackstone when Bradbury was a 12-year-old.
the nature of creativity	minor	In his introduction, Ray Bradbury gave his viewers an intimate window into his writing room, and some of the self-professed sources of creativity that lay about within it.