Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Bradbury 13: The Wind

A man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key. –Paul Valéry, Mauvaises pensées et autres, 1942

Bradbury's short story, The Wind was first published in the March 1943 edition of Weird Tales and was included in The October Country in 1955.

The Wind
It was a huge cloud of vapors; a big sniffing hound trying to smell him out. It pushed its wet cold nose up to the house, taking air, trying to get in the windows and doors, following him from room to room, watching him from all the windows. Waiting.

My Rating: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:
Of all the episodes, I think this is the most timeless. This story has provoked some deep thinking on my part. There is a lot of great symbolism going on. I couldn't help comparing the Wind to life. Sometimes life is calm and beautiful, like a spring day with a gentle breeze. And sometimes there is foot of snow on the ground, with more coming down and an icy draft blowing at the eaves and in under the door. That's just the way life is. You take the good with the bad and do the best you can. Sometimes the icy winds of winter aren't hard to weather. But sometimes it seems like those beautiful days of spring will never come and you can't stand one more minute of the storm that is blowing around you.

I think that very often people reach out from the middle of those hard to bear storms, at the end of their rope and looking for help. Those on the outside may not understand how bad the storm is from the inside and not be able to offer the help that is needed. I think a lot of people in this world feel very alone in the trials they are going through, even though they know there are many people around them who care for them. Sometimes all you can do is hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. Like I said, lots of deep thinking about this one.

Air Date: June 4, 1984

Narrator:
Paul Frees

Cast:
Bob Nelson
Charlotte Nelson
Jesse Bennett
Mike Flynn
Janet Swenson

Music:
Roger Hoffman
Greg Hansen

Production Assistant:
Patrick Mead

Associate Producer:
Jeff Raider

Created, Produced, Directed:
Mike McDonough

Executive Producer:
Dean Van Uitert
Audio Clip of The Wind
Buy The Wind mp3
Buy Bradbury 13 Audio CDs

2 comments:

Jill said...

I didn't remember this one, but after listening to the audio clip it vaguely rings a bell. We must not have picked this one very often. I can't remember how it ends.

I like your metaphor of the wind for life. Poor "Allen" is terrified of the wind. Thinks it's out to get him. It reminds me that there are so many people that believe they are alone in the world. When really, we aren't. You just need to know where to look. I'm going to have to break out the CD's (Dad didn't give me them on MP3) to listen to how this one ends.

Peggy said...

While in Idaho this past week one night the wind blew verry hard. It was coming from east to west and across the back or south side of the house it seemed to get cought in between the screens and the window and not be able to find it's way out as I lay in bed drifting off to sleep I thought it seemed like a story. Then as I later described this to dad he reminded me of "The Wind" I was glad I hadn't thought of it at the time.