Viewpoint

Both “Obst Vw” and “The Bank Robbery” are similar in that they both display a dysfunctional dynamic between a male and female around the same age. In the case of “Obst Vw,” the relationship consists of the main protagonist, 16-year-old Demian and his 17-year-old girlfriend Rachel. In “The Bank Robbery,” both the male bank robber and the female bank teller are both around age twenty-five. Both stories vary in length as “Obst” is much longer than “The Bank Robbery.” The length of the story matters in this case, because we learn more information on Demian and Rachel’s relationship than the dynamic of the bank robber and the bank teller. Generally, longer stories contain more details, which allows for the reader to come to a better conclusion in making sense of the character’s interactions and thoughts that influenced their actions, which in turn influence the plot. It is unlikely that “Obst Vw” is called the title that it is, it only peeks into a small part of our main character’s life, and there is little before or after knowledge of what has or will occur. “Obst Vw” means Obstructed View. Maybe us as readers are in the obstructed view when it comes to fully understanding the characters and why they think what they think. 

“Obst Vw” is about a boy named Demain who has a complicated relationship with his father that possibly affects his other relationships, specifically with his girlfriend, Rachel. It appears that Demian and Rachel are closely bonded by both of their dysfunctional families. Demian has a neglectful father and Rachel has a violent father (as mentioned from him slapping her and throwing a cup, breaking it into pieces). This similar sort of dynamic exists in “The Bank Robbery” and a quote that says they (the bank robber and the bank teller) were “both hostages of each other.” Another detail that makes these stories similar is the concept of what each character wants from each other. For example, you can compare the money that the bank robber wants to the way Demian’s longs for his father’s presence and love. In Demian’s story, there is a focus on his feelings towards his father and a specific flashback from the baseball game, the only baseball he ever went to on and on his tenth birthday. He went with his dad, his friend, and his friend’s dad – it was assumed that they would sit together as a group. However, right before the game, his dad and Dr. Frank (the kid’s around Demian’s age father) choose the better view for the baseball game, leaving Demian and John Frank in the obstructed view. To fast-forward to the present day, I want to reflect on Rachel’s role in the story and how it’s almost like she benefits from the neglect of Demian’s father, similar in how the bank teller in the other story says that “this money is love.” Maybe Demian wouldn’t be with Rachel if he had a safe attachment to his dad in the same way the bank robber wouldn’t be there if he didn’t cling onto the hope and cure, he believes money to be. Both Rachel and the bank teller both display dangerous thought patterns and attach this idea that they are doing certain things out of “love.” This exhibited in Rachel’s behavior in how she lets herself get cut by her Dad’s broken glass just to show her parents how this impacts her). A strange event follows this, and Demian starts licking the blood of her foot, almost as though he is trying to get his father’s love vicariously through her. Demian loves his father, even when he said he hated him and that his life would improve if he was gone. He’s just hurt. His anger is the disappointment he feels in his reality.