Coming in at just over 1000 words, The Eyes have It by Philip K Dick is one of his shorter stories. Published in 1953, it contains the elements of science fiction on which Dick based most of his stories, but also presents the idea of how the English language can be misconstrued when taken literally, with very unusual results.
The story begins with the narrator reading a book and starting to imagine it is describing the takeover of earth by extra-terrestrial life. He determines the characters are aliens by the way in which they are able to engage in fantastic actions such as removing parts of their body and sending them to undertake independent action. With eyes roving around the room and an arm placed around someone else’s shoulder the narrator is in no doubt that he is in the presence of aliens.
The idea is taken further, with the narrator interpreting a group ‘splitting up’ as yet one more example of the fiendish ability of the aliens to distribute their bodily attributes as and wherever they wish. With other abnormalities present, such as one alien missing a brain and another lacking in guts, not to mention yet another giving away her heart, the narrator begins to see the characters as individuals each with their own particular horror.
The Eyes have It is an illustration of how much an author assumes of the reader for their use of language be understood. The way in which language can be employed for different meanings, the difference between literal and intended meanings and the misunderstandings that can occur when the two are not distinguished, are emphasised by Dick throughout the story.
At another level, the story is also a depiction of paranoia, as seen in the interpretation of the book by the narrator as the depiction of an alien invasion rather than as a regular story and non-literal word use. As Dick relies on the reader being in touch with reality to appreciate the different levels, the mental state of the narrator may counter the humour otherwise evident in the story.
With his tenuous grasp on reality, the narrator does nothing with what he thinks is his discovery, and takes refuge in a personality trait that possibly led him to interpret the story in the way that he did in the first place. But in the end, whether or not the human response wins out over the paranoid or the paranormal is left for the reader to decide.
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