Don't Judge a "Garbage Man" by His Cover

     From an early age majority of children are told to not judge other people by how they look. "The Garbage Man" by  Sharon Curtin is a prime example of one of our quintessential virtues. The story begins with Curtin describing her developing curiosity for the mysterious man "That year I developed a consuming curiosity about the Garbage Man"(Curtin 27).
   Like majority of children in the middle of the 20th century Curtin did not have any of the forms of entertainment children today have. The only option for fun was to play outside with a group of your friends or find something to do indoors. Curtin was confined to the grassy prison of her yard due to a restriction on her bathing suit. The boredom of being confined in such a small space lead to her plotting how to see the garbage man's face "I decided to follow him on his route and get a look at his face before he knew what was going on"(Curtin 27). Unfortunately her plan to alleviate her curiosity failed. Despite her failure she was determined to learn who the real Garbage Man was despite the popular belief of the rest of her friends. Curtin was different at that young age in many aspects and also similar in many more. She desired to learn who the Garbage man truly was instead of clinging to the views of her peers. Curtin even went to "following the Garbage Man around town" just to see his face and become his friend (Curtin 27). Despite all of her efforts Curtin was unable to discover the Garbage man's face on her own, so she turned to her older sister Mickey. Curtin's older sister Mickey was six years old than her and to Curtin this meant she was six years wiser than anyone else. To most younger children anyone who is five years or older than you automatically knows everything there is to know about life. Following Mickey's plan Curtin finally discovers the face of the Garbage Man and to her dismay the man's face is similar to any other older human's face: decrepit, wrinkled, aged, and dry.

     "The Garbage Man" and "The Chase" by Annie Dillard are very similar in the sense that both stories are told from the youthful versions of their author's. The two stories also contain themes which everyone from age five to age ninety-five can learn from. Curtin's theme in "The Garbage Man" of not judging a book by it's cover is seen through her efforts to see his face and put the ignorant idosyncrasies of her peers to rest.


-Alex Simpson