Quiet on the Orient Express

¶ … Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills [...] narrator's choice to surrender his own freedom for the comfort of routine and drudgery. Mill's book is funny and amusing, but underneath it all it says something about nearly everyone who chooses the easy path over the hard path in life. The narrator in this story is unable to please himself, because he is too busy trying to please everyone else. It is also a biting look at how the world works, and how, once employed, we find it difficult to rescue ourselves from a bad, going to worse, situation.

There is something very strange about the little town where the narrator has chosen to camp for a few days until he leaves for his great adventure in the east. However, the people of the small town do not seem to want him to leave. He begins to do odd jobs, first for the owner of the campground where he is staying, and then, it sort of mushrooms, until he is doing odd jobs all over the small village. For example, the campground owner, Mr. Parker, says, '"Cos we've got another little job for you if you're interested'" (Mills 53). The narrator is a nice man who has no assertiveness in him, and he simply cannot say "no." He finds himself enmeshed in the town, and does not seem to want to leave for his great adventure.

The townspeople make it too easy for the narrator to stay, and hard for him to leave. Mr. Parker lets him stay in a trailer for free, and the people at the neighborhood pub welcome him like a friend, and include him in their dart games, usually only open to local residents. Even Parker's daughter, Gail, begins to enlist his help with her homework. It seems like they are wrapping tentacles around him, so they will not lose him. They are also very nosey, and seem to want to know everything about it. It does not seem diabolical at the time, but as the novel progresses, it begins to seem that something is not right in the village or in their odd preoccupation with the "new" man in town.

Ultimately, this is a story about choices, and about the personalities that make those choices. The narrator had several opportunities to leave the village, but he chose not to. He chose to move out of his tent, which would have been uncomfortable in the winter, and move into the trailer. He chose to keep taking the odd jobs, instead of saying no. When he does choose to leave, he leaves in the worst possible weather, and so dooms himself to failure. He becomes so attached to the place that he finds he cannot leave, even when he has the opportunity. While he seems industrious and quite willing to work, the truth is, that he is only so industrious, and so adventurous. He gives up his dream because it is easier to stay where he is, no matter how much the people take advantage of him. Suddenly, he is quite willing to surrender his freedom for a life of drudgery, because somehow, the people have not made it seem like drudgery, they have made it feel like "home."

The narrator, who is nameless through the story, represents all of us that are unwilling to take risks or take a stand. He lets the people of the village decide what he will do next, and gives up making up his own mind because it is easier to let someone else do it for you. It is also easier to stay where you are, no matter how good the future looks. He could have left, as Lesley did, and Marco. It seems that even if he left, however, he would have to come back sometime, because that is what people do. They never leave, or they come back. Marco came back, even though he seemed to hate the village and the people. It is like once they get hold of them, then they can never really get away, unless of course they die, like Deakins.

The story seems innocent at first, but it is really strange and frightening, because the people have such a hold on the narrator, nothing they do seems wrong anymore. Deakins' death is a good example. They do not try to save him, and nothing seems to be done about it, even though the whole town knows about it. Wouldn't it seem there would be an investigation or something? The ending is somehow ominous too, because the narrator has become one of the townspeople so completely, that it seems he is going to get rid of Marco, who no one liked anyway. The story is ominous because it shows what happens when people become too comfortable, and afraid to try new things. They become closed and ominous like this town, and they suck other people in, and will not let them get away again.

The narrator also feels a certain pride in the jobs he does, and so, it makes him more at home, and makes him feel like he belongs. He thinks to himself, "I was rebuilding a jetty at the edge of a lake, and realized that in this way I would be leaving my mark on the place" (Mills 65). However, he lets the locals take increasing advantage of him, and he does not seem to know how to stop it. It gets ridiculous, but he still does not put a stop to it, even when Mr. Parker begins "renting" him out with the circular saw, and then not paying him the money. The narrator is again in charge of his own fate, but he does not argue, in fact, he has a hard time even asking Mr. Parker for money, when it is clear he owes him for the work he has done.