User:Bell9802/Pipes

“Pipes” is a short story by Etgar Keret, an Israeli author of short fiction, children's books and graphic novels. It was first published in Hebrew in 1992 in Pipelines, Keret's first collection of short stories. It was subsequently translated into English by Miriam Shlesinger and published in the United States in 2004 as part of a collection of short stories entitled The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories.

“Pipes” was written in 1986 and was the first short story that Keret wrote. It was written while he was stationed in an underground bunker during his military service in response to a friend's suicide and as "a way to cope." Initially, Keret wrote the stories for himself and did not attempt to publish his stories. As a result, "Pipes" was not published until several years after it was written.

Plot Outline
"Pipes" is a first-person narrative related by a nameless individual. The story begins with the narrator recounting how he was transferred to metalworking training as a student after a psychologist determined that he suffers from "severe perceptual disorders." While he does not enjoy this profession, he is good at it and begins working at a factory. After hours each day, the narrator stays at the factory building complicated shapes out of pipes and rolling marbles through the structures. He does this even though he doesn't enjoy it, as he doesn't enjoy anything.

Eventually, marbles begin disappearing into one of his pipes rather than coming out the other side as expected. This is a revelation for the narrator who then builds a larger pipe into which he himself can fit and then disappear. The narrator states that he laughs for what he thinks is the first time in his life after coming up with this idea. Once it is completed, the pipe takes the narrator to heaven, which he says "is simply a place for people who were genuinely unable to be happy on earth."

Analysis
"Pipes" has been described as "a surrealistically autobiographical story." As Keret himself has said, it is about the need to escape from the pressures of daily life. While the narrator finds a literal means of escape in this story, this can also mean any activity that provides this sort of relief. Keret, for example, has stated that writing stories such as this one serves a similar function in his life. However, Keret has said that he does not intend for his stories to impart morals to his readers.

The story shares many elements with Keret's other works. As critics have noted, Keret frequently returns to the topic of suicide in his writing. "Pipes" also briefly touches on suicide, but differentiates those who commit suicide from those, like the protagonist, who cannot be happy on earth without an escape, noting that those who commit suicide return to life to make another attempt at being happy. Also, as with Keret's other works, brevity and humor play important parts in this story. "Pipes" is only a little over two pages long in translation, and has a subtle strain of humor throughout. It also shares another common thread with other short stories by Keret, namely a narrator who doesn't fit in and wants to disappear.