I liked both of these stories, but could probably relate better to the second one (Part II). For a brief summary, Flaum's sets up his story by telling the audience about a 5th grade paper assignment he had back in the day that had to be 5 pages in length, which I think we can all agree is a little lengthy for a 10-year-old. Nick, Flaum's 5th grade "rival," actually takes the assignment to the next level by not only achieving the required length of the paper, but actually doubling it. However, Nick "cheated by nature of the repetitive trick." His story was about a tiger who lived in a cage at a zoo, and one day decided to plan his escape. He finally picks the perfect night to execute his flawless plan, but when he wakes up, he finds himself in a different cage at a different zoo. The tiger comes up with multiple plans, only to find himself back inside a different cage at a different zoo every time. Flaum is angry with Nick for writing this story because it is "too true," and devastating at that. Nick's lesson was "there's nowhere to run!", again, a little intense for a 10-year-old. Flaum's argument, then, is "for the cage to drop away it has to die, this means that we have to die with it because, for reasons beyond our control, we have become identified with the cage and are one with it." He uses examples like marriage and a strangling job that are soul-killing to us. To rid the feelings, we must rid them.
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