Week Ten: "'Repent, Harlequin' Said the Tick Tock Man" (1 pts)

“‘Repent, Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman” is a satirical look at a dystopian future in which people are ‘slaves’ to time. If you’re not on schedule, then you’ve committed a crime and are at risk of being executed. The presentation of the world relies heavily on references to other works like 1984 to both get the point of the story across and to make fun of dystopian fiction in general. Harlan Ellison takes this simplistic look at regimentation but gives it enough humor to be an engaging read. 

The short story opens with a quote from Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau emphasizing the character of the Harlequin. Essentially, Everett has made the dangerous but admirable choice to stick to his guns by being late to everything and angering the Ticktockman. He does so by committing worthless, whimsical pranks that disrupt the precious schedule of the world by several hours at a time. For instance, he pours jellybeans on top of workers going to and fro on the ‘slidewalks.’ The prank is stupid and pretty benign, but it shifts the schedule back which is a huge blow to the Ticktockman. The working class, however, greatly enjoy his pranks and view him as a kind of messiah. The Harlequin, however, is eventually caught due to the extensive effort of the Ticktockman messing up his own schedule to do so. Instead of killing him, the Ticktockman reconditions him via 1984 torture and uses him as a mouthpiece for the regime. When all is settled, the story ends with the Ticktockman being late by three minutes which he scoffs at and denies. 

Overall, the story reads like an extended, whimsy joke. The prose reflects both the ridiculous regime and the fun of the Harlequin with long, run-on sentences that either repeat themselves or sound more like the ramblings of the protagonist himself. It was a little hard to catch up in the beginning, especially with the style of the prose being as mixed as it is. However, once you catch on to the joke, it becomes a faster read that ironically speeds towards the conclusion. Despite the claim midway through that the regime is terrifying and that you’re not supposed to laugh at death by ‘timing out,’ the reader has all the reason in the world to chuckle at the absurdity of this piece before reflecting on which parts of it ring true of the corporate world we reside in.