The Arm

 


Justin Dowling, "The Arm" in Weird Tales, Vol. 6 No. 1, March 1954.

To compensate for losing an arm in an accident, a man dedicates himself to making "his left arm the strongest arm in the world." Sound pulp enough? It gets wild, and things don't go well!

The flawed story explores themes of control, obsession, and guilt. It is told from the perspective of a friend of the injured man, and it is just as much a story about the narrator as it is about the arm-obsessed accident victim.

Despite its flawed presentation, there are things worth exploring here. What redeeming qualities did you find in this forgotten story?


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