"Sagittarius" by Greg Hrbek

Author Bio:
Greg Hrbek has a B.A. from Vassar and an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He is currently Writer-in-Residence at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he teaches undergraduate classes related to fiction writing and film. He is the author of the novel The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly, as well as several short stories that have appeared in Harper's Magazine, Salmagundi, The Idaho Review, and Black Warrior Review. His short story, "Green World" (Harper’s), was a finalist for the 1999 National Magazine Award in Fiction and was short-listed in O. Henry Prize Stories 2000. His story Bereavement was a 2007 Robert Olen Butler Prize winner, and "Sagittarius" was, of course, a selection for The Best American Short Stories 2009.

Plot Summary:
In "Sagittarius," Greg Hrbek tells the story of a family’s struggle to accept their infant son Sebastian despite his physical deformities, for Sebastian is a centaur: half human, half horse. Hrbek opens the story at the moment Sebastian escapes his playpen and runs free into the night, and then the author proceeds to describe the thoughts and memories of Isabel and Martin, Sebastian’s parents, as they search the forest for their son. Hrbek reveals that Kaden, Sebastian’s three-year-old brother who has been forgotten in the chaos, has also left the house to join the search. Hrbek refocuses on Isabel, who as she searches notices a truck speeding through the dark forest, then on Kaden, who is seated on a dirt road and contemplating his shoes when he sees headlights approaching. Switching back to Isabel, Hrbek describes Isabel’s realization of where Sebastian has gone and her sprint toward a meadow she had visited with her sons earlier that day, but before she reaches the meadow, Isabel hears the sounds of a vehicle crashing. Hrbek then reveals that as the crash occurs, Martin locates Sebastian at the meadow, realizes the depth of his love for Sebastian, and finally accepts his son as unique.

Structure:
"Sagittarius" follows a chronological time line in which a few flashbacks are used to describe the birth and following emotions displayed by the parents in regards to their newborn centaur. Greg Hrbek wonderfully sets up the description of the physical features of Sebastian in the exposition. The major conflict established in the story is the father’s disapproval and lack of acceptance for his newborn centaur. The mother loves her baby and tries to find ways to stay very optimistic, whereas the father is quite pessimistic and feels that all surgeries are necessary and worth the risk in order to make Sebastian a normal child. The climax of the story takes place in the meadow when the father finds Sebastian and comes to the realization that he loves his son, despite his abnormalities. The story is resolved and the father walks home with his son. For the first time in the story and in his lifetime, the father is not ashamed of Sebastian. Although this story may not be believable, Greg Hrbek does a phenomenal job indirectly representing society and showing the expectations of what is normal.

Characters, Setting, Symbols:
Hrbek uses Sebastian to represent real-life children born with natural defects, and characterizes Sebastian’s parents based on their reactions to having a unique child. He characterizes Isabel as the stereotypical mother: consistently caring, nurturing, and loving of Sebastian despite his differences, and Martin as the stereotypical parent who struggles to accept his son’s differences and who wants his son to conform to society’s expectations of a normal child. Hrbek also uses physical space as symbolic of emotional space by describing Martin and Isabel moving further apart in the woods in the same way they are moving apart emotionally due to the conflict over Sebastian. The meadow functions as a symbol of love by using that location as the place Sebastian may have been conceived, where Isabel feels great motherly love when Sebastian takes his first steps, and where Martin finally accepts his son’s uniqueness and realizes the depth of his love for Sebastian. The use of a centaur in this story is a symbol of how today’s society impacts certain individuals' views of what can be accepted in a culture.

Point of View:
Hrbek presents his story using a limited, rotating third-person point-of-view. It is somewhat unique in that the tri-part pattern of rotation – Isabelle (the mother), Martin (the father), and Kaden (the older son), is bookended by the point-of-view of Sebastian, upon whom the story is arguably centered. The exposition presents the reader with place, time, and events from the eyes of the young boy as he escapes into the state woods; the dénouement, likewise, offers the reader a final view of events as seen by Sebastian, now a full member of the family.
Between exposition and dénouement the reader experiences events through the perceptions of the other family members, as each provides their own window on the occurrences of the evening. Supporting the themes of parental (and, moreover, familial) acceptance above all else, Hrbek first introduces us to Isabel, the mother who accepts her son unconditionally, and then to Martin, the father who feels that Sebastian is broken, diseased, damaged, and must be fixed, and finally to Kaden, who sees his brother, despite all the physical differences, the way that many older siblings view their successors: as a nifty addition, until they become the focus of too much attention, at which point action needs to be taken – in this case, by letting Sebastian out of his playpen. It should be noted that both Kaden and Isabel accept Sebastian as he is, despite their opposing motivations. Hrbek then buffers their two points of view by inserting Martin’s experiences between them, presenting the reader with the arguable protagonist fairly late in the story – and the reader sees events through his eyes, both before the father accepts the son for who he is, and after the scales have fallen from his eyes.

Language and Title Significance:
Hrbek’s highly literary use of language in "Sagittarius" relates directly to the title of the piece. Words such as stars, space, night, dark, and other references to the solar system are utilized countless times and relate to the character, Sebastian, who happens to be a Sagittarius himself. Sagittarius, in Greek mythology, is defined as a centaur but is also a constellation of the Zodiac.
Hrbek also uses dialogue in very interesting ways. Sebastian only utters one line of dialogue, "Uh-boo-boo-bah. Uh-voo. Uh-bah-bah-bah-bah-bah." At first read, one would consider this just gibberish, but on a more critical analysis the timing of this speech suggests something more. It occurs at a pivotal point in the narrative, when Sebastian’s father learns to accept his son for what he is. Sebastian is not spouting an evil chant or speaking in tongues; he is only doing that of which any child does at that age. The young centaur, despite appearance, really isn’t that different.
The symbolic use of the title goes along with the use of the zodiac sky, the story occurs at night and the relevant changes that take place fit into the overall theme that Hrbek is portraying.

Theme:
Throughout "Sagittarius" Hrbek utilizes each part of the story to convey how societal norms play a large part in today’s nuclear family. The idea of what is "normal" is shown through the way Hrbek uses the father and doctor’s point of view to describe Sebastian. When the baby runs away the father feels an initial panic of what he is going to do to find his son, this episode reveals how confused his is about his son: "He intends to call the police, report a missing person. Then decides, with equal impulsiveness, against the idea. What kind of description would he give? How can he explain when he himself does not understand? Even the doctors can’t make up their minds." Hrbek uses the conflict between Martin and Isabelle to reflect how parents struggle to accept the unique qualities of their children.

Grade:
Overall, our group gave "Sagittarius" a B+; although it works very well as an allegorical tale, the character of Sebastian strained believability as far as realism was concerned. Still, we would definitely recommend it to others as a great read.