The Sandman

I heavily applaud Hoffman for his ability to write a story that makes one question what is true and what is imagined throughout the entire tale. I thought this story was entirely captivating, horrifying and mysterious all the way through.

I was surprised that Hoffman was able to not only write a haunting story of reality vs. imagination, but also add twists that created an entire story that could very possibly existed separately in each spectrum. What I mean by this is that what Nathanael perceives to have happened could easily be a supernatural or fantasy experience within itself; easily believable and at the same time we can also look at this as a story of a mad man and take it as a whole separate tale as well.

Hoffman also does a masterful job at asking us to think about our own childhoods and the bogey monsters or scary things that frightened us. He takes those childhood fears and applies them to Nathanael, making the whole experience very relatable for us as readers, for I'm sure each of us has wondered, at some point, if the odd sound we heard in the house was actually a horrible creature or intruder. Hoffman plays off off this and therefore the real fear in this story arises from Nathanael's inability to let childhood fears go, and so they haunt him till his death.