The Sandman

The Sandman was very well written.  The story fluttered between the supernatural and the fantastic.  The events witnessed in the beginning of the story when Nathanial snuck into his fathers roomed seemed far into the Supernatural.  However, after witnessing his father and Copelius, Nathanial wakes up with the comfort of his mother and you are left to wonder if it was all just a child's nightmare.  As the story progresses however, and his father is killed, you are brought yet again to believe the story is supernatural.  Yet again it is clarified and explained, this time by Klara in her letter response.  I think this is an excellent writers choice.  It is often difficult to build suspense and relatable fears when a story is strictly supernatural.  By pulling the story back into the fantastic time after time again, a whole new layer of suspense and wonder is developed.  I also found the possible interpretation of the Sandman as Satan quite interesting.  Nathanial's father was forever indebted to Copelius, and when he refused to give his child's eyes, he paid for it with his life.  Although religion to most is supernatural, the parallelism with the devil adds a sense of realism to the story.  It draws upon the fears and knowledge of an already well developed horrifying figure and injects these details into the figure of Copelius.  It forces the reader to wonder if their is a religious message within the piece.  Ultimately, I enjoyed jumping between three possible explanations within the story as I read it: fully supernatural, a child's nightmare and an alchemy explosion, and a religious tale.