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Martyna Mamza
Literature Elective
I Bought a Little City
17 May 2015
A Reader Response to Donald Barthelmes I Bought a Little City
Dont play God is the lesson learned for the protagonist of Donald Barthelmes short
story I Bought a Little City. This phrase is often heard in connection to science, mainly the
study of genetics, which allows, for example, to make changes in the DNA to avoid certain
diseases. The opponents of the study ask the question of how much we can actually interfere
with what God has created, and more often than not they come to a conclusion that we should
not attempt to improve Gods creations. While Barthelmes short story is far from dealing
with genetics, it certainly does raise the issue of playing God. I Bought a Little City is
also a confirmation of the phrase money cant buy happiness.
Donald Barthelme was one of the major writers of postmodernism. From what I have
learned during the classes, I remember that one of the ideas of postmodernism is that a reader
should not look for any representation of reality in a postmodern text as it is a figment of
imagination. In my opinion, this lack of realism can be seen, for example, in the conversation
between the main character and one of the inhabitants of the city, Bill Caulfield. The concept
of building housing modeled on a jigsaw puzzle with a picture of the Mona Lisa on it is
very abstract. More than that, the main idea of a man who bought a little city that is
premised in the title, is abstract in itself. It raises the question of what kind of a person is able
to buy an entire city, even a little one. Postmodern writers also like to play with the reader by
using, for example, satire. The satirical approach is certainly present in I Bought a Little

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City, but Barthelme criticizes and mocks so many aspects that the reader is confused whether
he or she should focus on the criticism of a self-proclaimed creator or the consumerism and
the idea of creating a perfect, American society. Reverting to Bill Caulfield, while I was
reading the story I could not help, but to notice his last name. I immediately thought about the
novel The Catcher in the Rye, and its main character Holden Caulfield. I think that an
average American teenager would also recall this reference while reading I Bought a Little
City, because it is such an iconic character in American literature. I might be misinterpreting
it, but I think that it is possible that it is a part of Barthelmes game with the reader
misleading and provoking questions. The connection between these two works might be the
theme of phoniness. In The Catcher in the Rye the word phony seems to be Holdens
favorite word to describe almost every person in the novel. In I Bought a Little City the
phoniness is visible through the main character and his treatment of the people living in
Galveston.
So I bought a little city (it was Galveston, Texas) and told everybody that nobody had
to move, we were going to do it just gradually, very relaxed, no big changes overnight (I
Bought a Little City)this is the first sentence of the story. The reader is immediately
acquainted with the idea of how merciful the main character is because he does not evict the
citys inhabitants, who have presumably lived there for generations as it often is in smaller
cities and towns. The story follows a nameless, first person narrator who describes his
adventure as a new owner of Galveston, Texas. In my opinion, the way he talks about making
this purchase, shows how inessential money is to him. I get this impression due to the fact that
he uses the word so in the very beginning of the story. It creates a negligent attitude and
makes it sound like he has made a normal, everyday purchase, and not bought a little city. It
reminds me of teenage movies, in which girls gossip about boys and clothes and start every
sentence with the word so. Barthelme portrayed the main character as a complete hypocrite,

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I thought, what a nice little city, it suits me fine. It suited me fine so I started to change it.
But softly, softly. I asked some folks to move out of a whole city block on I Street, and then I
tore down their houses(I Bought a Little City). When the reader compares this fragment
with the first sentence of the story, it is clear that the narrators words are contradictory. At
first he stated that nobody will have to move, and then he tore down their houses. He said
that he is satisfied with the city, but then he changed it dramatically. Furthermore, he is
constantly trying to create an impression that he is a good person and that his actions are made
for a greater cause, for example, creating a park where everybody can sit and relax. I went
and watched them sitting in itit seems to me that this city is his own playhouse that he
dreamt of having when he was a child. The people are his toys that he can domineer and if he
gets bored he can just sell everything and this is exactly what he did. He is attempting to
create a society in which he can function but he fails at both, trying to play God and adapting
to the community. The protagonist of the story is thoroughly convinced that due to the fact
that he has money he can control everything that surrounds him and that there is nothing
inaccessible to him. However, while he may have the physical power over the inhabitants of
Galveston, he could not prefigure their reactions and force them to feel anything. These are
real people and he everything he changes in the city affects them. Even at the end of the story,
when he supposedly learned his lesson he is still trying to make the reader believe that he
truly is a kind person, and his fault was only being too imaginative. It seems to me that he
does not understand the lesson that you should not play God .
To my mind, the most important fragment of the story is when the narrator talks with
Sam Hongs wife, the woman he is supposedly in love with. This is the moment when he
came to a realization that money does not buy everything. Surprisingly, money does not
guarantee happiness. Although he is the owner of the whole city, he cannot have the woman
he desires because she is married to another man. Still I do not think that he is truly in love

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with the woman because the readers do not know her name, and in my opinion it makes her
seem less relevant. He might be attracted to her and lust after her, but I think it is only
superficial. It makes the reader wonder why Barthelme chose to name other characters, but
not the women the protagonist is in love with. Additionally, I think that the way she is
described degrades her because her role is limited only to being Sam Hongs wife. She is
presented as an object of desire who is out of the main characters reach and when he does not
get what he wants, he gets bored with his playhouse and sells it. It is interesting that the one
person he is attracted to does not care about his power or his money while I am sure there
would be many other women who would like to be in her position and take advantage of his
privileges as a wealthy person.
To sum up, I liked the story, however I do not think that I would like to read something
similar in the future. In my opinion, the story lacked excitement and some kind of a turning
point. I like to be surprised when I am reading a story or watching a film, and I think it was a
missing factor in I Bought a Little City. I liked the language, it was easy to read and I think
that Barthelme does a good job in portraying the evilness of the main character. He is also
successful in communicating his message by playing with the reader. What I disliked about
this short story was the part about killing the dogs and the fact that it made the narrator feel a
sort of satisfaction. It shows his cruelty and his detachment from the society grows even
bigger. I was truly horrified when I was reading it and the fact that he said that it improved
the city for the better, in my opinion, shows his evilness in full colors. I would recommend
this story to a more experienced and advanced reader, someone who does not like when a text
is obvious and who likes to challenge himself or herself while attempting to interpret a text.

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Works Cited
Barthelme, Donald. "Texas Classics: Donald Barthelmes I Bought a Little City." Texas
Classics: Donald Barthelme's 'I Bought a Little City' The New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2014. Web.
30 Apr. 2016.