How “The Showdown” Shows That Bystanders Are Contagious
People will follow what others do that they think is right but they won't stand up and do it themselves if no one does it first. In the short story “The Showdown” by Shirley Jackson, everyone only stands up for themselves and does not for anyone else. Billy is our protagonist and he is a kid who loves fishing. Every day, when he is walking back from fishing, he looks at the street and sees Susy’s dad kill Tom because he wants him to stay away from Susy. He doesn't think much of it and walks home. He comes back home late every day and every day he doesn't get to eat dinner. One day he questions why he’s always late to eat dinner and finally notices that he is living in a loop where all the events happen over and over again. He doesn’t want to be in this loop anymore so he decides the only way to end the loop is for him to end the death of Tom. On the day that he chooses, he jumps in the middle of Susy’s dad and Tom and takes the hit. Initially, Billy do...