Brutal training and practice, near death experiences night after night, the ability to make or break a night where everything you are your fellow circus mates have been working for day after day is finally displayed. All these are things that should and probably would bring most people together and allow them to generate respect for each other. However, in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer that is not the case at all. All of the characters in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer continuously demonstrate the extreme lack of respect they have for each other.
Although there are many different relationships among characters in the story the one thing all the relationships share is the lack of regard for one another. Whether it is through spiteful action or words, there is no respect among the characters. In My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer there is no respect among men nor is there respect for women, and chivalry is nonexistent in the story. It is apparent that the men do not respect each other because they are always trying to get a girl from one of their colleagues and do not care whether they are in a relationship or not.
The clown both hates and admires the lion tamer, but does not really respect him as a person at all. Lastly, both the trapeze artist and the clown lack respect for themselves. Cheating is a very recurrent happening in this short story. The first time cheating is mentioned it is when the clown is warning the trapeze artist to stay away from the midget couple – Tom and Tina Thumb. He mentions that both of them have cheated and still they cannot call it quits because they are perfectly matched. Tina Thumb had cheated with the dog-faced boy.
This shows the lack of respect Tina Thumb had toward Tom and their relationship as well as the lack of respect the dog-faced boy had for Tom. The men in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer are constantly trying to steal women from each other with no second thoughts. Tom Thumb cheated with the fat lady which also just exhibits the lack of regard the fat lady had toward Tina Thumb and her relationship. Neither gender shows any signs of respect throughout the story. Cheating is depicted again when the trapeze artist cheats on the lion tamer with the strong man and is unknowingly spotted by the clown.
Again, this shows the lack of respect both the strong man and the trapeze artist have for the lion tamer. Even the clown does not truly respect the lion tamer because he is always thinking what he can do in order to make the trapeze artist his. The clown even tells the trapeze artist he loves her, if he respected the lion tamer he would have put his feelings aside and not blurt out those three very powerful words to try to win over the trapeze artist. The first time the lion tamer goes on after the trapeze artist arrives he finally lives up to his name and leaves the cage untouched.
The clown does not respect him as a performer and says that “he should have known something was up” after watching the lion tamer do so well. The trapeze artist in particular does not respect anyone; including herself. She cheats on the lion tamer which arguably led to his death. She was so caught up in herself that she did not even realize how much she meant to the lion tamer. She cheats on him with no second thoughts as to how it will affect him and in the text it appears as if she just went on with her life and did not try to apologize nor explain herself to the lion tamer.
She appears to have no respect for herself not only as a woman but as a person. After a very short while at the circus she is already sleeping with the lion tamer which is just one way she does not respect her body. Secondly and most obvious, she does not respect and value her own life. This is displayed quite obviously when she makes it clear that she practices without a net. The fact that she practices without a net means that any mistake could be her last and that does not seem to bother her. The first time she says that she will not be using a net for practice; one of the men hoisting the net calls her a crazy bitch.
This is another example of the lack of chivalry throughout the story. They even ignore her until she screams out “gentlemen! ” This catches them by surprise because no one ever calls them gentlemen and they are used to being cursed at and treated like dirt. The trapeze artist also does not test the rope; she does a cartwheel straight onto the middle of the rope further risking her own life. The relationship between the characters in My Last Attempt to Explain to You What Happened with the Lion Tamer are all very tense.
None of the characters respect each other and some of them do not even respect themselves. All the characters constantly try to lie and trick each other in order to further their own cause. The trapeze artist lies emotionally and literally. She is always changing the story of her past when she talks to the clown and never gives him a straight answer. The clown says “…romance here is as rare as an honest answer” this perfectly depicts the relationship among the characters in the story. The characters constantly lie to each other and lack the respect to have true romance and any sort of real relationship.
