Already Dead: The Need for Human Interaction in Butler’s “Titanic Victim Speaks Through Waterbed” Amanda Wagemann College

Robert Olen Butler’s story “Titanic Victim Speaks Through Waterbed” is narrated by the ghost of a victim who died on the Titanic, whose spirit continues to haunt the waters in which he dwelled. Making his way from the ocean, to a cup of tea, and now to his current residence, a waterbed, the narrator describes his struggle through corporeal life. His struggle for something real, something physical. Throughout the story, Butler uses the narrator’s actions and emotions to portray the need for human interaction and a meaningful life.

Physical and emotional contact between others has always been an integral part of cognitive and emotional development. Our brains are cognitively wired to appreciate and desire human interaction. We crave it, and without it, we feel incomplete. This sort of “emptiness” is expressed repeatedly by the narrator throughout Butler’s story, both while in his physical and spiritual states. He not only makes it evident that he never had deep human interaction beyond saying “hello” and “goodbye”, he also expresses great sorrow and regret for this fact, unable to move on from his afterlife due to the exorbitant amount of grief. In order to portray the narrator’s lack of physical contact in his previous life,...