I Want Answers!

Why does Flannery O'Connor create an antagonist that suffers from Alzheimer's?  For what reason does Shakespeare include a bear as a source of conflict?  Poe, whose heart beats uncontrollably?  Why must authors leave so much up for chance?  Why?  Opportunities for speculation keep me up at night and irritate the heck out of me during discussion.  My most recent thought-provoking contemplation: balloons.  Who on this earth developed the balloon and what sort of motives did this inventor have?  Did he/she want children to suffer from the sadness of losing a balloon and watching it slowly fade away into the clouds?  How about the shocking pop of a balloon coming in contact with a sharp object?  I still cringe and blink out of surprise every time.  How can something so innocent and colorful make such a jolting sound?  How about the idea of making something so enticing to children then tying it to the end of a  string out of their reach?  I can recall getting reprimanded when I taunted the dog with people food at the dinner table, apparently tying the string of a balloon to a child's wrist and letting them experience the mystifying curiosity of it hanging overhead has no similarities.  One must have some sympathy for the kids in strollers craning their necks to catch a glimpse of a balloon their parents gratefully got for them but they can only observe it floating and fluttering in the breeze.  What about a balloon makes it so appealing?  Author and student of philosophy, Donald Barthelme, must have asked the same questions as I.  In his short story, "The Balloon," the speaker analyzes the responses a balloon surrounding a portion of Manhattan receives.  Anger, joy, heaviness,warmth, but most notably thought overwhelm the residents of the city.  Anyone that seems to give a balloon some deep thought encounters a curiosity and imagination about the meaning behind it.  I have embraced the contemplation AP English harbors.  I may have lost some sleep over it but I openly believe deep thinking has broadened my outlook on many topics, even those beyond just a simple balloon.  I encourage other students to do the same, get lost in thought and imagine the possibilities everything in literature has to offer.  Have no fear of one's thought bubbles.  Treat one's thoughts like balloons, tie strings to them, attach them to one's imagination, and expand them with even more deliberation.