Pie Eating Contest

Walking in I saw two bags of food that I could not make out quite what was in the bags. Later, it was determined to be a peach pie, and a blueberry pie. I should have know the professor was up to something. I just could not put my finger on it. Then, Professor Corrigan asked for any volunteers to compete in a “pie eating contest”. Everybody seemed either hesitant or full. I was the latter. I had just finished lunch. However, Brian was an eager contestant, and claimed the peach pie for the taking. The only rule was that there was to be no talking, and one timer. The two contestants sat back to back and began. Brian began at a steady pace, continually shoveling peach pie into his oral cavity. On the other hand, Professor Corrigan took out a plate, a cup for coffee (I think), and cut out a sliver of pie. I was pondering why he was going so slowly. I thought to myself “he’s never going to win at that pace.” After about 6-8 min, Brian showed signs of struggles, and just threw the left over crust in the garbage. All the while Professor Corrigan still had more than ¾ of his pie to eat. After everyone returned to their seat, he asked “who won?” There was mixed responses for both Brian and Professor. “Brian won because he was finished first!” someone proclaimed. “No Professor Corrigan won, because he enjoyed it and savored each bite.” Another said. Professor put it in the way that Brian was a plot based story, where the purpose is for entertainment. And Professor Corrigan was a character based story, where the purpose is to really relish as the character develops. So there is no real winner, just a different way to look at it. That seems to be the theme for literature. Yet again, Professor Corrigan had crafty something planned up his sleeve.