Just One of Those Things

Just One of Those Things is a jaunty phrase the Unnamed protagonist uses during a scene of deliberate cruelty toward the Dogs. Spoken as the flies gather around honey poured onto their bodies, it gives the scene a tone of casual amusement that sharply conflicts with the animals’ terror and pain.

The Phrase in Context

The phrase follows the Unnamed protagonist’s interruption by a fly. He swats at it angrily, then abruptly laughs and tells the Dogs, “you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” He leaves the kennel to fetch a jar, displays the honey to them, and pours it over their genitals. When flies approach, he watches with anticipation and says, “Now the fun begins.” The proverb’s ordinary, practical meaning is thus made grotesquely literal: honey attracts flies, but here it also becomes part of the torment.

Music and Cruelty

As the flies gather, the Unnamed protagonist turns his attention to their movements and to the Dogs’ strained bodies. He imagines the flies’ sound as music, hums along, and sings “a trip to the moon on gossamer wings.” The lyric’s lightness belongs to his private amusement; it does not soften the scene for the Dogs, whose muscles twitch under strain and whose panting grows louder. The contrast makes his aesthetic delight in the scene inseparable from the animals’ suffering.

The Phrase’s Effect

After singing, the Unnamed protagonist spreads his arms and says, “Its just one of those things.” The phrase makes what follows sound incidental, even familiar, although his actions have been purposeful: he has fetched the honey, applied it to the Dogs, and waited for the flies. Its breezy resignation is therefore a mask for his deliberate cruelty, not an explanation of it. The scene’s playful language and imagined melody culminate in the Dogs’ screams, exposing the violence beneath the apparent joke.