Answer:
ALCOHOL
Explanation:
With this Conundrum, we really have to think about the words used to describe the answer, before we can really start down the path of making an answer for it. Based on the wording, it seems like we have the following criteria:
- there is a guy (male person)
- he trips you up
- he tortures you
- but he also comforts you when in pain or sorrow
This is weird though right? Why would one person express both villainy and support at the same time, and why would you continue to hang out with him? Because of this, we should also consider that the answer is maybe not a person, but rather some object that is being personified as a male Human. Writers and Riddlers often uses this type of device in their stories and Conundrums to give them flavor and make them more difficult to solve. Here is a list of each possible answer we will explore:
- your best friend
- your family member
- your shoes
- alcohol
Best Friend
For our Conundrum, we are probably looking for a guy who meets all the mentioned criteria. You probably have a guy friend (and if not, at least know a guy who could be considered a friend, even if not a close one). If we have similar best friends, then he probably tries to get you at every turn right? I mean our best friend is the person who knows the most about us, and who we have shared a lot of experiences with.
At some level with this best friend, we probably feel like playful poking can be acceptable. Like verbal jabs, or brutal honesty, or even outright physical contact. When we say “trip you up” that could mean verbally or physically. If anyone we know could satisfy this condition of the Conundrum and get away with it, it would be our best friend.
Torture though, that is a different story. Torture is actually producing some level of harm, either physical, mental or emotional, and not in a playful way. Friends are there to help us through situations, not cause us pain. If a person you know does torture you, they are almost certainly NOT your friend. That unfortunately means that a Friend would probably not satisfy this criteria of the Conundrum. We should still check that last condition though.
Friends, especially Best Friends are always there to help you in times of pain and grief, and Eyezak knows that. Your shared experiences help them relate to you on some level, and most of the time, simply spending time with them is enough to ease the pain and sorrow. So a friend would complete this part of the Conundrum.
Unfortunately, that is a two out of three match, which means it will not satisfy Eyezak the Riddle Robot. Eyezak knows they could try and succeed at tripping you up. A friend would absolutely NOT torture you. They would comfort you when you need it. All of these things together make “best friend” a no on the answer board. Let us move on to family.
Family Member
Family is also a possible answer to our Conundrum. Like best friends, most family has been there to experience your life with you, and share experiences. They can relate to you on certain topics, and even know the things that tick you off a little. Because of this, they will often try to trip you up, either mentally, physically or emotionally. This is not meant to be harmful, mostly, but can result in satisfying this part of the Conundrum.
Also like friends, family does not typically torture you. They might pick at you, or you may have some inside-dynamic that makes it seem to an outsider that one of you is being tortured. Most of the time though, your family is there to play with you, give you support, and to call you out when you step a little too far out of line. They would, under most circumstances, not torture you. If they do though, you should probably consider excommunicating them from your life, because that is unhealthy.
Family does have one thing that is a benefit though. Most of the time, family will ALWAYS be there for you, through thick and thin, prosperity and poverty, health and sickness. Because of this, you can count on them to always help you feel better when you are in pain or experiencing sorrow. Our Conundrum requires this to be true for a correct answer, and under most circumstances, family fits that profile.
Again, like best friends, family only satisfies two of the three Conundrum conditions though. This rules it out as the answer to our Conundrum. You should not even try to put this in as the answer to Eyezak the Riddle Robot’s riddle, because he will just insult you a little for being terribly wrong. We should just move on.
Shoes
When we first started talking about this Conundrum, we mentioned that Eyezak the Riddle Robot might actually be using a device called Personification to give an inanimate object some lifelike features. Our first attempt at an answer to this Conundrum that is not a living being is a “shoe,” which many humans wear daily.
We can all attest that when we were young, before we could tie our shoes, that shoes with laces could easily “trip us up,” especially if we have disproportionately large feet. Eyezak the Riddle Robot can relate to this, as some of his features trip him up sometimes. Because of this, we can safely say that shoes do at least satisfy the first condition of our Conundrum.
Next, we should talk about whether shoes torture you. Well in the strictest since, no. Shoes are inanimate, and therefore, they are incapable of actually performing an action of their own volition. Eyezak the Riddle Robot knows this; however, he also knows that you are in fact able to torture yourself with your shoes, which would be referred to as “your shoes are torturing you.” There are many television show representations of women specifically buying shoes that are too small, intentionally. That is torture.
But do shoes have the ability to comfort you? Again shoes are inanimate, and therefore completely incapable of feeling anything themselves. Because of this, it is unlikely that they will comfort you in time of pain or sorrow. They could however cause either of those things. When you buy shoes that are too small and jam your foot in them, your foot is indeed in pain. When they break because your foot being jammed in is a physical impossibility, that can cause sorrow if you paid a lot for them.
This is unfortunately a 1.5 out of 3. We can say it is 1.5 because shoes only halfway satisfy the torture condition, since you have to inflict the torture on yourself with the shoes in order for it to be true. We should check the final possible answer to our Conundrum. Eyezak the Riddle Robot eagerly awaits our well constructed response..
Alcohol
Like shoes, alcohol is another inanimate object, and the last one we will explore as the answer to our Conundrum. Alcohol, while it is inanimate, does require us to use it by consuming it. Therefore, typically we say that alcohol makes us do certain things. This does in fact include “tripping up,” which could be viewed as satisfying our first Conundrum condition for Eyezak the Riddle Robot. It makes you not only slur your words, but also physically stumble. This is good for our answer. Let us move on.
Alcohol can in fact torture you. Because you had to drink it in order to use it, it will affect you with its abilities. One of the abilities of alcohol is that it is technically a poison, and therefore it poisons you. Poison is damaging to you, like any other physical pain, and is in fact a form of torture. It is so strong that at times, you feel like you even need to throw up to get it out of your system. Thus it does in fact torture you, which is check number two towards our Conundrum.
Our final Conundrum condition is that it can “ease the pain” or grief & sorrow. We know this to be true also. Many drink alcohol so that they can forget the bad events that are happening in their lives. Alcohol is a distraction, even though it is not a healthy one. It does take your mind off of these things, which is viewed by most as easing the pain or sorrow.
So because alcohol satisfies all three parts of our Conundrum, and because the writing device of Personification was used to make it seem Human, we can say for sure that this is the answer. If you know another answer and can explain it, write that in the comments below. Or if you have questions, do the same. Do not forget to pre-register or download our app on either the app store or the play store.
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