"Jesus' Son" reaction assignment

"Jesus' Son" is as frightening look inside the life of a bottom feeder, harvesting all the drugs that trickle down to his spot in the cold abyss he knows as life. On the contrary to most people I have discussed this work with, I enjoyed this roller coaster ride with my arm raised in the air. I feel that there is hope for our narrator when it is all said and done. In "Car Crash While hitchhiking" he is involved in this horrific car wreck but is not hurt. He stands around as if nothing is wrong, almost as if he is hallucinating the whole scene. I feel his main problem is recognizing weather things are really happening or if they are a product of the drugs he has been ingesting. He is very descriptive of the pain and carnage going on around him, but is unable to feel the pain, only see it. Although he does nothing of real help in the situation, the optimism here lies in the fact that he can at least recognize that there is something askew. We can feel that he has guilt about the way he lives his life. In "Out on Bail" we see on page 40, where they are going to forge the Social Security checks, how he believes that this is the last time he will pursue a crooked fix. He truly feels guilt about the way he does business. That he will turn his life around, not right now, but when the time is right, he will get it going for himself. He may even start tomorrow.
This is a typical addicts train of thought. Just this one last time, just one more fix and then He'll start the turn around. The problem is addicts think this before every fix, they truly believe that this one will be the last one. Until the next one that is.
The metaphors Johnson uses in this book are deep and direct, sometimes so direct that we can barely notice them. In "Work" he keeps describing how there is something about the bartender that he loves, but can not put his finger on it. Maybe it is her generous pouring style, or maybe it is that fact that she was his mother. It is revealed in the final sentence of the story that the woman was indeed his mother. The whole time Johnson spends on her he describes her caring, motherly approach to the pouring of a drink. These subtleties were almost overlooked by me until I read the last sentence, but then it was quickly realized that all that description was motherly metaphors. To go further with it I started to think on a deeper level that alcohol is the mother's milk of an alcoholic, who would be more appropriate to be serving it than his mother herself.

Michael clark

“Jesus’ Son” By: Denis Johnson

I must start out by admitting that I am not a fan of this book. I can deal with life problems but I have a hard time reading so many stories about drug problems, death, depression, dread and despair. The tone of this collection is dark and depressingly hopeless. The imagery that Johnson often uses to aid the reader to see the world as he does makes me feel as if color has been taken out of the world. If any of these short stories were made in to a movie (which I know it was) I would expect it to be dreary and all in black, white and grays. I will not write the book off however, I do believe Johnson does a good job at realistically approaching the life of a lost drug addict. So far, my favorite short story in this collection is “Work” because it made me think for a moment that he may see the light and seek help. He described the day he worked with Wayne pulling electrical wiring out of Waynes’ old house. He says it is “one of the best days of my life.” (62) When he describes why later on in the story he says, “But this afternoon, somehow, was the best of all those times. We had money. We were grimy and tired. Usually we felt guilty and frightened.” (65) This describes the feeling that many people have at the end of a work day. You can usually rest better after a hard day of work because even though you are tired you feel that you have accomplished something. Accomplishment is what made the main character feel the way he did. Some of the metaphors he uses are despairingly realistic to how one may feel when all hope is lost. In “Work” he says that the radio is “playing tunes of alcoholic self-pity and sentimental divorce.” (66) In “Emergency” it was said that “The road we were lost on cut straight through the middle of the world.” (79) Is nothing ever good or happy? I found one line in Johnson’s story “Car Crash” that I felt explained the whole of the main character’s life. He said, “Down the hall came the wife… She didn’t know yet that her husband was dead…She shrieked as I would imagine an eagle would shriek. It felt wonderful to be alive to hear it! I’ve gone looking for that feeling everywhere.” (11) Here, I believe the author is giving us some insight in to why drugs are so important to this man. They are the only thing that makes him feel. Even if that feeling is a hallucination or a dream he just wants to feel.

Posted by: Krista Behrends

Check your short story IQ

Think you read the first story, "Car Crash While Hitchhiking" in Jesus' Son carefully? Test your memory with this very short online quiz. Completely optional...

http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_master_lit_1/28/7280/1863858.cw/index.html

mps Denis " Jesus'son" Johnson

JESUS' SON
By DENIS JOHNSON

I didn’t like “Jesus’ Son”. Blasphemy I know. But its hard being at the bottom and in this collection of short stories Denis Johnson definitely takes you there. This work is so clearly described, that it’s easy to be completely engulfed by the dark and uneasy settings and drama of each story. “The downpour raked the asphalt and gurgled in the ruts,” (p. 4) With words like these, Johnson takes us into the dismal life of a drug abused young man, where even the rain fall can be one of most abysmal, disgusting and lowly of things. Good thing our main character’s only goal is to find his next high. He’s going to need some type of ambition to get out of the slump he’s in.

Nowhere in the duration of all one hundred and sixty pages does Johnson make it easy to believe our main character was going to get out of the mess he’s in. But in the few moments that he wasn’t pathetic and disgusting, I sort of liked him. Once in each of the two stories, “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” and “Out on bail”. In these stories the main character, in his maybe unfamiliar circumstance asks the questions and makes the same inferences that the rest of us do in this life. It’s what makes him human. “I was overjoyed,” he says “not to be dead. Generally the closest I ever came to wondering about the meaning of it all was to consider that I must be the victim of a joke… [But] I had a moment’s glory that night, though. I was certain I was in the world because I couldn’t tlololerate any other place.” (p. 41). In this statement he addresses a few common thoughtful experiences: feeling like life is just a game being played against you and accepting that where you are, is where you need to be. On page 10 I was captivated when he said, “I looked down into that great piety of a person’s life on this earth, I don’t mean that we all end up dead… I mean that he couldn’t tell me what he was dreaming and I couldn’t tell him what was real.” How often it occurs. Ours dreams, hopes, our pain and realities, rarely can they be shared. We can’t exchange our weaknesses and strengths.

Johnson’s voice in this work is disturbingly honest, dirty, confused and somehow still sure. I didn’t like it but I appreciate its originality. I also enjoyed its style. How many collections like this one can command the street credibility that Jesus’ Son does? I assume very few.


Secretary of bestcornergroup08,

melissapierresaint

Assignment Amendment for Jesus' son

The professor has asked me to inform the blog users that we are only responsible for the first six chapters of "Jesus' Son" this week, not the entire work as stated on the syllabus. We will get to the rest of the book the following week.

happy reading!

mike

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven: A Drug called tradition.

In “A Drug Called Tradition” a short story by Sherman Alexie. This story is featured in the book “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven” we see more play on the theme of social class. only this time it is seen from the bottom looking up. Sometimes people of a lower social class have nothing but their traditions, when these traditions fall by the wayside a severe self deprecation begins to take shape.
Thomas builds the fire is an Indian living on a Spokane Indian reservation, who is not sure of his place in the social spectrum. Thomas came into money when a power company leased some of the land he inherited to run power lines across. Thomas is a humble Indian who usually gets handed the bill for the alcohol fueled Indian pow wows. The Indians on this reservation seem to be blinded by the effects of alcohol. Ancient traditions have been replaced by binge drinking. Indulging in the consumption of alcohol is all they have left. They blame the white man for these burdens but do nothing to change their situation.
Thomas is a known storyteller. He is infamous for his gift for gab. One day while the effects of the drugs he and his friends had taken were starting to wear off, Thomas began to tell one of his morally soaked stories. The story he begins to tell features him and the two friends he is with as young Indians, before alcohol had diminished their dreams and aspirations. In the story the boys were being offered their first drinks ever, but instead of accepting they refuse the drinks. In refusing they are able to see a glimpse of a future that could have been rich in heritage and traditions. Traditions are important for the Indians, a silent protest against the white man. The only way they can fight against the white man is to stay rich in tradition, the one thing that can not be stolen from them. “I dance one step and my sister rises from the ash, I dance another and a Buffalo crashes down from the sky into a log cabin in Nebraska with every step an Indian rises, with every step a Buffalo falls…they knock all the white people from their beds, send plates crashing to the floor” (Alexie p. 17). It is apparent that the dancing represents the traditions and the buffalo disrupting the white mans sleep and destroying their valuables represents the power of staying true to you traditions. These traditions are the only bullet the Indians have left in the battle against the white mans oppression. The white man never considers the social class of the Indian man. For the Indian man to overcome this social oppression they must see beyond themselves, turn their backs on the bottle of alcohol and stay true to their traditions. In doing so they can overcome this obvious social oppression.

posted by Michael Clark

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven was my favorite collection so far. Sherman Alexie drew on his personal experiences growing up on a reservation to write this collection of beautiful, funny, sad and all around entertaining short stories. He writes in way that makes the reader feel as if they’re not reading, but listening to him speak. Alexie uses language that isn’t typical in literature, he writes like he speaks; he curses, he’s sarcastic and funny. The language also gives a better sense of the imagery so you can see and hear everything that was going on. In the introduction he admits that the mouse really did run up his aunt’s pant leg as depicted in “The Fun House” and his father really did put a passed out drunk on a roller coaster in “Amusements” and there are other examples as well. In my personal opinion some of the best stories are drawn on truths, and then exaggerated of course.


-Kaitlyn Lyons

The short stories are interconnected, but each is story is extremely unique . All of the stories center around the life of the Native Americans, or Indians, on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The book explains Victor Joseph and his friends and family and the lives they share and live . He tells some of the stories from his first-person perspective which makes the stories very interesting to read and help keep you awake. Alexis Sheridan is a writer able to use the ability to use imagery help paint the picture of the story she is trying to tell. By using flashbacks and poem passages it enables the reader to become more engaged in reading . Her writing is able to posses a character of its own and helps follow the story.
All of these interconnected stories share many of the same common themes . Through the books humor , honestly you are able to see the characters come to life while dealing with ethnic pride, native american stereotypes, substance abuse, poverty and dysfunctional families. Sermons story A train is an order of occurrence designed to lead some result. I found this shared the common theme of a family unable or having a hard time fitting in. This reminded me of the last story we read in the last collection of a family having top assimilate and finding difficulty between cultures. This story also portrayed another theme of the book which was alcoholism , when he speaks about drinking, and passing out. This I found entertaining and brought of the lightheartedness throughout the story. Thomas builds the fire, offers up another character in my opinion pointing out what seems to be the obvious in stories, because it is the only truth the stories hold, and yet is not taken seriously. this particular short story was my favorite. I really enjoyed the overall humor of being put on trial for being real and saying what is true.
Overall I enjoyed this book immensely . There were many themes that were carried throughout the entire text and all the stories were connected.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - Part II

In the second half of Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven I read of more sorrow, tradition, and humor. But, even more impressive to me in this set of stories was the imagery that was used. I always find it intriguing how the simple use of describing something specifically can add such power to a story. In Alexie's The First Annual All-Indian Horseshoe Pitch and Barbecue something so simple as laying under a picnic table was described so gracefully that it made me want to be under that very table. “There is something beautiful about the cool grass beneath a picnic table. I was there, half asleep, when my love crawled under, wrapped her arms around me, and sang into my ear... The sunlight squeezed through spaces between wood, fell down knotholes, but just enough to warm my face (146).”
Have you ever read a passage from a story and it seemed to transcend reality and put you in that place in your mind? Alexie has this gift. His description and imagery has the power to make you feel as though you are watching a movie or physically there watching the events play out. The passage from Alexie's Family Portrait that was describing sniffing gas also made me feel like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book. “Everything underwater, like walking across the bottom of Benjamin Lake, past dead horses and abandoned tires. Legs tangled in seaweed, dance, dance again, kick the feet until you break free. Stare up at the surface, sunlight filtered through water like fingers, like a hand filled with the promise of love and oxygen (197-98).”
I find it truly amazing to come up with such vivid analogies. For me to think up something as colorful and real as the passages that I pointed out would take me forever. It is truly a fantastic talent and a mark of what an amazing writer Alexie truly is.


Posted by: Krista Behrends

mps The... Fist Fight in Heaven

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven
By Sherman Alexie

This collection of short stories was has rightfully be said to startle and dazzle. It is the smartest collection of stories I’ve read to date. Using a free yet very descriptive style Alexie sets the tone for a poetic introduction to the oppressions and liberations of the Native American Culture. Alexie’s voice and word choice is dirty and honest but it is also spiritual and natural which makes it feel so pure… “Soon everybody from the party was on the lawn, dancing in the snow, fucking in the snow, fighting in the snow.” (Every Little Hurricane p.10) It’s a witty, lyrical interpretation of whom his people naturally are, laughing loving and fighting. His voice and style are also remarkably funny. It’s humor miraculously manage to dodge themes of misfortune, depression, and loss of his people. So instead of being dark or even sarcastic it is simply smart and clever. “…She named him ------- which means: He Who Crawls Silently Through the Grass with a Small Bow and One Bad Arrow Hunting for Enough Deer to Feed the Whole Tribe… We just called him James.” (Jesus Christ’s Half Brother is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation p. 110)
It is Alexie’s voice that keeps these stories, all of which lack any sort of victory or overcoming, from being hopeless. It’s humor and honesty enveloped presence of mother earth’s character preserve us and allow us to accept that things are not good. But at least we can still laugh, we can love, and in time, yes eventually we’ll die.
I was captivated by Alexie’s story; A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed To lead to Some Result. (P130) The story carries a theme common with most of the stories in the work. This inability the people have to fully assimilate to an American culture that is not their own. I was surprised by our main character Samuel’s optimism and than tickled by the renovations he made in his apartment (making it resembled the inside of a tipi.) eventually I was humbled as his view of the world became more familiar to the view I’ve come to know from other pieces in this work. Something like coming to terms with being at the bottom and deciding what to do about it. “Some times it’s called passing out and sometimes its called falling asleep (p138) Alexie says, after Samuel trips on the tracks of an on coming train. “ There is something about trains, drinking and being Indian with nothing to lose.” I enjoyed this intimate story of Samuel, just a fish out of water. He did his best but didn’t survive on the outside.

secretary of bestcornergroup08,

melissapierresaint





interview with sherman alexie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWolPAoDk3g