A Worn Path

Okay...no...wait...what? Awesome story, totally awesome. Phoenix Jackson sounds like the long lost member of The Jackson 5.

Among the many questions a-rumbling through my noggin about this story, the most prominent is of course: is the grandson dead? Does it even matter? It matters to me!

First let's simply agree that our dear friend Phoenix is just not quite all together mentally. The vast majority of the dialogue in the story is either her talking to herself or addressing bushes, trees, animals, and at one time, a scarecrow. I would hardly call it a stretch to say that Phoenix is suffering from dementia, or at the very least is extremely confused. So really, it could be very likely that the grandson is very much dead. This is evident by the behavior of the nurses. They repeatedly ask "is he dead," and act as though they already know the answer. One of them even says "Just tell us and get it over with. Is he dead?" This seems to indicate that all the nurses secretly know that the kid is dead, but are just waiting for Phoenix to accept it. The head nurse, however, steps in and gives her the medicine, apparently calling it charity, indicating that she feels it's better to have her go on living her illusion than to force the truth on her and destroy her emotionally. So what does it mean if he's dead? Well it indicates that Phoenix is clinging to the boy. His existence fuels her entire journey and gives her purpose. So even after he dies, she goes on believing that he's alive in order to keep this sense of purpose. Why, one could even argue that her delusion that her grandson is alive is in fact all that's keeping her alive. But I'm sleepy, and don't like arguing.

I remember this was relevant somehow....

Nine - Developments

Intriguing developments. Brett and Cohn apparently had quite the saucy fling up in San Sebastian. or maybe it's down in San Sebastian. Or neither. Up and down have nothing to do with cardinal directions. Nevermind. Anyway, yes, Brett had an affair with Cohn, and now Jake knows about it as well. However, he does not let on that this even remotely bugs him. So, given that we already know Jake never lets on about his true feelings, I think it's safe to assume that he is extremely peeved. Understandable, to say the least. However, this little fling is probably going to be quite different from all those other ones, simply because this one involved Cohn. I doubt that Cohn, due to his old-school values, will be able to just let his saucy fling in San Sebastian simply just be a fling. He's going to try and pursue Brett, most likely, which is sure to lead to more hilarious developments. And by hilarious I mean dramatic and tragic. Oh, one more thing: Jake and Bill don't like Catholics (although I'm about 98% sure that Jake is a Catholic). I think there's probably a very fantastic reason for this. The best I've really got so far is that they're jealous. See, all religious people have an aim, some aspiration or goal in life, something to look forward to, and something to shoot for. The members of the Lost Generation do not. So in reality, Bill and Jake are extremely jealous of this deep-seated feeling of purpose that the Catholics have, but they themselves lack. Bill let's us know his true feelings with snippy remarks like "It's enough to make a man join the Klan" (p. 93), but I doubt he's really all that upset about eating late. Instead, I think he just feels jealous and threatened by the Catholics' sense of tangible purpose.

This is Mr. Smith. He'll tell you all about purpose. And then stab you in the solar plexus.