Blog Three

Quote:"People make mistakes, of course, drink too much, say things they don't mean, spend money they don't have, start a family without planning to. I've done these things, give or take, myself. Maybe what really bothers me is that guys like Dan never own up to their mistakes, never accept their lives as they are today, with all the accumulated blunders that brought them to this place and time" (Currie Jr. 39)

Response/Personal: The context of this quote is from the point of view of John Sr., the father of Junior ( the main character), and Rodney, and husband to Debbie, (the mother). I've also come to realize that the mini-bios as I call them, aren't really mini-bios, they're point of views from people in the story. This point of view presents another side of John Sr., a better one than the one that was provided earlier in the story. The one earlier was really a description of John Sr. by Junior. In this description, he was painted as a pretty bad father. He didn't talk much to anyone in the family, he lost some of the fingers on his left hand, (doesn't make you a bad guy, but junior seems to think it does), and then there's the fact that he cheated on his wife while he was at war. In my opinion, the point of view in this section shows he is sorta a good man and good father. The point of view talks about how he didn't want to become a drunk like his father was and that he's scared to talk to his children.

   

Analysis: John Sr. seems to play the role of the authority figure that everyone looks up to/obeys, (Dystopian Aspect). The author uses the characters in the book to get this across. "There are several reasons why your mother has decided to have your father come and bring you guys to the hospital" (Currie Jr. 35) This quote comes from the part of the book where Junior has had a seizure and his mom decides to call her husband instead of 911." He was in the living room watching TV before dinner, and his eyes got all big when I asked him, which could be interpreted as him feeling guilty about something, except that both the boys react this way whenever I talk to them" (Currie Jr. 44) This was when John Sr. questioned his son Rodney about where the money from his baseball collection went. Rodney is a little bit intimidated by his father but not because of what he did, but this is how both of his sons react towards him. Which connects to the Dystopian element of the authority figure because in dystopian literature the characters sometimes fear the authority figure.