We have reached the section of the book where - pardon my French - shit has hit the fan. People are dying left and right, and seemingly insignificant scenes are rearing their ugly heads back at us, showing that everything was tied together by a previously invisible thread. One of the most important realizations from this section is that Willie Talos is just as human as the rest of us (though some of us might be terrible examples of humans, like Alex Gordon), and even he cannot control some situations, specifically when his son Tom becomes paralyzed. Jack has been hyping up Willie as a larger than life man from the very start of the novel, somebody who can change any situation towards his benefit. "The Boss just stood modestly back of the gang of customers at the soda fountain, with his hat in his hand and the damp hair hanging down on his forehead. He stood that way a minute maybe, and then one of the girls ladling up ice cream happened to see him, and got a look on her face as though her garter-belt had busted in church when she was five steps from the altar and the organ was playing Mendelssohn's "Wedding March," and dropped her ice-cream scoop..." (8). The Boss was able to make women swoon just by showing up, despite his less than stellar outward appearance. He could have anything he wanted, with nothing to get in his way. However, there he lay at the hospital, just as powerless as he had been years earlier, before his rise to fame and power. His son was in critical condition, and all he could do was pray and shout to anybody who would listen. ""Telephone him - that boy in there - that boy in there - my boy-" The voice didn't trail off. It simply stopped with a sound like something of great weight grinding to a stop, and the Boss stared at Adam Stanton with resentment and a profound accusation." Willie was finally realizing his lack of power, and was lashing out against people who he could normally step all over. He remembered his origins as a nobody, and couldn't accept going back to those dark times. The helplessness that Willie demonstrates in this chapter really humanizes his character, allowing the readers to create a connection that was not previously there.
First off I would like to address your blatant and un-colorful attack of my character in the above post. It was the work of a fifth grader, literally on par with calling me a "stupid-dupid-dummy-head." It was not intelligent, not satirical, not subtle, It did not even challenge the assertions that I put forth but rather who I am as a person which is a low blow indeed sir (and one grounded in fallacy I might add). I expected better of you...
ReplyDeleteAs far as the book goes Mr. Perrando is spot on. As he says Willie finally begins to show his human side which we all knew had to be there somewhere, but had never really seen (or I guess Jack had never really seen). In a world that he controlled completely something very important is taken away from him. He realizes that he for once in his life cannot change the damage done to his son. He feels helpless, something he hasn't felt in a long time. So as Mr. Perrando says he takes it out on the little people around him one of them is Tiny Duffy. "there wont be any contract with Larson, when breath came back Tiny managed Boss - Boss you cant. (P.538)" Willie finally steps over the line taking the one thing that Tiny really actually wanted. This unbeknownst to Willie leads to his eventual murder as Tiny tips off Adam to Anne's sultry. His one moment of confusion dooms him in the end.
I agree with both of you, and Alex when you said that "for once in his life he cannot change the damage done to his son" it struck me as completely true. Willie has grown to feel powerful and important, and because of that he feels that he has the power to stop and control everything. When his son has an accident, he feels hopeless, and he feels enraged because an event came up in which he had no control over. The feeling of not being in control for Willie is like the world ending. Willie irrationally makes a decision to have Adam proceed with the surgery on Tom, even with the chances of success very slim. After the surgery is complete and Willie is told the results, he is livid. "Then Adam said :"he will live." "Thank God," Lucy breathed, but the boss still stared into Adam's face. Adam stared back. Then he said: "The cord was crushed." I heard a gasp from Lucy, and looked over to see her with her head bowed on her breast. The Boss didn't show a sign for a moment, then lifted his hands, chest-high, with the fingers spread as though to seize on something. "No!" he declared. "No!"" After a long streak of being in control, not being in control causes Willie to lose some of his might and power, and is his pitfall. After losing control, Willie never returns to being the same Boss.
ReplyDeleteI think all of you had extremely thought-provoking comments, greatly adding to a very interesting post by none other than Chris Perrando. I especially liked Trevin's statement that "After losing control, Willie never returns to being the same Boss." This got me thinking about the direction of Willie's life after the death of his son, and I realized that Willie almost disintegrates, getting in one last hurrah before his death as he refuses to let Tiny Duffy make the deal with Gummy Larson about the hospital. Right after Tom's death, Jack sees Willie at the office and he has certainly worsened, as we can tell from Jack's candid description of Willie's somber march down the hallway: "...wasn't exactly the look on the Boss's face when he came in, but it gives some of what that look was. He wasn't really plae, but he was paler than usual, and the flesh seemed to hang a little loose at the jaw-bone. There were a couple of razor nicks along the bone. under his eyes were gray circles, as though the flesh had been bruised but was just about well now. But the eyes were clear." (pg. 537) Willie only lives about a day and a half after Tom's death, as he lost all the power and wealth he created for himself as his son slipped through his fingers, and eventually he loses his life. Willie's entire career was built on power, and while his death was unexpected and out of his control, it was sort of timely as he was starting to lose his devotion to his job and really his will to live with the death of his son. The demise of Willie Talos begins as he loses the two things he really valued in life, and everything leading up to his death seemed like to the his last, and in the end he stuck to his values about Gummy Larson as he should have. Willie's career started with staying true to himself and the people of Louisiana, and that is essentially what got him killed.
ReplyDeleteGo to sleep, Chris! What are you doing awake at 1:14 am?
ReplyDeleteYour English Teacher