Sunday, June 5, 2011
What You Pawn I Will Redeem
In the short story called What You Pawn I Will Redeem written by Sherman Alexie, I find the overall story to counteract the principle of boundaries. It's funny because in the end, the pawnshop man gives Jackson back his grandmothers regalia after 24 hours of "hard work". I find nothing hard in the act of asking for money and spending all of it at 7-Eleven, McDonald's, a bar, or even a cheep breakfast diner. However, I will say that Jackson's people skills are very impressive. The way that he can talk to other and convince them to give him money or buy him a drink or give him the regalia for free is truly mind-boggling. All of the characters in the story do something to help Jackson get this grandmothers regalia back. Even the cop gave as much as he could in order to help Jackson. It's as though they were all one big family and had each others backs. The ending was pretty disappointing. I couldn't believe that the pawnshop man gave Jackson the regalia for free. Even though Jackson did tell the man that the $5 bill was in fact a different $5 bill then before, and it did show that Jackson made progress, it was a progress with very little effort. I understand that what the pawnbroker did was kind, but I felt like he should have held his boundaries with Jackson and not given him the regalia because in the end Jackson did not earn it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I understand what you mean about boundaries, but I also think you hit on something really profound when you noted that all the characters he encountered were "one big family." It is possible that the pawnshop owner is part of the family?
ReplyDeleteWhile I get where your coming from with your critique. I felt that the story was more about the thought pattern of an alcoholic. To us Jackson Squared seems lazy and a little psychotic but for him it was perfectly natural and he felt like he really did work hard. After I read the story I imagined second part where the generosity of the pawn broker enabled Jackson to break his downward spiral. I actually finished that story incredibly hopefully and grateful to the pawnbroker.
ReplyDelete