TOP JOB OF THE WEEK: Your comments by May 1

PLEASE, ADD YOUR COMMENTS.


Thank you, Yasmin.

You identified Paul's inner conflicts about sex as one of the crucial phases in his development. He is frankly confused if not terrified by it, and is loaded with a sense of guilt. (This is later reinforced by the discovery that Nazone frequents prostitutes and has an STD.) It's a very interesting analysis: this subtext and its connection to Paul's inner dynamics is often ignored.   FGC

·         “Louis –haven’t you-don’t you believe in God?” …..“There is no God”(134)

·         “Paul, the job is not freedom. Your wonderful brain is freedom…” (134)

·         “…and our bodies are no longer meat and bone of our parents, but substance of Job.” (136)

·         “I do not need God in my house!” (147)

·         “He was proud that God had given him he was proud that God had given him hand, back, and eye to bring home food, proud that he earned almost as much as the thick-wristed men, proud that he studied blueprints and construction, proud that he felt beauty in his form and soul, proud of his wonderful family.” (157)

·         “Their obscenity gripped his eyes and chilled his senses.” (161)

·         “Oh mother mother I have desire great desire for woman and my only will is for Gloria’s fruits…I cannot tell you-I must never let you know…” (169)

·         “The scaffolds rose a floor a day. With each floor the height and majesty of skyscraper fascinated him, but he never told mother Annunziata about the danger of falling or being pushed from a swinging scaffold forty or fifty floors above the street.” (173)

·         “They reconstructed the beautiful terrain of Abruzzi and tenderly restored their youths and the times of Fiesta and Carnival.” (187)

·         “Nineteen Twenty-Nine! The building boom lay back-and disappeared.” (199)

·         “…and in their bewildered minds hunger and the fear of hunger set in as quick disease – weakening flesh and pounding sanity.” (199)

·         “You are my own; the time has come for me to show myself like you always asked me in your prayers which I have always heard since I was sent for by my loving Lord by whose right hand I stay.” (202)

·         “Paul looked over the scaffold rail and through staring mouth and eyes sent out his soul to catch his godfather who flung out his arms and rested on the speed of space that sucked him down.” (208)

·         “Every disfigurement of his godfather echoed in Paul with lightning flashes, shuddering and crushing him. His tongue shrunk.” (209)

·         “Boys….there’s a lotta mortar in the mixer and tubs that’s gotta be used up. There’s a hundred brickies and sixty hodcarriers, and overhead.” (210)

·         “Paul remained by the shattered Nazone. A flame shot through him. That is your father Geremio!” it cried, “Your father! You!” (210)

·          “I was cheated, my children also will be crushed, cheated. His father begins to absolve and sighs faintly, Ahhh, not even the Death can free us, for we are…Christ in concrete… (215)

·         “His face frightened her. She took the crucifix from the wall and placed it in his hands….he pushed the crucifix aside and stared into her eyes.” (216)

·         “Silent he returned. Silent he remained. And a trembling came to Annunziata. If only he would speak.” (217)

·         “There was something in his face, and her voice was now powerless.” (218)

·         “Ah no, today’s Job had choked him – but let him live. Tomorrow he would die.” (218)

·         “O life do not kill me before I have freed my heart-!” (219)

·         “I only know that I am cheated.” (220)

·         “Mama, you must stay - you have not lived - and soon the kids will be big- mama, please, food or no food - we shall live and laugh – we will be gay and dance differently – we will laugh and laugh and laugh oh how we will laugh…laugh…” (225)

Task 2: Write an essay about how Paul’s eventual loss of faith in Christ-God eventually kills his mother.

Paul is first thrust into the care of his family after his uncle too gets hurt on the job and is no longer able to help Annunziata and her family out. Paul is a very young boy who now has to take on the responsibilities of an adult. He not only has to grow up mentally and emotionally but his body also has to take on the pain and labor of an adult in a young man’s body.

Paul’s experiences on the job all lead him to eventually question and ultimately lose faith in God. First, he gets a job with the corporation and they take advantage of his age and pay him far less than most. He later gets another job as a bricklayer and although it takes a huge toll on his body, he is proud to be able to provide. On page 157, we see that “he was proud that God had given him hand, back, and eye to bring home food, proud that he earned almost as much as the thick-wristed men, proud that he studied blueprints and construction, proud that he felt beauty in his form and soul, proud of his wonderful family.”

We first see Paul grapple with his physical desire for women and how that directly interferes with the way he was raised. His first thought is how he cannot tell his mother about these desires. He says “Oh mother mother I have desire great desire for woman and my only will is for Gloria’s fruits…I cannot tell you-I must never let you know…” (169). The idea that somehow his physical desire is wrong and he associates that with his mother’s teachings is very telling.

We later see Paul take another job in the steel industry where he works with his godfather on big jobs such as skyscrapers. At first he feels very powerful and finds the job thrilling in a way. A large part of this is due to his age and the idea that when you are young, you are invincible.

His godfather becomes very nostalgic and wants to go back to Italy. He talks about going back home and begins to distance himself from the job and their everyday responsibilities become a burden to him. One day as they are going to work, Paul’s godfather asks him to not go to work. They eventually do go for Paul is afraid of losing the job. Later in the day there is an accident on the job and his godfather falls 20 floors to his death.

This incident devastates Paul as he was very close to his godfather and he begins to question everything – especially his faith. After this incident he see his father in a vision and he says to Paul “I was cheated, my children also will be crushed, cheated. His father begins to absolve and sighs faintly, Ahhh, not even the Death can free us, for we are…Christ in concrete… (215).

Paul begins to think about his own death and to wonder when it will come to him. He loses faith and no longer sees the purpose in worshipping a God that allows for so much suffering. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Task 3: Take notes of the film Give Us This Day.

·         The film begins with the future and shows Geremio coming home looking very disheveled and upset.

·         He walks in the house and Annunziata is very upset. She tells him to leave and go “back to her.” His kids come in and sing him happy birthday and his son Paul wants to show him the radio that he made for him.

·         Geremio then leaves without seeing Paul’s radio.

·         The film then goes back in time to show us how this first scene came to be.

·         We meet Geremio at his work site and get a sense of the danger that is faced by the workers in their daily work.

·         Geremio almost dies as a result of an accident on a skyscraper that he is working on.

·         We are also introduced to Geremio’s group of four friends that he shares everything with.

·         We see that they hang out together at a bar and that Geremio has a girlfriend who is American. He cares for her and they are together often.

·         We later see Geremio asking his girlfriend where she thinks this relationship is going. He clearly wants more commitment than she is willing to give.

·         She questions his job and ability to provide for his family and we see them part ways.

·         Geremio later talks to his friends and he decides that he will marry a girl from Italy and make a home.

·         He marries Annunziata right after she comes to be with him. This reminds me of the movie The Italian that we saw.

·         He promises her a house of her own and she is ecstatic about it.

·         However, Geremio cannot afford to buy a home and he instead rents it for three days without telling Annunziata the truth.

·         She gets very upset and is very disillusioned to have to live in a tenement.

·         They then make a pact to never lie to each other again and decide to save to buy the house they want – they will need $500 to purchase the home.

·         Unfortunately, work is very hard to come by and it takes them a lot longer to do this. They also have 4 children in between!

·         Around the birth of the children we see the role of superstition come into play a lot more – the scene with the eyelashes comes to mind.

·         They come across a point where there is no work and they must choose who gets the next job – they collectively choose Julio for that one.

·         Geremio is also growing farther apart from Annunziata and the pressures of not being able to provide are mounting.

·         He decides to go back to his ex for a while and cheats on Annunziata with her.

·         Here I am very surprised to see this because in the book, there is a great deal of love and respect for family between Geremio and Annunziata and he just did not strike me to be the type to do this.

·         It is this scene where he remembers that Annunziata wanted him home for dinner and it is his birthday that he goes home and we understand why he hits Annunziata and leaves home.

·         Geremio then comes back to Annunziata and apologizes for his wrong doings and begs Annunziata to take him back. She does and they start anew.

·         Later Geremio is approached by a manager to work a new job as his foreman. Geremio is very hesitant because he sees that in order to save money, the manager cuts a lot of corners and the job is not safe at all.

·         Geremio later decides to take it anyway in order to feed his children.

·         He gets into a scuffle with the rest of the gang and he starts to feel the pressure of the job on his conscience.

·         They later make up and decide to try their best to make the site safer to work under.

·         Unfortunately their attempts are futile and the building collapses over them and they die.

·         Annunziata is later found to be at the courts trying to get help for her children and the courts rule to give her $1,000.

·         She says “finally, Geremio has managed to get us a house” – a very sad ending indeed.