Quantum Leap
Have you ever watched the T.V. show called “Quantum Leap”
where a scientist leaps from one body into the other? Or wondered what it would be like to
be someone else for a day? If this could happen, it would be great to leap in to Jamie in
Their Eyes Were Watching God or White Man’s Dog in Fools Crow, and the narrator in
Where I’m Calling From and see what it would be like to be them, and at the same time
we could see the difference in their communities and cultures. What we would realize is
life is a journey or growth and discovery.
In “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Janie is a proud,
independent black woman who’s searching for her identity; life was hard for a black
woman of the early 20th century. But she manager to over comes so much with the
changes she goes through in her life—she was married three time, twice widowed. And
one of her husbands died from her own hand; you have to be very tough to be able to do
what she did to Tea Cake because of the love she had for him. “Tea Cake crumpled as
his bullet buried it self in the joist over Janie’s head. Janie saw the look on his
face and leaped forward as he crashed forward in her arm. Janie struggled to sitting
position and pried the dead Tea Cake’s teeth from her arm” (Hurston 184). By
doing this it say lots about Janie’s character; if this were to happen at the
beginning of her young life. I don’t think she could handle it; this just shows how
she matures through the years. If Janie were to live in today world, I don’t she
would of married Logan, for the fact that she was only sixteen and she doesn’t love
him. Also I don’t think Janie would stay married to Joe for as long as she has,
because women today are more independent and want to be treat as equally not someone mule
or ornament.
Fools Crow is a character that I would like to leap into because I
really enjoy reading about the change that took places in his life. Here’s a guy who
began as the joke of the tribe, with nothing much to show for, to become a warrior who was
respected by members of the tribe. At the beginning, White Man’s Dog was insecure of
himself; his life started to change after the raid of the Crows camp. During this time, he
was given a responsibility of being in charge of the younger Indians. “I will walk
first among the horses to the north. If it looks safe, we will take them. For the first
time, White Man’s Dog felt the responsibility of his charge” (Welch 29). With
the successful raid of the Crows, White Man’s Dog started to have more confidence in
himself. This is like our society today; some young people don’t know what to do with
their life, but if we give them some responsibility often allows them to mature.
In the story, “Where I’m Calling From” the author
takes us right into action of the story, at Frank Martin’s drying facility. But
before we get into this story, we should know that he author was a recovering alcoholic
and that he bases this story from his own experience. Most of Carver’s stories deal
with people’s daily lives; the character in this story can be someone we know that
has a drinking problem. “Obviously my drinking experience helped me write several
stories that have to do with alcoholism” (Gentry 115). Also to really understand
Carver’s stories, we basically have to leap into someone else’s body because
most of his stories start at the climax and there’s no ending.
In the story “Where I’m Calling From” Carver started
by introducing his two main characters at the front porch of Frank Martin’s
drying-out facility. Like most of the character in this story they all have same problems
and they all are trying to get their life back. This is J.P. first time at Frank Martin’s,
but the narrator has been here before. While the narrator and J.P. were talking about the
reason why they are there, J.P. saw one of the characters going thru the step of drying
out and wondered how it would feel, but he was afraid to ask. J.P. then when on talking
about how he met his wife, and then how he starting drinking more everyday; eventually he
couldn’t stop drinking, and it causes problems with their marriage. The narrator like’s
to hear about other people problems so he doesn’t have to think about his own. But
sooner or later, he’ll have to deal with his own problem. Later on the narrator
talked about his problem that he had with his wife, and he also talked about his
girlfriend, the problem she’s having that cause both of them to drink. While they were getting wasted, the narrator
realized that he needed help, “Sugar, I think I’d better pack up. I better go
back to Frank Martin’s” (Carver 289). By having the narrator doing this Carver
show how a person can change, and it take a lots for an alcoholic to admit that he/she
need help. We all have to face up to our responsibilities. Some people even today run from
the responsibilities of our lives by drinking etc …
I think what make these three stories great is that the authors use
their own life’s experience to give us better understand about their book. Like
Carver said “You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an
alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar” (Gentry 38). After reading these books,
I felt like I was really leaping into these characters and experience everything’s
that happened in each one of the stories because each seems so real. All three characters
were weak at the beginning but through maturity, they all survive whatever life throws at
them. Just like many of the community today, it consists of weak and strong people. For
our community to get better, we all need to work together and mature into a place that we
can live and enjoy.
Works Cited
Welch, James. Fools Crow. Viking Penguin Inc. 1986.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. First Perennial
Classic. 1998.
Carver, Raymond. Where I’m Calling From. The Atlantic Monthly
Press, New York, 1988.
Carson, Phillip. Carver’s Vision. http://world.std.com/~ptc/Carver-paper.html
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