The+Good+Time


 * The Big Questions: How does this chapter fit the novel as a whole / Why is it important / What should a good reader take away from this chapter?**

//In this chapter Johnson Gibbs is introduces as a main character. Jess gets his first taste of adults lying to him. It sets the tone for his thinking of getting older- the more he knows, the older he gets. Chapter one shows how they became a family, growing closer, and sets the stage for the rest of the book. It fits into the book as a learning point for Jess, and he realizes that adults are not always correct, and they make mistakes. If you look closely at this chapter, that Jess is beginning to grow, and it foreshadows the tragedy and hard times to come. (Simon, Tice)//


 * Important Quotes (and commentary)**

//"there ain't nothing better than this," Johnson said. "From here on out it's all downhill from here."// //**This is a rare moment of wisdom that Johnson shares with Jess. It also foreshadows the later chapters. (Simon, Tice)**// //"I've joined the army," he said. "Don't you tell nobody."//
 * //In a moment of secrecy, Johnson tells Jess he has enlisted in the army. This chapter is all child-like innocence. He thinks that Johnson is the man to kill Hitler, but as time goes by and he grows older he soon learns and grows.//**

"The predictable result was that they became inseparable friends. There they sat in the creek, torn, bleeding, smeared with mud and cow manure, laughing in companionable lunacy. They laughed and splashed one another and then began washing themselves in the muddy creek water. They floundered up the slick bank and, both on all fours, shook water from themselves like puppies. My father barked like a little squeak-dog, and Johnson began to laugh anew."
 * This represents Johnson and Joe Robert's relationship as being very child-like and close. (stevejobs55, andycapper2)**
 * Moments of astonishingly good writing**

//**"which one," he asked, "I got so many I can't keep track of half." He scrunched his fingertips together on the edge of a seam, and laid the ball in the heel of his palm. This one here is what I call my Drunkards fancy. There ain't no way to hit this pitch, because there ain't no way to expect where it will be. Just somewhere around the plate is all you can count on. I see many a heavy hitter, jerk his backbone in a knot trying to get it. He had a cornucopia of pitches, all right, and enough names for them to fill a telephone book. Besides the drunkards fancy, there was the submarine surprise, the blue flash, the Blitzkreig, the shaky shaker, king of the hill, shortstops delight, Hole-in-the-bucket...There were others too but I got lost in the thicket of them.**// //I like the adjectives, and the imaginative names of the pitches. This quote is heavy on imagination and hyperboles. (Simon, Tice)//

//"//Johnson was as cheerful about the game as if he'd pitched a clean no-hitter. 'Anybody might have a bad day,' he said. 'Some days the old arm just ain't there, that's all. There's days when even Lefty Grove and ole Dizzy Dean would get knocked around pretty good.' 'You don't feel too bad about it then?' 'One bad day. That's the breaks.' 'I guess you didn't have many days like that when you pitched for the orphanage team.' 'What team? That orphanage is so broke they don't have diapers to go around for the babies. They surely ain't got no baseball team. I never saw no kind of a ball the whole time I was there.'


 * Jess was very gullible in believing Johnson when he was telling these dramatic stories. Jess is young and immature.**