The+Posse


 * 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?**

This chapter fits in to the book because it shows what kind of man Uncle Luden is. It also shows how clever Johnson and Joe Robert are. Uncle Luden is visiting from California and is quite the ladies man. He gets notorious phone calls from floozy ladies talking about how they want him. Joe Robert and Johnson feel that the ladies' partners will eventually come after him because Uncle Luden is fooling around with their women. They know that Uncle Luden is brave and acts like he won't care, so to protect him, they work up a prank. Johnson left Jess out of the prank until it was happening and this made Jess feel left out and immature. (Sultan and Hutchins)

Uncle Luden is already slipped into the story in The Overspill, but The Posse is the first place that actually we meet him. This introduces another character that is crucial in Jess's character development. Seeing Luden drunk brings home the fact that some things aren't as simple and innocent as he expects, but much deeper and more complicated. Uncle Luden also must be introduced early on because he reappears in Helen, once more in a role that affirms the fact that Jess is not one of them. Disregarding Luden for the moment, this chapter also drives the rift between the men and Jess much deeper in the scene with the binoculars contraption. They can see something fun and exciting that Jess can't. (Tassopoulos and Draper)

"Johnson and I went up at bedtime. In the dark I asked him, "Whats going to happen" and he didn't answer. "There aint nothing going to happen," I said. I'm going to sleep." "Thats the best idea," he said. "There is something going to happen," I said, "and I know what it is." He didn't answer again and I determined that I would stay awake all night if I had to. I wasn't going to be left out. While I was deciding upon this plan, I fell asleep."
 * Important Quotes (and commentary)**
 * This quote shows how Johnson left Jess out of the prank because they thought he was too immature and would ruin it by telling Uncle Luden or laughing too much. Also, it shows how young Jess actually is as opposed to how young he thinks he is because he wanted to stay up all night, but fell asleep just thinking of what the plan could be. (Sultan and Hutchins)

"I looked down at the battered toes of my brogans. That was going to be my whole destiny always, I thought. When I was as old as Ember Mountain they would still be keeping the important things from me. When I was ninety-nine years old and sitting on the porch in a rocking chair combing my long white beard, some tow head youngun would come up and ask, "What's it mean, Grandpaw, What is the world about?" And I would lean over and dribble tobacco spit into a rusty tin can and say, "I don't know, little boy. The sons of bitches never would tell me."
 * This quote is also about how Jess feels he is an annoyance to his family because they never want to tell him anything and he just bugs them for information that they won't give. (Sultan and Hutchins)

"But he didn't miss. He drew the pistol from his right-hand holster with a smooth, easy motion and blew the first doll in line to plaster dust. Then he said in a firm voice, precisely articulating every syllable, '//We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.' ...// When the final doll was demolished, he stood looking for a moment at the empty fence and then turned and came toward us. I thought he would be pleased with his marksmanship, but when he reached the porch I saw that his mouth was set in a hard, sad line and his eyes under the low-poled ten-gallon hat were dazed with trouble. He didn't speak to Johnson and me but pushed on by. He gave one brief watery glance at my grandmother and mumbled, 'I'm sorry, Mother.'"
 * The quote above determines that there is history of the family that we know nothing about. It's like the opposite of dramatic irony. Also, Jess was expecting Luden's drunken state to be lighthearted, but it was truly driven home that nothing is ever that simple. Life is complicated and Jess will have to learn that if he is to become one of them forever. (Tassopoulos and Draper)

"Johnson began laughing then at last. His ordinarily red face heated to an inhuman scarlet. Tears squeezed out of his blue eyes and he hugged his stomach. He leaned against the wall and then slid down it until he was sitting flat on the floor. Laughter rocked his torso like electric shock, and finally he was lying flat on his back in the hallway, whooping and drumming his heels. My father hardly smiled. He was dazzled by the precision of the joke. 'Like clockwork,' he said. 'It went off as slick as a greased weasel.' He stood there overcome by awe of his own genius."
 * Moments of astonishingly good writing**
 * We like this quote because of all the vivid statements. The similes are unique and unusual. (Sultan and Hutchins)