Vivian
is a major character in the story, as Grant says multiple times that she is the
reason he is willing to go see Jefferson.
On page 130, Jefferson provokes Grant, to which he responds, “That’s a
lady you spoke of boy. That’s a lady. Because it’s she who keeps me coming
here. Not your nannan, not my aunt. Vivian. If I didn’t have Vivian, I wouldn’t
be in this damn hole.” Grant cares a lot about Vivian and will not let anyone
disrespect her. He also takes everything she says seriously and will do it.
Grant complains to Vivian on page 141 saying, “I’m not doing any good up there,
Vivian. Nothing is changing.” To which she replies, “Something is.” Grant will
listen to Vivian because he loves her so much, and without her words of
support, the entire mission of Jefferson becoming a man could become abandoned.
In fact,
Vivian is the one who convinces Grant to go to the jail in the first place. The
two are at the rainbow Bar and Grant is explaining how his Aunt wants him to go
visit. On page 32, Vivian says, “I want you to go up there. If they say yes, I
want you to go for me. For us, Grant.” Vivian knows Grant must do this, and when
Grant is worried about it, she says, “I’ll be here.” This shows Vivian’s major
role in Grant’s original choice to attempt to help Jefferson.
In the
newest part of the reading, Vivian has a major role. Vivian comes to Grant
after Grant gets into the fight with the mixed men in the bar. She is
“disgusted” by Grant’s actions. Grant is again showing his seemingly adolescent
behavior. She takes Grant to a hotel, and Vivian must ruin everything for
herself to take care of Grant. She ran out of her teaching job, and everyone
knows where she went. Because of this, now the whole town knows for sure. She must
take care of him while is he too injured to move, or drive himself home. If
Grant had just controlled himself, he wouldn’t have had to deal with all of
this.
We also
hear about Vivian’s actual husband wanting to see the kids on weekends. I blame
Grant for this, as he didn’t take the incognito meeting with Vivian seriously
enough. He let enough people know about
him and Vivian that the real husband decided to want to see the kids on the
weekend, so they couldn’t run away with the children. I think Grant ruined
things for Vivian and himself, and partly blames the racism, which is fair, but
I also think he is a major part. I believe Vivian has good reason to be mad,
and her “disgust” of Grant is justified. I didn’t get to ask this in my student
discussion today, but whose side are you guys on? Is Grant right in being
upset, and it’s OK he got in a fight, or is he ruining Vivian’s life and their relationship
by getting in this fight?
I think they both need each other, Grant needs Vivian to help during this difficult time with Jefferson and Vivian needs Grant to help deal with her divorce. In this case, I believe Vivian is justified in being upset because Grant really didn't think about what implications his actions would have. He knows Vivian is in a delicate situation, yet he still let his anger take over. Maybe he thought he was standing up for Jefferson, but he should have also thought of Vivian.
ReplyDeleteI think that fact that this fight occurs right after Jefferson appears to have made a lot of progress sort of exacerbates Grant's actions. Things were just sort of looking up, but now they're ruined. I can't completely blame Grant though, because he's also going on his own hero's journey and we can't expect a perfect journey. Ignoring those provocations by the workers would've been so much better, but also pretty hard. So I guess I'm not really on either side, Grant shouldn't have gotten into the fight, but I just can't be entirely mad at him.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why Grant ends up getting in the fight--his emotions win out over his rational awareness that it's not a good idea, and there is something potentially heroic about standing up for Jefferson. It's easy to understand how hearing these guys laughing--in a racist tone--about the young man Grant has been working so hard to get to know gets Grant's temper up (it gets me mad, just as a reader, and I kind of want to see them get theirs!), but it quickly becomes clear that there's nothing heroic about this fight. It's pointless, brutal, and it achieves nothing, aside from diminishing Grant's own dignity. A relevant model here might be Jackie Robinson, who endured all kinds of virulent insults in order to focus on his game, proving the racists wrong through the way he played *and* the way he comported himself. Grant can't rise to that level here. And it's Vivian, as you say, who constantly tries to keep him on an elevated plane--so it's apt that she's so disgusted with him here.
ReplyDelete