Blog Post: Problems, Problems, and Problems (Oh My!)

*I am unsure as to how to embed a word document into Blogger so I will simply include my project below the post*



This week, I wanted to focus my project on what drives certain main characters (what makes them tick!) I saw that this book had an interesting stance on typically controversial topics; more specifically drugs and sex. I realized while reading that these things provided a way for Darlene to do what she calls brain-dancing, where she is in a heaven-like state where all she can think of is euphoria. A certain passage that caught my eye that demonstrated not only how sex and drugs play a role in Darlene's life, but also captured how the high that comes with doing these things comes back to a low of realizing the reality of the situation being the lack of pleasure from daily life that Darlene and so many others face on a daily basis. I tried to connect these methods of escape to why Darlene fell into the trap that Delicious Foods had set for her by exaggerating the farm to the point where it seemed like an amazing place to work. Also, I really wanted to include some analysis about Eddie even though he does not appear in the passage I had chosen. I wanted to shed some light on how Eddie feels he is obligated to care for both himself and his mother who is unable to fulfill the role of a parent. Since Eddie spends most of the book so far living without parental guidance while carrying out daily searches for his mother, I wanted to possibly reveal some of Eddie's own shifts in how he views himself (going from as a child that deserves protection and care from a parent to what is actually expected of him as the lead figure of the house) as well. I hope that you enjoy my work, but I would also like to ask you guys how you think Eddie will end up in the situation that he did in the beginning of the book with his arms chopped off. So far, it does not seem like he is close to finding his mother and almost everybody who he had asked for help/information has proven to be useless. How do you think he makes it to Delicious Foods?










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James Thomas

First-Person Favorite Passage Analysis (Character Analysis as well)

Mr. Perlman

2/27/2018

When starting Delicious Foods, I did not know exactly how the book would progress to the point where people were trapped in such a horrible situation where many of the characters are confined in a place that prevents them from leaving. When reading background information, I thought to myself "How is this book even going to start off?" Once I finally began to read, I realized the strong prevailing message of hope that is carried throughout the book. In fact, hope was the main reason why Darlene ended up at Delicious.

She says while on the bus to Delicious that "She felt like Miss America taking her first walk with that motherfucking tiara... Imagine her ass floating above that bus, having a long-term hopegasm, rivers of happy sliding from her mouth to her crotch and back... like a combination of pure maple syrup and sex," (Hannaham 70-71). Darlene, much like many other characters in this book who have dealt with oppression (mainly from being black in a society that treats African Americans as lesser), sees Jackie's (the warden at Delicious) description of a wonderful place of work as amazing. Since Darlene has worked by selling her body in the past, she saw this wonderful opportunity as a way to escape her past filled with drugs and the loss of loved ones. However, even Darlene acknowledges that this idea of a perfect workplace may be "Too good," (Hannaham 70). While describing her joy, Darlene also comments on other things that society has deemed "bad". She uses examples such as sex, drugs, and alcohol saying that these things "Say yes to pleasure" (Hannaham 70). Although in the moment all of these things seem wonderful because of the pleasure that comes out of the thought of them, I think that all of these substances ended up being devices of temporary escape that keep Darlene in a place where she is desperate to the point where every scrap of hope for a better life she can find becomes the amazing thing that Delicious seemed to be. Sex has been a way for Darlene to escape her reality ever since she had her affair with Nat in college. She uses it was an escape, whether it be looking for a way to derive pleasure from her intense college life or escape from an impoverished and oppressed life.

Although sex and drugs are mainly character specific to Darlene (since her son is much younger) her son, Eddie, has many issues pertaining to his life without a mother figure. He says to his aunt, Bethella, that he is the "man of the house" (41). Eddie begins to cry shortly after saying this, which reveals to the reader that Eddie feels as though this job of being the "man of the house" should be that of the parent. Prior to this moment, Eddie had already questioned who is actually parenting who in his relationship with his mother. Eddie feels as though he has to fend for himself at all times, and has to come find his mother when SHE needs it. This extremely interesting dynamic between Eddie and his mother has been foreshadowed by the first chapter, in which Eddie has escaped Delicious after losing his hands there yet he wants to go back for his mother. I wonder how many more times Eddie will have to rescue his mother before she returns the favor and fulfills the role of the mother that she played before Nat's death... I do not think Eddie can spend much more time playing a role that forces him to cry at the mere thought of the position he is in. Not only does this put him in possibly dangerous situations (such as going off at night to look for his mother or having to save her from Delicious), but it also forces a responsibility on him to be able to sustain himself while also being the “child” that both Bethella and Eddie’s community recognize that he is.