Pick a very small detail (a voice, a sentence, a description, whatever you want) from the assigned reading portion of Christ and connect it to a theme that struck a chord in you.
No duplications: each of you must choose a different item to discuss.
REPLY: at least one reply to a comment.
"Pushing the job is all right (when has it been otherwise in my life) but this job frightens me. I feel the building wants to tell me something; just as one Christian to another"
ReplyDeleteGeremio suspected that something bad was going to happen as he had heavy heart and never shared details about work with his wife about that particular project. He kept ignoring this feeling, or maybe he knew that the workers didn't follow safety procedures. I feel like he could prevent bad things from happening.
When Geremio was dying, his faith in God is first revealed. He didn't let go of his faith not for a second, thou he didn't want to die, he didn't want go like that, he didn't understand a purpose of life.
The description of Geremio choking and drowning in the concrete really disturbed me. The description of him chewing and grinding his teeth on the concrete was very intense, and gave me a tingling feeling up my spine and through my jaw. The whole chaos of that scene in general is displayed through the erratic rhythm of the writing. The theme that struck with me was the pain. As the story starts the pain of the workers and the pain of the immigrants is constant. When we get to the tragic scene where Geremio dies, this pain is transformed from the physical pain of exhaustion and hard work into the pain of death. Annunziata prays constantly to be healed of her pain, however I wonder if she is truly praying or angrily blaming God for her pain. Her struggles continue on after losing her husband, the brief joy of having another child is darkened by her recent loss and inability to provide for all of her children. It seems as though no matter how hard she screams to the heavens for "Gesu, Marie, and Joseph" there is still a black cloud of pain and struggles over her head, with no end in sight.
ReplyDeleteThis also struck me as being powerful. I have often wondered if one can possibly work through grief quickly if they believe in some higher power or larger purpose, or rather if time really is the only healer... Maybe the book will have an answer for me.
DeleteWow, Michael you really said it. That was horrifying. Like you, I could really feel the cement filling my lungs, I had to shiver at times. Pain is prevalent, and I think you hit the nail on the head in this story so far.
DeleteWhat immediately grabbed my attention is when he mentioned he already has 8 kids. How were times economically back then?(and working a dangerous job). What would it be like if Pascal was one of 8 kids?
ReplyDeleteAnnunziata calls her children her 8 pillars. I wondered how old is Paul that he decides to take on the role as father. He shows strength in taking upon himself such an action (also we are shown he has skills after hearing he made a radio). We find out that Annunziata has no money because the money that was supposed to be for their new house barely paid for the burial and stone. Luigi commits to helping his sister. He then starts making calculations on how much he will bring in and decides he will eat less food. As he is calculating, he is eatin stale bread. This reminded me of Pascal who did the same eating stale bread and old soup when he also decided to spend less on food. Luigi then injures himself and feels he has betrayed his sister. How will he help her now?
DeletePaul was 12 years old when he had to start working
DeleteThe line that struck me was when Paul said "Mama do not cry, I shall be the father" (pg 33) after Geremio had been crushed. This is a stark contrast to Geremio's comment in the first chapter about how his son could build radios and would not fall into labor like he did. Due to Geremio's death, Paul will probably have to fill his father's shoes as a laborer to support his mother and his siblings. To me, this one line shows that Paul has given up all hopes and dreams for advancing his future, and now he has resigned to his fate as a laborer.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis also struck me in a similar way to the lines that I chose. I was fascinated by how Geremio and Annunziata's newborn baby will basically be the vessel that carries the soul of Geremio (in a spiritual/religious sense). I was also taken aback at how Paul now has to take on his father's duties. It is almost as if two people died that day - both Geremio and Paul. Now Paul may never have the chance to become the man that he wanted to be.
DeleteThe first comment to elicited a reaction from me, is when Geremio says "Yes, the day is cold,cold... but who am i to complain when the good Christ Himself was crucified?". Truthfully, this comment really bothered me. I extremely dislike when people try to discount their's or other people's pain by saying others have it worse. Someone else will always have it worse, it doesn't make my pain or anguish any less. It may be a better mindset to have, so this way one is never paralyzed with self-pity, but it does have its problems as well. This mode of thinking makes me feel like a persons pain is being brushed off as not being as bad as someone else's, and i believe that is unfair and pretty dumb. People are entitled to feel their own pain and the fact that other people have it worse should have no impact upon them being allowed to feel their own emotions. It may not be a theme to the book, but this thought of Geremio's really did bother me right away.
ReplyDeleteI actually think that this is a major theme of the book, as ironically "Christ" or rather the church turns its back on his family. In general this seems to be something that happened throughout the Italian immigrant experience - that the Church sided with the rich and did not help out the poor - it is no wonder that many of the ItAms that I know are not churchgoers per say or do not consider themselves "devout" Catholics. (For example, I am not Catholic but my fiancé who is Catholic, does not even go to Christmas mass and probably hasn't been to church since his confirmation - this probably has a lot to do with it.)
DeleteThe little-known clean secret of ItAms and Italians: they don't like the clergy. Traditionally they have a strong relations with individual saints, the genius loci of the area where they came from, but have zero trust in the "Church" as an organization.
DeleteA lot has to do with the fact that, particularly in NY, the high hierarchy is composed almost exclusively of Irish. They had and still have strong dislike for the folksy, border-line pagan, noisy manifestation of devotion by Italian catholic, particularly processions, feast of saints, and elaborate liturgy. Stung by Protestants in their native country for being too manifestly superstitious and child-like theatrical, the Irish absorbed some of the protestant esthetics and regarded over the top spirituality as something inappropriate e finally even dangerous.
In _Christ_ it's not a coincidence that the priest is Irish. The subtext of the symbology is as thick as an ecncyclopedia.
Professor,
DeleteThat's a very revealing insight, and one that reframes a lot of the known social history of Catholicism in America. It definitely places the era of Pius XII and Spellman in a very different light.
I think that the detail that has stood out to me the most thus far is the way that job is capitalized. "Job" turns the work the men are doing into a living being, as oppressive and cruel as any man can be to another. Of course, this metaphor fully develops when the Job ultimately claims Geremio's life, but I think it also represents the theme in the literature and films thus far that work (when immigrants had it at all) was all that they could count on in America. It was the only thing that could keep them alive, and so their "jobs" became "Jobs." Think of Pascal and the episode where he injures his hand. He is desperate to keep working because his survival depending on earning something, and he had to succumb to working under almost every circumstance to do so.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point, the need to work and provide consumes them. It's what defines them. It's hard for me to imagine life without "free time," and reading literature like this makes me question my dedication to achieving goals in my life, and help motivate. This theme of work, in both Son of Italy and Concrete Christ, certainly puts things into perspective and I know has rubbed off on myself personally.
DeleteI also like to think of Job as this godlike figure. Learning Catholicism, I was told that we capitalize God, Him, and His, to represent an omnipotent power. In Christ in Concrete, I believe Job also has this omnipotent power of controlling the lives of the Italian Americans and forcing them to go to Job for a living. In a way, Job acts as a God, giving life and death to those that can handle the pressure of working as a laborer.
Delete"Papa is in Paradise ... watching ..."
ReplyDelete"God has taken him, and will send us another - Geremio ..."
These lines really stuck with me because of all the emotion that is packed within them. This is when we see that Annunziata now has a reason to be happy again. From the moment she found out that Geremio was dead until this point, it seemed as if she was never going to be happy again. She now can take comfort in the fact that her husband is looking down upon her family from heaven, and also that Geremio will live on. He will live on through her new child. Geremio will never leave his family, even in death. The son becomes the father, and the father becomes the son. The comfort that Geremio will be able to live through his child, may be the only thing that can heal Annunziata's wound created by the death of her husband.
Will, that is a very interesting point. It does make sense now that the baby is named after his deceased father, making him live on in a way as you mention. I find it very intriguing at the similarities and almost mirror effect between this book and Christianity, beyond just the title. For Geremio to die, basically crucified in concrete, gives him christ-like qualities, and for an added effect its on Good Friday(the day Jesus was Crucified). Luigi is in essence the Holy Spirit who goes to work for the family and provide for his sister and her children when Geremio dies.
Delete"Wives whose husbands were safe at home carried life with full arrogance..." (P.23)
ReplyDelete"And to my ears is brought my new name - the widow - the widow Annunziata." (P.41)
These two lines although not placed together struck me as thematically connected. They reminded me of the theme of self representation of the majority vs minority or how the "advantaged" give the "disadvantaged" their name. Annunziata is deemed the "widow" not by herself but she says that others call her that and she goes on further to speak about the "indelible stigma ... the fatherless" which her children will be stuck with.
This line stood out for me as well. I think you raised interesting and more sophisticated point of view with majority vs minority and advantaged vs disadvantaged.
DeleteMy thoughts were around the fact that some people would not feel affected if it is not happening to them. They lack compassion and they can separate themselves from the pain of others. I believe in the Bible and it says that we are one body --and applying that concept to my life I cannot help but to try and myself in the shoes of others, and for that reason that line really stood out for me as well. I could picture those ladies just looking the other way because they are so consumed by their own life and don't want their joy to be taken away.
The capitalization of the word "job" in the second chapter is standing out for me wuite a bit. Especially since ( considering the theme of the book) the author seems to be equating the struggles of the characters at work with the trials of the Biblical character of Job.
ReplyDeleteThe line that really pulled me in was early on when Geremio and the other men finished work and all headed home. But the dedicated, and now lost Geremio, was coming home to his new house. "What mattered that it was no more than a wooden shack! It was his own!" My grandfather treats his plot of land in the Bronx just like that. In his old age he reflects on what it took to earn the house, and how proud he's been all these years tending to it. It's a shame Geremio didn't last with everything he accomplished from when he was a child dreaming. Again for me, finding the silver lining in the everyday struggle encapsulates me.
ReplyDeleteThis part reminded me of when people burn their mortgages when they’re all paid off. That sense of pride of full ownership, especially when one has to work hard for it, is one of the best feelings in the world.
DeleteMany lines caught my attention, and this one definitely stood out in Christ in concrete:
ReplyDelete"His train of thought quickly took in his family, home and hopes. And with hope came fear. Something within asked, Is it not possible to breathe God's air without fear dominating with the pall of unemployment? And the terror of production for Boss, Boss and Job? To rebel is to lose all the very little. To be obedient is to choke O dear Lord, guide my path"
It reveals the agony this person had to live in. A lack of freedom of choice or even voice. Speaking up meant loosing it all. His entire existence was dependent of that job and so it controlled what he can and cannot do. Job and Boss didn't care about him as an employee, they only cared about production and the minute he failed them he would be gone. On the other hand not having the freedom to express himself made him choke.
One of the scenes that had me thinking in overtime was when Annunziata went to visit "The Cripple", At first "The Cripple" states that there is a woman reaching out to her but then when Annunziata starts questioning who the woman could be "The Cripple" then says that she see's a man reaching. Was it real or was "The Cripple" just telling Annunziata what she wanted to hear.
ReplyDelete