English Paper

"He" and "A Jazz-Age Clerk"

In "He" by Katherine Anne Porter and "A Jazz-Age Clerk" by James Thomas Farrell, two characters who struggle with the aspects of poverty express the significance of how people view them in their lives; their primary concern is what people say and think of them. Both characters, Mrs. Whipple and Jack, seem ashamed of their current lives and continually attempt to impress others. Mrs. Whipple constantly informs Mr. Whipple of the thoughts or ideas that people might have towards their simple-minded son, whereas Jack characterizes a materialistic and superficial person whose main goal is to impress others. Furthermore, both characters are extremely proud and overly self-conscious.

In "He," Porter narrates the already mentioned excessive concern Mrs. Whipple has towards other people's thoughts of her, her family, and especially her simple-minded son, Him. These concerns are present from the very beginning: "Don't ever let a soul hear us complain" (434). "No, not if it comes to it that we have to live in a wagon and pick cotton around the country, nobody's going to get a chance to look down on us" (434-35). Sadly, we learn early on that Mrs. Whipple is a distressed character because she assumes that her neighbors are destructively criticizing her family, specifically her son.

Mrs. Whipple always hated talking about her son's state with not only her neighbors and friends, but also with her family. At times, it was almost as though she had to bring up the uncomfortable topic about Him before she could get on to anything else. Mrs. Whipple was intensely emotional about her son's situation, as she would break into tears every time she recalled the preacher's kind words about Him: "The innocent walk with God - that's why He don't get hurt" (435).

Porter's approach to the sensitive topic about Him is dramatized through Mrs. Whipple's enraged reactions to her neighbors' comments about Him: "He does know what He's doing! He's as able as...