Dear American Airlines

One significant quote that I found in the book was when Benny id really bored and just sitting in the terminal. "Dear American Airlines, you miserable fucks, I'm going to keep writing. I;m going to keep writing and writing and writing and writing and you're going to keep reading and reading because for the first time in my life it wasn't me that blew it- it was you" (66). There are two really important parts to this quote. This first part that I find to be very significant is how he is talking about writing and writing. For some people, music makes them feel better, and for some people it is talking to others. I think that Benny uses writing as his way of working through his feelings and figuring everything out in his head. I bet that he keeps writing directed to the airlines because he needs someone to talk to, but he has nobody. For me, it is hard to keep a journal because I don't know how to write to myself. I bet this is somewhat the same for Benny. The other part of this quote that made me really think is "for the first time in my life it wasn't me that blew it- it was you." This shows how much in his life he has really messed up, and how nice it is for him to have somebody else to blame. I think that he blames himself for all his problems, and this is giving him some hope that other people in the world mess up also.

Dear American Airlines

I am now going to talk about the effectiveness of Jonathan Miles' writing style. When reading his book, I often felt like I was there with Benny, or like I was Benny. He has an extremely unique way of writing, which at first was a little harsh, but eventually I came to really enjoy. An example of his way of writing is, "Even when I drank alone, the vodka provided me with a kind of soundtrack- a rhythm, channeled voices, a brain crowded with noise and streaming color, the rackety blurred clutter of my decrepitude" (53). I'm not quite sure what I like about this sentence, but I think it it that even though I could never even imagine being an alcoholic, the real way in which it is written opens me up to reasons why somebody would be. I think his flowery word choice can make even awful things sound appealing if he wants them to. This also works backwards, making awful things seem even more awful. I like how he describes drinking as having a "soundtrack", showing how it is something that programmed him to feel a certain way. I feel like I am actually put in his shoes, even though his lifestyle is so different then mine. When he received an invitation to his daughter's wedding who he hasn't seen since she was a baby, he shows how he felt in a very unique way. "My original thought was that it was some kind of cruel joke from Stella Sr. [his ex wife] - her poisonous & long-simmered response to my attempt to make amends of five years ago"(57). By describing it as "poisonous", I am really put in his shoes, and I can see why he would of thought that. This also helps me see all his stored up anger.

There are many reasons why Benny has so much stored up anger, one being his inability to write poetry anymore. He used to be a very good poet, but has not written in many years. I feel like poetry was his escape from the real world, which to him was often hell, and into his own world. I think that although he enjoys being a translator, he wishes that somehow he could make his own work and express himself. Talking about poetry he says, "My mother still hopes for a reunion, goading me with a stick rather than a carrot: NO ONE, said one Post-it, REMEMBERS THE TRANSLATOR"(79). I think that as much as Benny won't admit this to himself, he knows it is true. I think that he is pretending to hide behind other people's work, but it is actually killing him inside. On the same page, it says, "The way certain poems guided me through life like blue runway lights" (79). Benny relied so much on the beauty of poetry, that without it he is a different person, and he doesn't have a way to make his life better.

Dear American Airlines

I am going to talk about the very end of the book in this blog post. The book ends with the story of Walenty, the man in the book he is translating. In this part of the story, Walenty is watching a little boy in a cafe. Talking about the boy's mother, he says, "She dragged him beside her chair where she swatted him on the rump with enough force to make Walenty wince, spitting fierce words at the boy Walenty was unable to understand save one: father. Stricken, the boy lay on the floor crying while the mother, eating small bites from a bread roll ignored him" (179). I winced when I read this part of the passage because I could just imagine the small boy being scared and hurt by his mom. Being yelled at or even scolded by parents hurts, especially to a little kid. Then, at the end of the passage, Walenty is boarding a train, and he talks about the little boy again. He sees the mother and the father hugging. He says, "Far below them the boy was clawing at his fathers legs, trying to climb his way into the embrace, and as the train rocked forward Walenty saw the father raise his right arm as if to- but that was all. The stationmaster's office blocked the view and in an instant there was nothing left to see. Walenty sank down into his seat and closed his eyes. There was no Free State of Triste and there never could be" (180). This was the very end of the book. I think what this is saying is how even though the place of Triste was freed by the war, it could never truly be free because of all the corruption and because of people's individual struggles. I think that this is a very powerful message, showing how everywhere, somebody is trapped and constrained through something, whether it be abuse, or family problems, or work.

I thought this was a very interesting end to the book. I was a little surprised that Mile's ended the book with the story of Walenty and not the main character Benny. To me, this shows how much symbolism was put into the story that Benny was translating, and how it was not just a story, but something that told all about his life. I guess that by ending the story shown how everybody is trapped within their own struggles also really demonstrates how Benny is trapped in his own life and hardships that arose. I think that by writing this book, Benny is freeing himself of some of his built up anger and problems. The end of his part of the book says, "Dear American Airlines, I'm not leaving. I apologize for all your time but I've changed my mind. You can keep your money after all" (178). I think that this shows a huge shift in Benny's character. In the first part of the book he is "demanding" his money back, and now he does not care about it. Even though throughout the book Benny was sitting in an airport, I think that the story made him realize new things about life, and how he can be a new person.

Dear American Airlines

One thing I thought was really very interesting in the book is when Benny makes a phrasebook for his mother, who had a stroke and was not able to talk. With the phrasebook he wrote down every single phrase he thought that she would need to say, and put them into categories. He wanted his mom to be able to be able to turn to any page and point to what she wanted to say. It was extremely thoughtful of him. He said, "Under the 'Miscellaneous' rebric I even included me-directed unpleasantries like 'watch your language' and 'how is your work coming?'"(175). I think that that both shows Benny's humor and how he really was trying to make life the best it could be for his mother. What I found most interesting about this part in the book was the way his mother reacted to his gift of a phrase book. "Taking a ballpoint pen to one of my Post-it pads, she wrote on three consecutive sheets: I HAVE MUCH MORE TO SAY THAN THAT. I hadn't considered that it might be disturbing for her, to see the entirety of her remaining life- and what is life if not the words that we speak?-reduced to fifteen or so looseleaf notebook pages, sharp convenience not withstanding" (175). I think that this really really demonstrates how what is seen as a nice gesture can often be taken the wrong way. Also it shows how there is always more than one perspective on every situation, and how things that were meant one way are often perceived differently. 

Dear American Airlines

Today I am going to talk about Jonathan Miles' choice of words. There are a lot of swear words in his book, which at first seems a little bit harsh, but later I started to enjoy the slightly abrasive language. It really gave Benny his own character. I think some of Benny's character traits that are shown through swearing are his I don't care what you think of me attitude, and his assertiveness. One time he says, "Jesus f****** christ, you want to see trembling hands? Look at this, it's like my mother's shaky stroke-scrawl, I can't even make the damn words- dear American Airlines, you pigs, you pigs, you grabby f****** pigs!" (147-148). I just opened up my book to a random page and found this because swear words are used on a lot of pages in this novel. Personally I think it adds to the story, although others might completely disagree. Another time in the book where I think his swearing adds to his character is when he says, "Well, shit. That was a much longer interlude than I'd intended. Are you still there? I am. Still here, I mean"(29). The use of a swear word in the first sentence really shows Benny's attitude that he doesn't care at all about what others think of him.

Along with his swearing, he also uses really interesting adjective that add so much to his descriptions. An example of this is when Benny is talking about a letter he got from his ex-wife Margaret. He describes it as, "The letter that she wrote back was so deliciously smutty (as opposed to my cutesy Donne-ish ditty) that I felt I should be charged by the minute for reading it" (101). His words "deliciously smutty", and "cutesy Donne-ish ditty" make this sentence so much more interesting to read than simple words. Another description I really really liked was later in the book when Benny got drunk in a bar and ended up at his friends house for the night. His friend was sleeping in an oversized t-shirt. Miles describes it by saying, "I couldn't help wondering where a shopper might locate such an oversized-oversized t-shirt and what sort of mythically large sasquatch the Filipino textile-factory worker who sewed the shirt must have imagined she was dressing" (133). This not only struck me as really funny but it also helped me to see just how big the shirt actually is. I really love the descriptions that Jonathan Miles uses, and I think they really add to his ability as a writer.