Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Short Story Wednesday: Outside the Jurisdiction, Larry Watson


 

I finished up the stories in , JUSTICE. "Outside the Jurisdiction" is the first story in the collection but chronologically it would  be third. It explains the most about the men that four teenagers eventually became. Also it lays out why the western United States, along with the South, vote the way they do. Much like Southerners often are unable to see Black people as their equals, Westerners see Indians as not quite worthy of their respect. I am not saying this attitude doesn't infect our whole society. Likewise feelings of superiority over Asians, Arabs, Africans. Why must this be so?

Four teenage boys embark on a hunting trip. All of them have guns, knives and are carrying liquor with them. When the hunting trip is ruined by bad weather, they stumble into a town and a restaurant where two Indian girls are subjected to their racist treatment. (I am using Indian because they do. Reservation Dogs, a show on Hulu made by Indians, seems to use "Indians" consistently). One of the boys is disgusted by much of their behavior. But as the youngest, he doesn't protest it.

When the girls manage to escape, not completely unharmed, the boys prepare to leave but are stopped by the sheriff who doles out his own rough justice. However, when they return home, (where two of the boys are sons of a sheriff too) the father's only interest is in the sanctity of the family name. He says nothing about what the boys were up to. These boys, to varying degrees, will carry this attitude into adulthood, culminating in MONTANA 1948. Every story in this collection is strong and together form an novel. 

Kevin Tipple

TracyK 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

Todd Mason 

Richard Robinson

15 comments:

Todd Mason said...

Most chauvinism comes out of a combination of rage (against all the slights and greater injuries we are doled out through life) and, often, a certain degree of guilt ("There HAS to be a reason why I Shouldn't have to feel bad about the unfairness I have not been subjected to!" at some level of comprehension or another). "I may be someone who will always have to scrabble for everything I get or need, but at least I'm not a [your epithet or subgroup of humanity here]." "Clearly, Those People would do better [much as We Do] if only they'd [do some essentially irrelevant thing, usually something about continence] Much As We Do, Except When We Don't..." and, of course, They Aren't Us, So They Must Be Wrong to that extent.

So one gets to take out one's anger, frustrated lust, etc. on Those Folks. Ethnically, religiously, gendered, economically, whatever else one can come up with.

Which is why people in Upstate New York and suburbs and all kinds of places Not in the South or the West vote for the same clowns that Wyoming and Louisiana voters often do.

Lyrics different, sometimes, same tune.

Reminded to two ca. 1960 jokes, close paraphrases...Dick Gregory: The difference between the South and the North is that in the South, whites don't care how close I get, as long as I don't get too Big, and in the North, they don't care how big I get, as long as I don't get too Close. And Lenny Bruce: I go to Minnesota, and they tell me (at that time) that they don't have much anti-black racism to speak of. And that's because there are hardly any black people in Minnesota. But they beat the hell out of their Indians.

Does sound like pretty impressive fiction. Thanks for campaigning for Watson.

Margot Kinberg said...

Ooh, more Larry Watson! I must read this collection, Patti. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Todd Mason said...

The link went bad on Kevin's...here's Jerry's, posted last night:
https://jerryshouseofeverything.blogspot.com/2021/09/short-story-wednesday-legend-of.html

George said...

I've acquired a copy of JUSTICE based on your fine reviews. It goes on the READ REAL SOON stack.

Jeff Meyerson said...

What happened to my post?

pattinase (abbott) said...

Never came through, Jeff.

Jeff Meyerson said...

It was on there!

pattinase (abbott) said...

We used to have trouble with this a lot. Hope it's not coming back.

Steve A Oerkfitz said...

I'm moving Watson up on my tbr list. Was going to check out Montana 1948 from the library but it was in awful condition.

Jeff Meyerson said...

When I posted, Todd and Margot were on there. It came up, I checked it for mistakes. It was there! I am not going to spend another 15 minutes redoing it. Sorry.

Rick Robinson said...

My post is up.

Todd Mason said...

Blogger is Weird, Jeff...always save a comment as you write it!

My post is now up, too, Patti:
https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2021/09/short-stories-by-eudora-welty-robert-m.html

TracyK said...

I have put MONTANA 1948 and JUSTICE on my wishlist to order soon.

JJ Stickney said...

Picked up this collection based on your recommendation, two stories in. Love his style,

pattinase (abbott) said...

He's so talented.