A Father's Discipline: Chapter 6

Chapter 6 begins with Rose Ann and James' sister, who has a real name (it's Sharon--they're a very white family), discussing how they convinced the penis-havers to go hunting.

They go on to say that men "like being mothered".

Proctor, I understand that psychology comes from Satan to trick you and all that, but this is called Oedipus Complex.  What I am saying is, no, not "all men" like being mothered.  At all.  Independent adults rarely enjoy a good mothering because of the whole "independent" thing.  But there is a fetish for that.  I understand that it goes against Jesus' will that you have sex only in the missionary position and only to make your own
"prize", but it exists and for you, my dear little kumquat, I recommend exploring it.

"Is Jimmy actually guilty as charged?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Sharon, but he is."

"You mean guilty as sin, as they say?"

Is Sharon mentally deficient?  Is that what the author is aiming for?  Or is he just writing awkward dialogue for the sake of more cliches?

I'll credit Proctor for this--he seems to be aware that a "hardcore prison" can destroy someone.  That's fair--I applaud you for being that self-aware.  You've done good job lowering the bar if I can praise you for that though.

So their strategy is essentially:  Find the "breaking point" in Jimmy Junior's life.  What turned him away from the Almighty to drugs?  They never say what kind of drugs, for the record--but we can't go giving the audience ideas, can we?  It would be offensive to say the names of drugs, wouldn't it?  I'd like an explanation as to how the fuck he had a meth lab or grew pot in his father's house, or where he might have kept it otherwise.  Before the second chapter, I assumed Junior was an adult.  Would this strategy really be at all useful?  Well, Your Honor, my prize here used to be a perfect Christian boy before he started sucking dick and now he's on drugs, so he doesn't need to go to prison.  He just needs to stop sucking dick and he'll get off the drugs.

They discuss how they think James was severed from his prize because he became distant.  Again, an internal inconsistency.  In Chapter 4, James tells Rose Ann that his wife died when his prize had aged five years.  Now, in Chapter 6, Rose Ann says "it took Jim five years to get where he could even be himself again".  Now it says that Nameless Wife died when Junior was ten.

Fuck, what the hell?  What's this obsession with "five years"?  You into numerology, Proctor?  Five years old (or ten--I can't tell any more); no vacation in five years; took five years to get over his wife's death; hasn't seen sister in five years.  I think Proctor forgot when he killed off the nameless wife.

Sharon talks about the Prize:  "We've had many conversations about a woman's perspective on things."

Women are a different species than men.  Not, you know, humans.  It would be impossible for a man and a woman to have the same perspective on a thing.

Rose Ann describes our hero as "cunningly romantic at times."  Oh, honey, no.  He's as romantic as cheese that's gone through a dryer cycle.

Sharon answers, "It's taken him sixteen years to achieve that balance."  What?  So he's been unbalanced the moment he accepted his prize?  Did I fucking miss something?

She goes on to say that this is "abnormal"--armchair psychology is best psychology.

Rose Ann:  "Man I wonder if I'm up to delving into this."

Or, you know, you could do your fucking job that the voices told you to do.  You know, the one you're paid for.

More gratuitous starfish polish:  "If anyone can do it, you can."

At this rate, I don't think Rose Ann can figure out when to wipe her ass without either the voices or a man telling her its okay.

"I consider myself to be a skilled lawyer--"

Lol.

"--but I'm not a skilled analyst--"

You got that right.

"--who can pick a man's heart apart and examine it without inflicting damage?"

That's the whole sentence, by the way.  All I cut was the stuttering.  Who the fuck talks like this?  I don't get the question mark either.  I get that you can say any sentence as if it were a question, but this makes no fucking sense grammatically.

So our "brave", "smart", "sexy" heroine realizes that she has to go back to "the city" (Proctor never tells us which city, except that it's on the east coast--seriously man, it's fiction; you can say any city) and talk to Junior the Prized Possession.  Wow--imagine that.  Going to Colorado was a complete waste of time.  If only there was a way that they could communicate remotely.  Maybe through a text format--or, no, could there be such a device that exists that two or more people could speak to each other when they are in different places at the same time?

What is a phone?

Proctor's style of writing is difficult to follow.  There are so many lines of dialogue with no character cues as to who is talking that I often have to scroll back up and figure it out based on the last cue, often at the beginning of the fucking section.  If I am lucky, the characters will say the other's name, to a point that is abnormal.  Who the fuck says the other person's name at the start of every god damned sentence?

So, when I started this I honestly picked this title randomly, based solely on "it's free" and the title.  I got a wee bit concerned when I started that I might have to nitpick.  Nope, not at all.  I'm frequently being generous, but don't take my word for it--go hunt down the book yourself.  Thanks, Proctor.