Cadillac Man

Jonathan Ceja
SYB 115
Pro. Griswold
Cadillac Man: ‘Land of the Lost Souls’
3/30/15

His letter in the beginning of the book to the reader is something of a warning sign as I made of it. He says that they’re are gonna be errors, cursing, nudity, etc. But I soon found out that it’s just like any of the few books I have read through out past, well written, captivating and a provoker of emotions in the different stories that Cadillac Man tells in his memoir of homelessness. Going back a couple of decades during President Reagan's time in his office, you can say that the beginning of the homelessness we see on the streets everyday in the inner cities.
Started with his decision to cut the overall spending for mental institutions across the United
States and use that money to pay off corporations and essentially making the “rich.. richer.”
Locally in Connecticut, before this cut, there was a total of nine mental institutions. After the cut, there was only one, so where do all these people go after being thrown out on the streets? The streets. They have no other way to go, the streets is there place of sleep, shower, it is there home.
The streets is where we find Cadillac man, being bounded to this way of life for 16 years, Within these 16 years he has experienced the side of life that no human should never have to endure.
From the first chapter and his stories of how desperate people will get when they are hungry.
Cadillac describes this mental state of disregard of hygiene, “In the beginning, I would eat whatever I could find from trash cans. Food so rancid, the smell would knock you down.
Removing maggots to get that extra morsel of meat, wiping off slimy fruit. Old pasta, moldy vegetables—you hold your breath and take it down in one swallow.”
When reading this, my stomach turned into a knot of sorrow and discomfort for the people that still to this day have to

live this way of life in order to just survive. It was interesting reading the parts of the book where
Cadillac would reveal his thoughts on the world around and has his say on what was currently happening in the United States. In the beginning of the memoir he said something that I couldn't agree with more.
“Our country, it’s a joke, we need to take care of our own.”
As a nation, well not just any nation, the United States of America, we feel obligated to tend to others without… as Cadillac Man says best, take care of our own. As I watch on the news, the few times I do cause I feel like its the same thing over and over again. One of the main occurrences that constantly show up is our constant ode to help nations, who yes are in dire need of assistance.
But when looking at our own, we aren’t so perfect and have many faults and problems that we face on a day to day basis. There comes a time where there is a line in which we should focus less on other nations and more on ourselves. I saw this help of our own a decent amount of times when reading
‘Land of the Lost Souls,’
Cadillac Man had many instances of companionship from others other than his friends that he connected with when he was homeless. Many instances such as the deli store owner that sometimes gives food to Cadillac Man. Further more, his many encounters with “The Boss” aka God. What I noticed pretty early on into the memoir is that
Cadillac man would write a sentence and then cut to saying… “Lord give me strength.” Cadillac
Man is very religious and is someone who look for prayer in times of dire need, this symbolizes how much people rely on religion and their own individual ideologies to get them out of a time of hurt and sorrow. As a homeless person those moments of pain, anger, and hurt comes more often and you feel like there is no one to look too, to guide you through this time in Cadillac
Man’s life where it is an everyday struggle to find a place at the end of the day and go to sleep with some sort of a “roof” under your head. It’s amazing to think that because of a belief, they’re

are many wars and killings of millions innocent people. One of the many things that struck me and hurt me reading in a way was the constant reminders of your past life and the people that once made you feel happy and made you live a life of purpose because of these certain close individuals. It’s as easy as walking down a sidewalk and seeing your girl being picked up by her father so she can have a better view of the tall buildings. Cadillac Man makes it as seem beings homeless is another form of life which it obviously is, but as a person that’s not homeless it’s hard to describe what life may be like. But reading this memoir it was crazy to read the parts of the book where he would say “ In my previous life…” There is no way on Earth I could imagine living with myself after unfortunate events or the fault of my own, can be subjected into this way of living after living a life of comfort. But at the end of the day these unique individuals do, while juggling all the other tribulations that comes with being homeless. Another fascination that was made clear while reading the book was what homeless people do other than find ways to some home earn any type of income so they can hopefully collect enough for at least one meal. It was unique to find out what Cadillac Man does in a day and how he handles different type of situations and interact with the many different types of personalities of people. But for one thing that was for sure, all the homeless people in the book, and in general live to find a purpose.
Reason and purpose was a recurring subject throughout the memoir, all of these individuals find ways to make money in there own way and what suits them best . For example, one of the people
Cadillac Man has ties with is a women by the name of “Sparrow.” She was once a vocal teacher but plummeted into homelessness because of her alcohol addiction. But she uses her singing talent to her advantage when the holidays come around and sings Christmas carols’ for money.
But for most of the homeless population, they resort to what is called “Canning,” which is what

we see usually homeless people do. Which collecting bottles and cans wherever they may be and change them for extra cash. Cadillac man calls this “Nickel Heaven,” and serves as somewhat of a purpose for the people that are searching for the slightest reason to live another day instead of taking their own life. It was especially hard to read when Cadillac Man would find an ideal place to stay for night and go to sleep with the mindset of not waking up again. It’s easy to resort to a decision of such high degree, but it was interesting to see that everytime Cadillac Man would try and finally meet “The Boss,” his plans would never work out and I tried to decipher why this wouldn’t it happen to him? I came to the conclusion that it was the memory of love that still was reminiscent of his daughter, wife and his overall past life that he once lived. We are all bounded by this universal connection and it is what we are here to do, to work hard and overcame the obstacles of life to make sure that the people that we love the most, are happy. Homelessness is one of the hardest things that a person can endure, and it is essentially a failure of life because no one should see a person they love go through moments of hardship to that degree. But essentially the saying goes that “it is never too late” it maybe harder to bring yourself to wherever you were before, if there was even a before. But anybody can do it, just like how Cadillac Man did, it is hard to imagine that it took him 16 years to do so, but if it takes that long, in the end i’m sure that people will find a way out. Reading this book in general was kind of eerie, not too far from where I live, there is a homeless shelter and many times I would go by it and see the blank stares on the peoples faces that sit on the sidewalk along with their “wagons” as Cadillac Man calls his, filled with their whole life and bottles and cans in between hoping to exchange them for money.
They sit there usually drunk fairly early in the day because there is nothing else to do, and in a way for a brief moment in time, you can get away from reality. I don’t really think of them

much, I wouldn’t really say anything to them, sometimes I would give them the little money I had too an individual, and walk away a little emotional inside hoping the person has a place to stay for the night. But that faint emotion will soon fade away like the empty beer cans that they live in the streets and go live my life that I am grateful to have. Sometimes I look at homelessness with some anger, especially if I see a drunk in the middle of the day and in the back of my mind I would think such negative thoughts towards that individual, wanting to tell him to go get a life. But like all individuals that are homeless, they probably did, some maybe worse than others, but like the Cadillac Man, homelessness is a way of life for some people and I shouldn’t let that bother me. What bothers me is seeing people not do anything about it, especially in this day in age where there are many programs and services to jump start a path away from homelessness, but people chose to settle. Just like what the final message Cadillac
Man says to the reader in his little note to us,
“My brethren are out there. Some by choice, others by circumstance... Please forgive me, they say. Time is short, a new place beckons their arrival:
The Land of the Lost Souls.”
What Cadillac Man did for me in this memoir, is that the next time
I walk down those familiar sidewalks and lay my eyes across those familiar blank, hopeless faces, I somewhat know now what the struggles they go through on a day to basis. But for me, the souls of those people are not lost, but in time, they can find them in whatever way possible so that hopefully they can escape this life, and walk into a new a brand new life, a life that is surely not lost.