Essay about River Phoenix
Phoenix was born as River Jude Bottom[1] on August 23, 1970, in Madras, Oregon, the first child of Arlyn Sharon Dunetz and John Lee Bottom.[4] Phoenix's parents named him after the river of life from the Hermann Hesse novel Siddhartha, and he received his middle name from The Beatles' song "Hey Jude".[5]
In an interview with People, Phoenix described his parents as "hippieish".[4] His mother was born in The Bronx, New York, to Jewish parents whose families had emigrated from Russia and Hungary.[6][7] His father was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California, of English, as well as German and French, ancestry.[6][8] In 1968, Phoenix's mother left her family in New York City and travelled across the United States, meeting John Lee Bottom while hitchhiking in northern California. They married on September 13, 1969, less than a year after meeting. While living in Crockett, Texas, their second child Rain Joan of Arc Bottom was born on November 21, 1972. In 1973, the family joined a controversial Christian new religious movement called the Children of God as missionaries. Their third child, Joaquin Rafael Bottom, was born on October 28, 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[9]
The family had settled in Caracas, Venezuela, where the Children of God had stationed them to work as missionaries and fruit gatherers. Although John Bottom was later designated the group's "Archbishop of Venezuela and the Caribbean", their family received no financial support and lived in poverty. Phoenix reflected later in life that the missionary work was undertaken "not out of choice, but was more like a desperate situation".[10] On July 5, 1976, Phoenix's sister Libertad Mariposa Bottom was born. Phoenix often played guitar while he and Rain sang on street corners for money and food to support their ever-growing family. Arlyn and John eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God; Arlyn would later tell a journalist that she and her husband were opposed to the groups's practice of 'Flirty
In an interview with People, Phoenix described his parents as "hippieish".[4] His mother was born in The Bronx, New York, to Jewish parents whose families had emigrated from Russia and Hungary.[6][7] His father was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California, of English, as well as German and French, ancestry.[6][8] In 1968, Phoenix's mother left her family in New York City and travelled across the United States, meeting John Lee Bottom while hitchhiking in northern California. They married on September 13, 1969, less than a year after meeting. While living in Crockett, Texas, their second child Rain Joan of Arc Bottom was born on November 21, 1972. In 1973, the family joined a controversial Christian new religious movement called the Children of God as missionaries. Their third child, Joaquin Rafael Bottom, was born on October 28, 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[9]
The family had settled in Caracas, Venezuela, where the Children of God had stationed them to work as missionaries and fruit gatherers. Although John Bottom was later designated the group's "Archbishop of Venezuela and the Caribbean", their family received no financial support and lived in poverty. Phoenix reflected later in life that the missionary work was undertaken "not out of choice, but was more like a desperate situation".[10] On July 5, 1976, Phoenix's sister Libertad Mariposa Bottom was born. Phoenix often played guitar while he and Rain sang on street corners for money and food to support their ever-growing family. Arlyn and John eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God; Arlyn would later tell a journalist that she and her husband were opposed to the groups's practice of 'Flirty