Logging and Pimping and "Your Pal, Jim"
English Composition 1
September 2012
“Your Pal, Jim” Impressions “I suppose I was flattered by being asked to be the partner of the best sawyer in camp. It was a long way, though, from being all flattery. I also knew I was being challenged,” (Maclean 107). Jim appeared to be a highly respectable man. The narrator was impressed with the strength and skills Jim possessed, and was astonished that a man as strong as Jim would want to be partnered up with an average sawyer like him. This impression the narrator has lasts throughout the rest of the story even as his feelings towards Jim change. The flattery the narrator first felt turns into a strong liking for Jim. At this point of time, the narrator enjoys being around Jim mostly because of their age difference. Although there was only a three years difference, at times the narrator felt it was more. Growing up as a minister’s son, he was sheltered for the majority of his life. For this reason, the narrator envies all that Jim has gotten to see and go through in his life. Soon they begin to get to know each other and learn what each does outside of logging in the summer. Jim tells the narrator about the two activities he does in the winter. Reading and Pimping. This is when the narrator begins to form a second impression that maybe Jim isn’t such a great guy. Then they start going their separate ways, and begin to hate one another. “I suppose that the early stage in coming to hate someone is just running out of things to talk about. I thought then it didn’t make a damn bit of difference to me that he liked his whores big as well as southern,” (Maclean 110). It didn’t take long for them to express their hatred. As partners, they began challenging each other. From not taking breaks to what size of saw they were going to use, the goal was to make the other give up. “Jim’s pace was set to kill me off-it would kill him eventually too, but first me. So the problem, broadly speaking, was how to throw him off this
September 2012
“Your Pal, Jim” Impressions “I suppose I was flattered by being asked to be the partner of the best sawyer in camp. It was a long way, though, from being all flattery. I also knew I was being challenged,” (Maclean 107). Jim appeared to be a highly respectable man. The narrator was impressed with the strength and skills Jim possessed, and was astonished that a man as strong as Jim would want to be partnered up with an average sawyer like him. This impression the narrator has lasts throughout the rest of the story even as his feelings towards Jim change. The flattery the narrator first felt turns into a strong liking for Jim. At this point of time, the narrator enjoys being around Jim mostly because of their age difference. Although there was only a three years difference, at times the narrator felt it was more. Growing up as a minister’s son, he was sheltered for the majority of his life. For this reason, the narrator envies all that Jim has gotten to see and go through in his life. Soon they begin to get to know each other and learn what each does outside of logging in the summer. Jim tells the narrator about the two activities he does in the winter. Reading and Pimping. This is when the narrator begins to form a second impression that maybe Jim isn’t such a great guy. Then they start going their separate ways, and begin to hate one another. “I suppose that the early stage in coming to hate someone is just running out of things to talk about. I thought then it didn’t make a damn bit of difference to me that he liked his whores big as well as southern,” (Maclean 110). It didn’t take long for them to express their hatred. As partners, they began challenging each other. From not taking breaks to what size of saw they were going to use, the goal was to make the other give up. “Jim’s pace was set to kill me off-it would kill him eventually too, but first me. So the problem, broadly speaking, was how to throw him off this
Cited: Maclean, Norman. Logging and Pimping and “Your Pal, Jim.” Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976. Print.