From Of Mice and Men:
"I've knew people that if they got a rag rug on the floor an' a Kewpie doll lamp on the phonograph they think they're running a parlor house."
I am currently involved with a small group of folks, through the wonder of the Internet, who are reading John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
The book revolves around the lives of lonely, single ranch hands who are eking out a meager existence while working on a California depression-era ranch.
Steinbeck's novel is rich with symbolism, and one that caught my attention was the Kewpie doll lamp. I can remember these dolls being around my grandmother's house when I was a child.
It is interesting to watch the interactions of this pack of predominantly single men in this novel. For various reasons, they all seem to be stuck in this lonely, and isolated segment of society where they break their backs for $50/month, play cards, shoot horseshoes, fight, drink, visit parlor houses, all while dreaming of a better life.
When I was in my late-20s, I found myself undesirably divorced and traveling in just such a pack of single men. In my daily work-a-day life, I essentially lived amongst a pack of 30 single men.
Like Steinbeck's characters, many of these men who those who, for some reason or other, found themselves on the fringe, and running on a track to nowhere.
Interestingly enough, the Kewpie doll lamp was also singing its siren song to us, "Hey boys, after your long day of labor, why not comfort yourself in all that I have to offer. I will help you forget your problems. I possess a balm that will bring you comfort, and remove all your pain."
Like a man under the possession of a hypnotist, we would all head to the bar, spend every single cent we had, thereby putting us right back in the captivity of our task-master as we sought enough money to spend more time with the Kewpie, and continue the cycle of our dependence on her spell.
It was in these times that you learned of many, and widely varied worldviews, dreams, problems, addictions, financial woes, broken relationships, and an overwhelming sense of doom.
After a few years of this nonsense, I realized that I needed to break free, I started to resist the call of the Kewpie, and forced myself to become involved with groups of people who refused to listen to her calling.
It was my straying from the pack that I happened upon my bride. She awakened a completely new sense of purpose, and I have never looked back.
I believe that God somehow uses these things in our lives.
Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that God approved of my "Kewpie days", but I do possess a number of wonderful friends from those days, a certain amount of street smarts, and a few painful lessons from these scarred days of my life.
When I look back, I can now see a few things:
- I believe that God kept his hand on me during my days of rebellion, and refused to let me go.
- Being in this trough with a bunch of men, has created a few very deep, and treasured relationships.
- I see a few of the men who have never pulled themselves out. Now, twenty-plus years later, their dreams have turned from hope to dismay.
- I pray that I might be a helping hand to a few young man who also find themselves in the spell of the Kewpie.
Our current economic climate has more than a normal amount of men in this trough. Please now pray a silent prayer for them.
Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a very short 100 pages, and will be completed by our group next week.
