SAMMY IS SWEET

I can't help it -- I love Sammy. I wasn't planning on it but I fell for him even though he's the wrong guy for me. Sure he's done time in the big house and he drinks like a bloody shark and brawls on the street and "borrows" his kid's entire piggy bank, but he's a decent guy.

A few of my favorite Sammy moments:

• The mop stick -- every bit of it from its transformation from cleaning item to beloved guide.
• When he feels like he needs exercise he decides to take a walk to the pub. (74) When he later wonders whether he should exercise, he remembers that he did some in the apartment. (328)
• He tries to freshen up because he's "a style-conscious guy" but his look is apparently ruined by the sweaty sneakers he has inadvertently acquired. (76) He is annoyed that his good pants are on the floor of his jail cell and probably all crumpled. Also, when he has trouble with others he decides that he just produces a bad reaction in others, perhaps due to his face or, of course, the sweaty sneakers. (272) The last time he got a look at himself, he decides he was really hot, like "poetry in motion." (322)
• He's forgiving and generous, constantly saying he doesn't even blame the police because they probably didn't intend to make him blind. (107) He treats everyone -- police, other drinkers, the ambulance chaser -- with respect and ascribes only the best motives to them. (241, 251)
• Sammy's wit is acerbic, e.g., when he thinks about going to England he describes it as "A blind man hits London." (255) Everyone is rich there so he might get his own DSS office. (256)  The whole discussion about being a torso. (316)
• The constant references to being able to do something but in the next sentence he says he cannay. (291)
• Other notes: I knew there would be a man urinating scene. It's in every single film I ever saw. This book reminds me of William Kennedy's Ironweed. Sammy's philosophy, that you try to get by in the world by not upsetting other people or letting them upset you, is hilariously illustrated by his views on when someone gets hit by a car. (212) I certainly learned new words (bampot) and saw old words twisted into new uses (c-word). During the interrogation, a cop refers to Sammy as "the customer." Hilarious. When Sammy goes to the DSS he remembers he once read a book on bats and it reminds him to stay alert. (100) 

As for the readings on the world economy and Sammy, of course the whole DSS business is Kafka-esque. Sammy is basically a pawn of The Man, told to just shut up and stand in line (321). The system is engulfing and absurd, caused in part, I suppose, by the economic policies Harvey outlines that have made the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Capitalism, or the mutation of capitalism, is responsible for creating a new kind of domination, Deleuze says. But it's not just domination, it's domination of a different sort -- disciplinary v. control, factory v. corporation. "The coils of the serpent are even more complex than the burrows of a molehill," Deleuze says. So, the idea here, I guess, is that this new domination is very bad because it is based on an amorphous being, a new capitalist monster that has moved beyond the factory manager to become this global "boss" that is hard to grasp or control. It's as if mom and dad are gone and now your life is controlled by a bunch of relatives you barely know and who live in another town. 

So, is this just a function of the post-industrial world and we are lamenting about change? Should we make more stuff here? For poor people, were their lives really better when controlled by the nasty factory boss rather than an overseas shirt on Wall Street? Is it that they had some additional level of control when the boss is local? What about the poor slobs in The Jungle? Wouldn't Sammy's life be pretty much the same no matter what is going on globally? The quagmire of bureaucracy and an insensitivity to the plight of the worker has always been there. Neoliberalism, which is not really neo and extremely limited in the scope of its liberalism, is surely a contributing factor to Sammy's unemployment and difficulties in finding competent help, but would his life be any different under a previous, less globalized economy? Ye want to answer, but ye cannay.