Another Bullhit Night In Suck City Character Analysis

The greatest heroes in human history, whether real or fictional, are often portrayed as lone-wolves, people who neither require nor want help from others. But that is entirely untrue. Every president has a vice president, every superhero has a sidekick. And if even those people need help, then of course a normal man such as Nick Flynn does too. In Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, by Nick Flynn, Flynn details his and his absent father’s experiences, as they dance around each other for years before slowly developing a relationship. Jonathan is portrayed as a good-for-nothing drunk, one who believes that he will be a famous writer in the future. Nick unknowingly follows in his father’s footsteps, also engaging in reckless behavior at a young

Jonathan’s situation is almost the exact opposite of Nick’s. Jonathan has no responsibilities to people because he doesn’t have a job or friends who are equally desperate, and the people whom he relies on don’t give him reason to stop drinking and clean up his act. In contrast to the friendship between Nick and Warren, “Jonathan had lived with Ray and Clare, off and on, for years...In the middle of the afternoon [their daughter] came in from the barbecue to find Jonathan passed out on the couch, a hole gouged in the center of the cake, chocolate smeared on his face, his hands, the couch itself”(151). A parallel is clearly here between Nick and Ray, and then Warren and Jonathan. Jonathan, unlike Nick, is able to benefit and get a house without any work because of who his friends are. These friendships don’t push him to work harder to get a better life for himself. Ray doesn’t keep any real tabs on Jonathan and lets him do whatever he wants because according to Emily, Ray “got a kick out of his hijinks”(150). It seems as if Ray keeps Jonathan around as a form of amusement, and doesn’t have a good, healthy relationship with him. Hijinks are often considered as silly and boisterous, but not particularly useful in any way. That’s the way that Ray treats Jonathan. Jonathan isn’t a person who is going anywhere, and Ray doesn’t want him to go anywhere, because all he requires from Jonathan is amusement. If Jonathan becomes a better person, he won’t be as amusing to Ray, so it is possible that unconsciously Ray tries to stunt him from growing into a better person. Ray and Clare don’t even react when Jonathan was found like this by Emily. That they keep letting Jonathan to live with them even though he acts in such a disgusting manner is ridiculous. Not only does he destroy their couch and eat their