Logging and Pimping and Your Pal, Jim free essay sample

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. â€Å"I suppose that the early stage in coming to hate someone is just running out of things to talk about. We will write a custom essay sample on Logging and Pimping and Your Pal, Jim or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 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. â€Å"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 pace and not quite get caught doing it, because after working a week with this Jack Dempsey at the other end of the saw I knew I’d never have a chance if he took a punch at me,† (Maclean 113). The narrator begins his soundless struggle with Jim by brushing out the plants that get in the way of sawing. When that doesn’t work, he goes slightly off rhythm just to make sure Jim knew what he was doing. The last thing the narrator invented as part of his scheming was breaking the sacred rules of work that were needed to function as a team properly. Later that summer, Jim gets into a pie fight with the cook to show his dominance. After that, he has an affair with a rich rancher’s wife. This is when the narrator realizes how much he really hates Jim. As for me, for the first (and only) time in my life I had spent over a month twenty-four hours a day doing nothing but hating a guy. Now, though, there were times when I thought of other things-it got so that I had to say to myself, â€Å"Don‘t ever get soft and forget to hate this guy for trying to kill you off,†Ã¢â‚¬  (Maclean 116). After the summer comes to a close and on Labor Day weekend, he quit and p repared to return to school, where he could continue hating the man. But before returning to graduate school, he met Jim one more time. After a few drinks together, they decide to meet again the next night at Jim’s house. This is where the narrator realizes that his impressions of Jim were all wrong. â€Å"He was one of those people who turn out not to have some characteristic that you thought was a prominent one when you first met them,† (Maclean 120). I can relate to this quote from the story the most, largely because I get perceived in a negative light when people first meet me. My shyness causes others to think I’m rude, since I will rarely say more than a few words. It’s not until I feel comfortable will I open up; which then causes people’s impressions of me to change. An example of this in the story would be the hatred between the narrator and Jim until the moment when they sit down together and have an actual conversation. Although the impressions the narrator and Jim had towards each other changed throughout the story, the one they ended with was the most important. They were both respectable men who would always be the sawyer pals. Works Cited Maclean, Norman. Logging and Pimping and â€Å"Your Pal, Jim. † Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976. Print.