Sample Essay #1

Prompt: Why does Susannah decide that Jason Brockman needs saving and what is her motivation for taking it upon herself to do it?

Sample Essay #1

Character Motivation in Caitlin Horrocks' "Somewhere in America"

Would you quit your job, pack your bags and go look for someone that you don’t even know just to save his/her life?  In the story “Somewhere in America” by Caitlin Horrocks depicts Susannah’s life, who gives up on everything just to save an unknown 470 pounds guy. After her husband died of colon cancer, she starts to watch a reality show, Wife Swap.  It’s a lifestyle change in which two wives switch their families for two weeks in order to be a better person and also to make change in their families. At the end the two couple meets each other and exchange a frank assessment about the other family. Each family is supposed to learn how important their families are. In fact, Jason’s situation is depicted on the Wife Swap; For Susannah, he does not chance his lifestyle. After analyzing Jason’s situation Susannah decides to save him because she wants to escape, she feels guilt, and she feels powerlessness.

         ”I’m going to hell but first I have to save Jason Brockman”, says Susannah when she feels guilt about everything that has been happing in her life.  She feels quilt because her husband died and she could not do anything. In reality, that’s not her fault because her Jason died because of colon cancer. In fact, they had a healthy life.  Sometimes people have a guilty conscience even if it’s rational. Susannah says “I googgled Jason Brockman, Trudi, Gertrude: nothing. And I spent a lot of time searching”. Susannah mentions that because she is feeling guilt that she does anything to save Jason Brockman. When she says “I’m going to hell” it shows how quilt she feels. People that go to hell are the ones who do bad things and she feels like she did a bad thing for her husband letting him go. Later on, she even sends Trudi Brockman, Jason’s wife a letter begging her to save him.  In the letter she says “I saw your episode of Wife Swap and I am not judging you but you are killing your husband and I will never forgive you”.  Susannah mentions that in the letter because she feels so guilt that she talks to her like they know each other for so long. She also feels guilty because Mac does not have a father. She mentions in the letter, “I just don’t want your son turning into a wild dog because last January a doctor diagnosed his father with colon cancer”. Susannah says it because she feels guilty that Mac is acting like crazy because of his father. Moreover, there is a reason why she choose this guy named Jason, because her husband s name is also Jason. She feels quilt because she could not save him and she feels like she has to save this Jason. In fact, she compares Jason Brockman with her Jason saying “Or maybe the point of Wife Swap is just that you, Jason are a kind man with a good heart and a harpy of a wife and three children …”The way she talks about Trudi’s Jason sounds like her Jason was also this kind and honest person.  In essence, Susannah feels like she killed her husband like Trudi is killing Jason Brockman.

         In addition to guilty, Susannah also feels powerlessness. “I never said if your father was here “says Susannah. She never said that but she knew that the reason why Mac is acting like an animal is because his father died. She feels powerless, it’s like that her life does not make any sense. After her Jason died it seems like they had a perfect life. In the letter she even mentions, “We ate a lot of vegetables in this house, Trudi. My Jason played racquetball every Sunday, some pick-up in the summers. We’d go on bike rides together, evening walks”. She is explaining to Trudi how happy their lives were, but now their world collapse. Now they even argue with each other, “He said, fuck, Mom. And I said, fuck you, Mac”. That shows how Susannah is out of control and she can feel that she stressed with everything that’s going on in her life. “And I thought, I’ve become a woman who says ‘fuck’ to her child like that’s ok. I never thought I’d be the kind of person who says things like that “, says Susannah. She never thought she would say those kind things because she was a good mother, but not anymore. She has lost all the control.  In principle, Susannah is realizing how she does not have any power over herself and anything. Now that her Jason his gone.

         Furthermore, Susannah has no power over his son and herself that she wants to escape. She’s on her way to save Jason and she says “I have a carton of weight-loss shakes in the basket, a disassembled exercise bike in the trunk”. She has all the equipment that she will need to exercise with Jason. She tries to get into the ABC to get her into the “Wife Swap” but tells her that she can only add her into a list of prospective camp. “I can drive I-70 out of the mountains: Byers, Deer Trail, Stratton, the Kansas state line” says Susannah. She’s willing to do anything and anyone can’t stop her.  The first thing that she does is send Mac to an intervention camp in the Utah desert. Mac is being through a lot after his father died as smoking, drinking and even getting someone pregnant. Susannah’s solution was to send him to this camp. She is so obsessed to escape that she also quits her job. She writes a letter to her brother saying “I wrote another letter to the Personnel Supervisor for Instructional Development at Regal College Online and when I got home that evening I called my brother to tell him I quit my job”. Her brother even asked her if she has enough money to support herself and she replies, “I realized a shitty job was the last steady thing in my life and realizing that made it worse because the last steady thing in my life was a shitty job.” Susannah’s sounds sure about quitting her job. In fact, the life insurance is also paid off the mortgage and Macs program is also paid off.  Moreover, in the letter she writes to Jason Brockman she reveals emotional feelings that she feels she could say it for her husband. She feels like she did not fight for her husband. She mentions “My husband is gone and my son is wild dog and I don t know how you feel about Trudi, but maybe we can run away together”. In essence, Susannah just wants to escape from everything and everybody that remind her of Jason, her husband.

    - In essence, Susannah’s life collapse after her husband Jason died and she feels quilt that she could not save him. Her conscience of guilty was rational and made her feel that he died because of her. She finds this guy also named Jason and she going crazy trying  save him. In fact, when you lose somebody that you love is hard to get over it. Life is hard and sometimes we have to accept it and move on. Because of her guiltiness she starts to lose her power as a mother and also over herself. She decides to send Mac to Utah because she does not know how to deal with him anymore. In addition of being powerless she decides to escape. Susannah even quits her job and wants to go save Jason Brockman. Overall, Susannah just wishes she could save her Jason and have a normal like before.