Christ in Concrete

Cakes prepared for Good Friday—the day of Geremio’s death—symbolize the physical and emotional nourishment that Geremio provided the family: “The cakes had cooled, would never again know warmth” (22). Another symbol is Luigi’s confusing dream, which the narrator uses to express various emotions that Luigi feels, such as sorrow over Geremio’s death and guilt over being unable to provide for Annunziata. And once again, Job is personified with human-like qualities in this chapter. Only in death can you escape Job: “Job called him. And now Job called no more” (27). And as Paul takes on Job, it becomes a symbol of a necessary “game” that functions not as a playtime activity but a “siege against a hunger” (85). Through his work, Paul is transformed from being known as “Paul, son of Geremio” to “Paul of Job” (91), signifying his change from boy to man. This change is made apparent when Doctor Murphy says that Paul should rest and not play “Cops and Robbers” (96)—as he thinks Paul is overexerting himself when playing—until he realizes that Paul’s exhaustion stems from working an intense adult job.

Paul takes Geremio’s place as the provider and caregiver for the family with the words:“Am I not my father’s son!” (31). Despite Geremio’s claims in the previous chapter that his children will not lay bricks, it seems that Paul is fated to take his father’s place. In fact, as Nazone insists, it seems like it is Paul’s God-given right to lay brick because he shares the blood of his father, showing that this is an occupation passed down between the generations and that the bricklayers take great pride in their work. While Paul attempts to provide for the family, he cannot assuage Annunziata’s loss of her husband. Annunziata’s quiet love and grief for Geremio is all-encompassing in this chapter: “[N]owhere are we separate—never-never in this breathing life shall I be away from you” (34). The chapter implicitly critiques the oft-told cliché that “time heals all wounds” when a neighbor of Annunziata’s says something to that effect, and Annunziata replies: “Time…time-time-time will destroy time and never bring him back!’ (41). Annunziata expresses her great love for and loyalty to her husband—even in death.

Repetition of the word “quiet” indicates the terrible silence that follows a death and a funeral once all the mourners have left and there is nothing to do but mourn the person you loved. Annunziata cannot bear it. Use of repetition becomes a haunting device when Luigi begins mentally dividing his $24 income into 10 to see how much he will need per each of the 10 family members. When that all comes crashing to a halt when Luigi injures his legs and cannot support the family, the author repeats the mathematical divisions to cruel effect: “With April’s rain and ten not into twenty-four” (47). Although this is a dark chapter in a generally grim book, di Donato inserts moments of levity to bring some light to the heavy atmosphere, such as when dame Katarina goes from calling the unborn child prior to birth a “little son of a bitch” and then, when the baby is safely born, calling him a “little angel” (38). This crude humor continues when dame Katrina says the women should be whipped with a rope, and one woman says she’d prefer the “other thing” (38), which likely refers to a penis.

We also understand through this childbirth scene that there are separate places for men and women, reflecting the traditional gender norms of this time. And these boundaries are enforced by women. This becomes evident when one of the women assisting with the childbirth shoos away Luigi and says: “This is not territory for men!” (39). As men have their space in Job, so do the women have their place in the home. Although the men go off to work and perform hard labor, women do their own hard labor in giving birth and rearing children, and that difficulty is illustrated here. Although, Luigi is also an interesting character because he demonstrates that the bonds of family go beyond that of husband-wife and parent-child. He takes it upon himself to provide for his sister’s children, and when becomes injured and is unable to do that, he feels that he has betrayed them.

Onomatopoeia and personification bring the work site to life: “Compression engines snort viciously…steel drills bite shattering jazz…” (46). These sounds mingle with smells to give Job a particularly pungent quality: “And men’s tinged faces of spilled lust and breaths of undigested meat spaghetti wine and garlic…” (86).The author also makes use of run-on sentences and a lack of punctuation in certain sections to emphasize a state of confusion and heightened emotions, which happens during Luigi’s dream about Geremio: “But what is Annunziata doing there holding all of her children in her arms and looking with terrible hungry sad eyes at him and he whispers to her that he will find Geremio for her and will work all his life for her…” (49). Dialogue also works to add authenticity to this chapter in capturing immigrant life, such as when Luigi speaks with a heavy Italian accent when responding to the nurse: “Nurse-a…I no spick—I no can a-spick…” (49). The narrator often blends bits of dialogue from different people without mentioning who is saying the dialogue, leaving the reader to infer who is saying what. This blended literary style adds to the dream-like quality of the novel.

And it is in the chapter we begin to see the first hints that God is not altogether a benevolent presence, which Luigi implies when he cries out in his dream:“[D]ear sister it was not I who betrayed you—it was someone stronger than you and me—someone who does not tell why…” (49). Due to Luigi’s faith, we can interpret him to be referring to God in this passage. However, the phrase is left ambiguous, so the reader could interpret this strong force to be something else, say, the nature of unregulated capitalism and poverty which forces immigrants to work in dangerous conditions. God becomes even less of a benevolent figure in this chapter when Paul is unable to receive any help from the government offices or the local church official. God is not here to help this poor immigrant family; they must fend for themselves. The hypocrisy of servants of God like Father John stuffing themselves while children like Paul go hungry impresses upon the reader strongly. Nonetheless, Paul—and others like Luigi and Annunziata—continues to pray to God.

Lastly, as in the previous chapter, the challenges that shut this poor Italian immigrant family out of the American dream are evident. Although Geremio would occasionally speak in an American accent and dreamt of his children becoming builders and dancing like Americans do, Paul is far from dancing or becoming a great builder. The author demonstrates the particular challenges that arise from being an Italian immigrant. Because Paul’s father is a deceased Italian immigrant, it’s assumed that he was not a citizen, so they have difficulty obtaining government assistance. They are at the bottom of the workforce and those higher up condescend to them as if they’re ignorant. America is not quite the land of opportunity when poverty makes ascending to middle-class nearly impossible.