Wake Up, Sir by Jonathan Ames (cont)

I forgot that I started this blog for me to vent about what I'm reading, not analyze it all in a way that the rest of you can easily understand. So ppphhhhtt. I'm giving this book another go.

So, Alan is like the child in this book. An orphan, in fact, albeit a thirty-year old one. Jeeves is a very parental figure - he provides physical necessities, anticipates needs, provides support, and so on. But he doesn't provide too much in the way of guidance. Occassionally, he tries to share his view of life (his theory is that life is like a movie, hundreds of hours of footage boiled down to a short narrative history of key moments), but it tends to overwhelm Alan.

But Jeeves's detached manner stops him from providing the kind of support that parents can give. Because he is nonjudgmental, he never stops Alan from engaging in unhealthy behavior, although he may point out that the behavior is, objectively, unhealthy.

In another way, Jeeves is like a therapist, with his consistent responses of "Yes, sir" or "Very good, sir" to Alan's sometimes complicated theories about himself and others.

In a way, Jeeves presence makes me wonder, If practical concerns were taken care of and we had nonjudgmental support, would the other troubles of life cease? Or even lessen? Well - yes and no. Alan says his life motto is "live and don't learn."

Okay, I feel better, now.