• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Young Lions
Anjuelle D. Floyd
Edward P. Jones’
Young Lions
opens with twenty-four-year old Caesar Matthews readinga note from his girlfriend, Carol, with whom he lives. Carol’s note, taped to a carton of milk in the refrigerator, and as on so many previous occasions, states “…
 she loves himwith all her heart 
.” (p. 55)Manny calls. The owner of Manny’s haven, a bar where Caesar works off and on as a bartender, Manny speaks of Caesar’s long-time friend Sherman who has died in HowardHospital.Caesar and Sherman made their living by robbing people, and for the “…
 fourth time in aweek 
,” Caesar has dreamt “…
about the retarded woman
.” (p. 55)Later at Manny’s Haven, and while speaking with Manny, again about Sherman, Caesar considers a previous plan to rob Manny—one that he had shared with Sherman. “…
Wecan take him…come in wearin’ masks…clean his ass out…live like kings
…”Sherman had disagreed. “…
 Even if we got the millions where we gonna’ live…Manny still paying people back for some small thing they…did to him when he was five yearsold 
.” (p. 61)Caesar Matthews needs money. That his partner, Sherman, is dead and that Shermanwarned against robbing, Manny, Caesar pursues his plan to rob the woman of his dream
12/02/2007 
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’,
 Lost in the City
 
of 5
ISBN -00679258-X)
1
 
Young Lions
Anjuelle D. Floyd
 —a retarded woman named
 Anna
who actually exists in waking life. Caesar has beenfollowing Anna “…
 for all of two months
…” observing where she lives, when and whereshe goes to work, and her path for coming home in the afternoon. (p. 64)Caesar concocts a plan that she shares with Carol. Though quite resistant, Carol waits for Anna one Friday afternoon when Anna is headed to the bank to deposit her paycheck.Encountering her, Carol tells Anna that she, Carol, has a sick son, who needs a life-savingoperation. The procedure costs five thousand dollars. With no hesitation Anna goes intothe bank, withdraws five thousand dollars and gives Carol the cash.Prior to this scene Jones provides a stunning portrait of Caesar. Caesar Matthews is theelder son and eldest child of Lemuel Matthews, and Lemuel’s wife, Caesar’s deceasedmother. Upon the death of Caesar’s mother, Caesar’s cousin, Angelo Billings, stoleflowers
“…from an I’ Street florist…
” and took them to the funeral—an act that for Caesar symbolized “…
he
[Angelo]
loved Caesar’s mother as much as he loved anyone
.”(p. 66)It is Angelo who introduces Caesar to Sherman, who would then make Caesar his partner in the crime of stealing, first by robbing Lemuel Matthews, Caesar’s father, in the wakeof the death of Caesar’s mother, and then during the ensuing years until Sherman’s deathwhen Caesar is twenty-four.
12/02/2007 
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’,
 Lost in the City
 
of 5
ISBN -00679258-X)
2
 
Young Lions
Anjuelle D. Floyd
Sherman is the male who guides Caesar’s transition from adolescence to youngadulthood. And it is Sherman who serves as loving male during Caesar’s coming of age —a quality and experience that Caesar did not share with his father, Lemuel.Stealing, the act committed by Caesar’s cousin, Angelo Billings, and done out of love for Caesar’s mother, becomes Caesar’s own way of paying homage to his mother—andconnecting with his masculinity. Interestingly enough the act of thievery becomesCaesar’s way of experiencing his
anima
, the divine feminine that live s within each maleand what Caesar’s mother, as do all mothers for their sons, held and symbolized in his,Caesar’s life.Each time Caesar commits a robbery he resurrects his mother, that part of him,
unnamed 
,as his mother in the story, an aspect that was wounded in the loss of his father’s love, andhas now suffered the loss of Sherman. In an effort to stamp out the hatred he felt from hisfather, Lemuel, a judgmental man, torn and most probably hurting from his ownchildhood losses, Caesar also connects with that nameless aspect of himself. The essenceof 
Young Lions
rests upon the juxtaposition of Caesar Matthew’s need and vulnerabilityset against his desire to ascertain money, and thus creates the central conflict of thenarrative.Caesar Matthews justifies his existence through the act of stealing. It is in stealing, takingfrom others—first from his father, Lemuel, then with others as Sherman’s partner—thatCaesar Matthews feels most alive. Yet in his loss of Sherman, a livelihood of stealing
12/02/2007 
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’,
 Lost in the City
 
of 5
ISBN -00679258-X)
3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...