Morales Giacoman 1

Jean-Carlo Morales Giacoman

9/24/10

English Comp-004-26

Literary Analysis Essay

Too Much Suck to Go Around

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans, causing extreme

damage to the homes and belongings of those who inhabited the city. Many

perished. The memoir Plenty Enough Suck to go Around by Cheryl Wagner is a

recounting of her own experiences during the following months—years. She

illustrates her own perception as well as the perception of others on the struggles

during the period of rebuilding, which included dealing with stress, theft, murders,

and other crimes. The main purpose of the memoir is not to complain or evoke pity,

but to provide a first-hand experience of the reality in dealing with the direct effects

of a national tragedy for an extended period of time. Using symbolism, imagery and

tone, Wagner deals with the direct effects of Hurricane Katrina and her own growth

in overcoming this personal tragedy.

Cheryl Wagner uses a great deal of symbolism in the description of the living

situation of broken New Orleans. For instance, there is a point where the streets get

so bad that it becomes dangerous for Cheryl and her boyfriend Jake to stay at home.

Although they are not the violent type, they are forced to buy a gun, and settle for

something that, “[they] will hopefully never have to use or accidentally kill

[themselves] with” (123). At this point in the book, the fact that New Orleans is no

longer the place that Cheryl described it as once being sets in with the very extreme
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measures that her and Jake have to resort to in order to insure that they can be safe

in their own home. The gun represents a struggle in the sense that although it is

already difficult to live in a broken city, there are also other obstacles placed in the

way of rebuilding. Some of the reactions conveyed in the book are terrible ones,

because in such a time of need for everyone collectively, there is a lack of

collaboration and a new reason provided to worry about being robbed or killed

while trying to maintain homes and lifestyles. In such a time where a need for

community is at a high point, crime is the worst possible action to bring upon

everyone in their most vulnerable state. Cheryl also uses the symbol of “pit bull

Jesus,” which “was three feet tall [made of] solid clay” (75). Although he does not

seem like much, pit bull Jesus represents a connection tying back to Cheryl’s normal,

pre-flood life. It was a “hurricane miracle” (84). With the entire city of New Orleans

in ruins, finding something that has remained in tact through all of the chaos

provides hope. If one simple thing can be recovered from the flood, why would

Cheryl not be able to recover her life? This was the kind of hope that provided a

feeling that things would get back to normal. Pit bull Jesus gives Cheryl the strength

to push through with the rebuilding and helped her to realize that her life is

salvageable. The rebuilding of Wagner’s house itself also serves as a symbol of the

rebuilding of the entire city of New Orleans. Regardless of the difficulties at times,

Jake and Cheryl keep rebuilding their home to bring back their sense of normalcy,

which is also true for New Orleans as a whole. They keep rebuilding because

without doing so, they will lose a part of themselves. Cheryl describes that “stripped
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raw of everything, you [feel] naked, like maybe your ass [is] showing” (61). In order

to gain their lives back, they have to continue to fix their home—their lives.

Another literary tool that Wagner uses frequently is imagery. She does a

great job of painting a picture of the scene, so that it is easy to imagine. At times, it

almost feels as though you are actually a part of the story, witnessing the situation of

post-flood New Orleans. When the flood is first acknowledged as a serious problem,

Cheryl finds herself being very angry at the lack of help being provided for New

Orleanians. When watching about the flood on the news, Cheryl begins to yell at the

television, saying, “THEY SAID THEY NEED WATER AND TO GET OUT OF THERE!”

(29). This particular scene brings the reader to a place where they can relate to the

raw emotion that Wagner shares. It is almost as if the reader could have been there

with Wagner, watching the news as well as her reactions in person. This is also a

constant theme is the book, where Wagner allows the reader to step into her life and

witness all of her dilemmas first-hand. In addition to the emotion that Wagner uses

to create a vivid image, she also uses description of “broken” New Orleans. Cheryl

spends a lot of time explaining the appearance of things; for instance, she describes

how “[their] house was raised on three-foot piers, but the water had risen higher

than Jake’s van. [She] hadn’t realized [their] house was so crooked until [she] saw

the slime line all around it” (49). This sort of description is sprinkled throughout

the text, usually when a new place is described. This is important to the text,

because it allows the reader to imagine the way that everything looked, smelled, and

the feeling that accompanies the negative vibes of flooded neighborhoods. Another

type of imagery is also used every time that Cheryl introduces a new character. The
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description of every character provides the reader with a sense of the type of person

the new character is, and his or her relationship with Jake and Cheryl. When Tanio

is introduced, Cheryl explains how he “used to play in Berkeley-area dissonance-

funk bands and frequent Barrington Hall punk ‘Wine Dinners’” (26), and she goes on

to describe his personal flood situation, and where he is at this point of the story. By

dedicating so much description to a single character, by the time the description is

over the reader is well acquainted with him or her.

The tone remains fairly constant through the entire book. This does a couple

of things: primarily, the negative attitude keeps the reader constantly reminded of

how harsh the situation has been for the people of New Orleans; and secondly, the

constant humor added in keeps the book from remaining too negative and

preventing the reader from enjoying it. One of the first places where the negativity

coupled with humor can be noticed is in the names of the chapters. The third and

fourth chapters in the book are named, “What the fuck?” and, “What the fuck? Still”

(20 & 26). These titles are loaded with emotion and anger due to the lack of help

and the overall badness of the situation, but the names add in a little bit of dry

humor, because cursing is not constant in the book. It is almost like when a person

refrains from cursing most of the time, so that when they do not only does it shock,

but it also found to be humorous. Most of the humor in the book is fairly dry, which

can be subtle at times, but definitely present. There are also a few places where the

tone changes. It moves from a tone almost sounding like pessimism to hopeful. A

good example of this is in the end of the book, where Cheryl is describing that she

was going to try to make a difference by “actually doing something. Was [she] going
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to tell someone? Was [she] going to remind them? Was [she] going to write it

down? Yes, [she] said. Yes and yes and yes. Hopefully it would help” (240). This

statement is likely to be the most hopeful one in the entire book, because Wagner is

saying that she does have the power to make a difference, and that her actions

would help someone. This shift in tone had been saved to end the book, and it was

used very well.

Cheryl Wagner focuses on using symbolism, imagery, and tone to shape her

memoir Plenty Enough Suck to Go Around. These writing tools are all effectively

carried out in the book to give readers a different Hurricane Katrina experience that

deals with the reality of the tragedy. This helps to clear the reader’s mind of

previous implications placed upon the subject through by the media. The memoir

represents the people of New Orleans, as telling the story through their eyes.

Hurricane Katrina brought about many struggles for everyone living in New

Orleans, and the process of rebuilding was not an easy one. As implied in the book,

it is apparent that the United States government did not do enough to prevent or

resolve the issues that began with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Word Count: 1475