Symbolism In Another Bullshit Night In Suck City

Throughout his memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Nick Flynn discusses the varying causes of homelessness in America. He discuses every topic from mental illness to poverty, drug abuse to alcoholism, and how each had there own effect on the homeless. While there are a multitude of possible reasons as to why someone is living on the street, Flynn focuses on the effects it has on an individual and on the reactions of society. Flynn calls attention to the rampant crisis of homelessness in America through the use of personal reflection, metaphor, and symbolism. The memoir is riddled with social criticism, and challenges the reader to understand homelessness in its full capacity.
Flynn lays everything out for the reader, not only telling …show more content…
The iceberg demonstrates that twenty percent of those living on the street are the stereotypical homeless: the ones who are seen panhandling, or sleeping on a park bench. While the eighty percent are intertwined within society: sleeping in their car or a shelter, and then working multiple jobs to feed their family. Just as a majority of the iceberg is under water, so too are many of those living on the streets of America who find themselves struggling to keep their head above water and thrive within society. Flynn further illustrates this point when he introduces Jasper, a young artist who occasionally eats at Pine Street. “Working the Brown Lobby I notice a young guy who starts showing up for dinner…he doesn’t look like he belongs, mostly because of his shoes, very high-end” (188). Eventually he rents a room from Nick after he and a friend attend a party at the …show more content…
A life raft can be many things, varying from person to person. Literally speaking, it can be used to keep someone afloat in water, or to get to safety on land. Figuratively, a life raft can be what allows a person to continue on through their life by bringing temporary security and satisfaction. Nick used drinking as a metaphorical life raft to cope with the absence of his father, and later used drugs to numb the pain after his mother committed suicide. Likewise, Jonathan used alcohol and grand stories of his adventures as a way to connect with others and reassure himself that he was living life right. A life raft can have one of two main objectives: help a person by keeping them afloat in water, or provide a way to shore and safety. Either way, the life raft is meant to be a temporary aid. “Even a life raft is only supposed to get you from the sinking ship back to land, you were never intended to live in the life raft, to drift years on end, in sight of land but never close enough” (327). While Nick’s life raft was provisional, Jonathan used his life raft unceasingly. Instead he was swept up by the roaring sea of life and floated adrift, drowning to the bottom of society’s ocean. He bobbed and weaved between homelessness and scraping together enough to rent a small place here and there. Although he did not remain homeless,