"Ham on Rye" by Charles Bukowski: The Influence of Surrounding on a Person

“Life doesn’t give you purpose you give life purpose’- The Flash, what this means is that life does not owe anyone anything and you are the one who has to go out of your way to be known as someone. This quote comes from a superhero which is a person who is out of the ordinary and has put him or herself in a position to stand for what is right. A superhero is mainly know for being someone who saves the day or even the world from impending doom and even go as far as risking their own lives for the sake of protection the innocent or the defenseless. Superheroes are mainly known for saving the day, but what some people fail to notice is the fact that these beings also have an influence on many people despite being fictional characters or people who make movies dressed up as them. Many of these influences are seen as positive, that is the reason why many people look up to these beings because in their minds some of them with that they can be like them. Another group of people that also influences many people are celebrities. Celebrities are real people who are well known by many people across the county or even the world. Celebrities unlike superheroes are normal humans who are more known and tend to make mistakes which is why there are some out there who people can view as a negative influences. People can also get influenced by the ones around them which is the case in the book Ham on Rye. The protagonist of the book Henry Jr is surrounded by many different people who influence him in a different way. In the story so far Henry is negatively influence by his father, mother, friends, and even classmates due to the fact that they fail to show him on how to do the right thing.

The first and main negative influence in the book is his own father who influences him negatively by being abusive when he makes mistakes whether he is right or wrong he also shows Henry that it is ok to be disrespectful to other people. This can be backed up in page in page 58 where an old man is afraid of death which leads Henry’s father to then making the situation worse by saying ‘you’ve lived long enough you old fart’. This attitude can lead to Henry being disrespectful towards others without any repercussions or consequences. Another moment of his father’s negative influence is shown in chapter 16 when Henry is playing football with a couple of kids until his father yells at him to mow the lawn. Henry tries to tell his father to keep letting him play football with the other kids by saying ‘but I’m playing football with the guys. Saturday is the only real chance I have’’ (Bukowski 67). His father then questions his talking back which shows that he does not care if he is interacting with other kids and can be a negative influence in his development. There is also another moment that is in the same chapter that follows in where Henry is told to mow the lawn without leaving a single hair of grass, Henry then finishes mowing the lawn, his father checks for small hairs of grass and after finding two small hairs of grass he then proceeds to beat Henry with a razor strop. This moment proves that the lack of a healthy communication between these two is a negative influence. These negative influences can lead to feelings like anger, confusion, and depression. Samantha Olson a journalist for Medical Daily claims that “They don’t have the tools to express exactly what they’re feeling “ ( Olson Par 2). This is also one of the things that can lead Henry down a destructive path later throughout the book. One modern day figure that Henry’s father can be compared to is Lebron James who is the complete opposite because he supports people and encourages them to reach their goals when it comes to sports and many other personal goals.

The next negative influence that Henry faces is from his mother since she is never really there for him and has no real connection with Henry other than being her offspring. One of the moments in the book is in chapter 16 when Henry mows the lawn, he then claims that he is done mowing the lawn which leads to his father looking for grass hairs. When his father finds two grass hairs he then ask his mom who is confused at first but eventually takes his side and letting Henry get beat with the razor strop. This moment goes to proves that Henry is not able to count on his own mother when he is sobbing or is shown to be depressed. His mom also seems to not care about Henry outside of providing his basic needs like food and clothing. This can influence Henry is a very negative way due to the fact that he will think that it is normal to not need anyone to help you out and that you can resolve your problems that you may run in to. One person who can she can be compared to is the famous person known as Justin Bieber who is a singer and a person that has a heavy influence on many young people especially pre-teen girls. He is a negative influence due to the fact that despite having many fans he is often shown not caring or really interacting with them. He has neglected many of the pets that he has had by abandoning them or neglecting them. The main thing that these two people have in common is that they are very neglectful as people and just do not show any care.

His friends are a negative influence since they encourage violence among the many things that are defenseless like cats or other animals. One moment in where this occurs is when there is a cat that is getting corned by a dog which belongs to one of Henry’s friends named Chuck. Henry’s friend Gene tells him to look at the dog tear the cat apart which leads him to wanting help out the cat. Henry even goes as far as to saying “Chuck, let the cat go. Please, call your dog off”( Bukowski 89). Right here Henry wants to help the cat but is afraid to get torn apart by the dog himself. There is another scene in where a spider is about to kill a fly, his friend Gene is anticipating the murder that is about to happen in front of Henry. Henry then takes it upon himself to kick away the spider from the fly thus saving the fly’s life. A real life figure who Henry’s friends can be compared to is Simon Cowell who is the complete opposite of his friends. Simon is mainly known for being verbally cruel as a judge from many talent shows he is shown to have a soft side for animals. This can influence people in a positive way to thinking that animals deserve love and have rights as we people do. The negative influences that his friends have on Henry is the fact that it is okay to abuse an animal. This also lead Henry into not having faith in any humans as a whole since he can think that everyone is this way.

The final negative influence so far is a girl known as Lilly Fischman who is a girl that influences Henry to expect every girl to sexualize themselves to get what they want. Lilly is a girl who is in Henry’s class and he claims that she is really developed for a girl that age. In page 97 of the book Henry claims that she was able to convince the teacher to not keep going with the class, she then starts dancing in a provocative manner that shows that you can get your way if you objectify yourself. Lilly is the type of character to influence Henry that women are object that are used for personal gain. One very famous figure that can be compared to Lilly is a person known as Kylie Jenner. Kylie is someone who has been through many surgeries, most known for having surgery on her lips. This lead to many people doing a viral internet challenge known as the Kylie Jenner lip challenge in where a person sticks their lips on a shot glass and sucks very hard on the glass until given the appearance of swollen lips. Many young fans who did this challenge had permanently damaged lips, which is why Kylie Jenner can be considered as a negative influence for many people that look up to her. In the long run Henry can be influenced by Lilly as she objectifies herself to getting what she desires.

There are many negative influences that surround Henry in which they hurt him instead of helping him as a person. First you have his father who is a very abusive person in general and does not really go out of his way to form a positive relationship with his own son. Out of all the characters he is the one to have the heaviest influence on him. The next negative influence is his mother who seems to be a very neglectful and is a person who he has not been able to count on or bond with so far throughout the book. The next negative influence are his friends, although they are not abusive towards Henry or neglect him they are shown to being bad influences for Henry in the way that it is acceptable to see animals get tottered for enjoyment. They can also influence Henry into not really wanting to interact with new people since he may think that hey are like his friends.

The final influence that is also negative is Lilly, although she is not shown to directly interact with him she is shown to objectify herself just to get her way. This can show Henry to expect this from a girl he meets in the future who may not be like that in terms if morale. Many celebs have either positive or negative influences on people and are commonly looked up to by many of the fans, so far Henry does not really have a role model to look up to or anyone to go for advice. The importance in giving life a purpose is due to the fact that life will not give you anything, you mainly have to seek for opportunities and take them which is something that Henry has yet to do in the book. Since he is also surrounded by many negative influences he may be shown to not be interacting with these people and look for new influences that other people may have to offer. In the story he has the potential to seek the better out of life since life has not really owe him anything or given him anything, which means that Henry will have to go out of his way to try to maybe change himself for the better of good. Influences exist around everyone and sometimes you have to seek the right ones.