Pop. 1280

by Jim Thompson

People looking for easy answers to big problems. People that blame the Jews or the colored folks for all the bad things that happen to ’em. People that can’t realize that a heck of a lot of things are bound to go wrong in a world as big as this one. And if there is any answer to why it’s that way – and there ain’t always – why, it’s probably not just one answer by itself, but thousands of answers.

‘Yeah?’ I said. ‘So ain’t we all relatively inanimate, George? Just how much free will does any of us exercise? We got controls all along the line, our physical make-up, our mental make-up, our backgrounds; they’re all shapin’ us a certain way, fixin’ us up for a certain role in life, and George, we better play that role or fill that hole or any god-dang way you want to put it or all hell is going to tumble out of the heavens and fall right down on top of us. We better do what we were made to do, or we’ll find it being done to us.’

what I mean is that there can’t be no personal hell because there ain’t no personal sins. They’re all public, George, we all share in the other fellas’ and the other fellas all share in ours.