I'm getting close to finishing Robinson's big life as told by Rampersad in his big book, and I must say that the amount of living Jackie packed into his short life is staggering! Before, during, and after baseball, Jackie showed that he would always "drink / Life to the lees" (Tennyson, "Ulysses"). Rampersad makes the connection to the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson's Ulysses, and I think it's quite apt. ( Here's a link to the poem for those who want to take a look: Ulysses. The poem is one of my favorites.)
It's no wonder Rampersad needed 512 pages to tell Jackie's story, because it's America's story as well. I'm finding that there's very little in the first half of our century that Jackie was not involved in, especially with respect to civil rights. He was there struggling with Jim Crow and its effects from the twenties to the seventies, with dignity and passion and respect for anyone who cared and was willing to help, no matter their creed or color. The book reminds me a little of Forrest Gump, though in Jackie Robinson, all the main character's brushes with history really happened.
By the time I'm finished with this biography, I'm going to feel like I know all these people. Yesterday was Jackie Robinson Day, and I wonder if people really understand the man they're paying tribute to in baseball stadiums across the country. He paved the way for that one area of integration, but he didn't stop there. He dedicated his life to achieving racial equality and harmony. He was a controversial guy, and far from perfect, but he was larger than life. Just reading about all the many things he got into and the many people he knew in his life has been exhausting. What it must have been like to know him!
Jackie died in 1972, and right now I'm in the mid-sixties, so it won't be long. And when I reach the end of this book, I'm going take a nice break with a mystery novel, simple and short!
No comments:
Post a Comment