Helms 1 Alyssa Jane Helms Professor McGill English 275001 2 October 2013 The Worst of the Best or Merely

the Worst? At the Crossroad, Highways 61 and 49, by J. Patrick Lewis, voices an encounter between an unnamed narrator and a Mister Johnson (line 1) that ends with the latter selling his soul (40) for Fame (4). A deal of this nature has the connotation of wickedness and conjures devilish imagery. However, this poem employs the use of diction and conflicting Heaven and Hell imagery in order to question whether the narrator is motivated solely by evil desires, or if it is a necessity that part of his motivation be rooted in good. Its important to note that the poem is not physically divided into stanzas. However, the meter, rhyme, and repetition changes denote distinct stanzas and so for reference purposes the poem has five stanzas, a new one begins every eight lines. In the first stanza the narrator claims that Salvation is [his] name (8). Salvation is associated with heavenly imagery and suggests that the narrator has the ability to offer Mister Johnson a deal that will provide him with happiness. What Mister Johnson wants though is Fame (4), something that is in opposition to the humility required for salvation in heaven. This paradox suggests that either the narrator is lying and can give one, but not the other, or that the narrators concept of salvation is not equivalent to salvation with God. Either way, he most likely isnt God, but that doesnt mean hes the antithesis of Him either. This idea is further realized in the second stanza when he claims to possess A rhythm on a riff / Thats practically God (9-10). The fact that he speaks of God in the third person suggests

Helms 2 that he himself is not the Almighty, but he does think that he can offer Mister Johnson goodness. Throughout the rest of the stanza, the narrator continues to provide conflicting information about his character, calling himself a pure / Undivining rod (11-12), a flickerin candle (13), the blackest light (14), and the darkest angel (15). In this diction it is easy to choose to see either the good or the bad, but when looked at closely, the conflicting terms must be confronted and the ambiguity of the narrators character increases. The narrator first claims that he is a pure / Undivining rod (11-12). The word pure has the connotation of cleanliness, goodness, and being one with God, but the accompanying description of undivining actually means not of God. Does this mean that he is completely not of God? Does it mean that hes a good, clean person, but hes not God? Its hard to know for sure without considering more evidence. The words candle (13), light (14), and angel (15) all support the heavenly imagery. These are bright things that guide people out of darkness and bad situations. They have the connotation of being good, but hes also flickerin (13), black (14), and dark (15). In these instances, the good things that guide people out of darkness and bad situations are actually black and dark themselves. When the two concepts are forced together like this, they paint a picture of someone who is regarded as not good, recognized in fact as own[ing] the night (16) or owning the activities of the night, but someone who regards himself as the worst of all things good. This is a slight, but significant, difference from being just plain bad, and supports the assumption that the narrator truly thinks hes offering a good deal to Mister Johnson. At this point in the poem, though, there is a shift in imagery. The fourth stanza has the narrator calling himself The Magician of Deal (26). Magic does not claim to come from God. In fact, it is sometimes referred to as the power of the Devil or the slight-of-hand of man. In the same stanza he continues his description of himself with words that could suggest goodness on

Helms 3 the surface, but when carefully considered, the goodness quickly disappears: Who can stoke sweet fire Thatll make you feel Like a hothouse flower On double defrost. (27-30) The image of sweet fire (27) produces good feelings and warmth. By itself it could very easily mean that he is someone who provides comfort. However, feeling Like a hothouse flower / On double defrost (29-30) would not be pleasant. For inanimate things, such as car windows or meat, the defrosting process can be slow, such as placing something frozen in the slightly warmer fridge, or it can be fast such as placing something frozen in the microwave. Both processes work, but with the microwave the user has to be extremely careful, and use a lower power setting, because the heat can cook the frozen product on the outside before the middle is even defrosted. For living things, when acclimating from cold to hot, its important to move gradually because otherwise the heat is extremely painful and feels like fire to your body. It is not known what is meant by double defrost (30), whether it is merely the microwave process of defrosting or something worse, but either way for a living being it would be extremely unpleasant and painful. When the sweet fire (27) is considered again after looking more closely at the double defrost (30), the sweetness of the fire brings with it an evilness and a sickness. Clearly the fire is harming the flower (or Mister Johnson) and this sadist is not God-like at all. It also conjures images of the fire and brimstone that inhabits hell. This supports the notion that the narrator is evil, and is not making a deal that will be advantageous for Mister Johnson. At this point in the poem it seems as though the narrator has revealed his true character

Helms 4 and his mixed messages in the beginning were merely meant to confuse Mister Johnson into taking the deal. We could be content with this answer, but the fifth stanza reintroduces some of the ambiguity of the narrators character with a paradox that must be resolved. The narrator tells Mister Johnson to live In devil-may-care control (36). Living a devil-may-care lifestyle means that one does what they wantthere are no boundaries and considering consequences is not allowed. However, the word control imposes boundaries and introduces the idea of carefully considering choices. These two can be reconciled, though, with the understanding that this deal, and the grantor of this deal, is not merely good nor evil. The narrator is helping Mister Johnson. He will get the Fame (4) that he desires, but as a consequence he must live his life devil-maycare (36) and deal with those consequences even if he cant let them factor into his decisionmaking process. It is in this condition that we can also see the sadistic motivation of the narrator. The fact that the resolution of this particular paradox can be applied to the entire poem is supported in the meter of the poem. As mentioned previously, the meter, rhyme, and repetition changes in the poem support a five stanza construction. Specifically, the first, third, fifth stanzas are composed of a 4746(x2) meter count with the fourth and eighth lines rhyming independently in the stanzas. The second and fourth stanzas are composed of eight lines with varying meters (57 beats/line), and a rhyme scheme that resembles xAxAxBxB. The only variance from this construction is in the fifth stanza, the line that says In devil-may-care control (36). Instead of the expected six beats, it has seven. This variance calls attention to the line and suggests that it is important to the poem as a whole. In this specific case, as supported by the above discussion, the importance is found in its ability to provide a resolution to the poems ambiguity. It says that it is indeed possible for someone who requires ones soul as payment to be both good and bad. In fact, he must have some of both.

Helms 5 Works Cited Lewis, J. Patrick. At the Crossroad, Highways 61 and 49. PoetryFoundation.org. Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.