Joy Ride

Michelle Cronin Professor Radford English 101 8 October 2012 Begging for an trip Joy Ride is a short tale written by Richard Russo. It features a boy, rear end Dern, and his bewilder, who both long for an escape from their lives at the time. This story follows the theme that star key aspect the human condition is the research for an escape. At some point in life, most humans tender to escape their past and present state of living. There may be many motivating factors behind this. However, most attempt to escape for one of three main reasons.These include using an escape as a means of finding lightendom, an escape to help another person, or comely as a temporary move to solve a problem. In this story, prank and his gravel have all three reasons in the tail of their minds as they see their lives disappear in the rearview mirror. Johns mother wants an escape so that she can be trim. Free from stress, free from worry, free from her husband So she leaves a note with a simple sayonara and she is off. She takes her son with her and breaks free from the ties that bind her. She believes that this country is big enough for a fresh start for the both of them.She says, Its not only a free country, its a big one. Big enough for us to postulate lost in. Were bound for freedom, sweetie (76). Johns mother is trying to explain to him that this country is huge, and that if the two of them try, they can get lost in the freedom. They have the power and the ability to leave, escaping the lifestyle they argon in right now. By leaving, they have the opportunity make anything of their future. Johns mother also explains that she wants to be free from the marriage that is easy ripping her apart.She says, Its skilful that living with him being married to him is rightful(prenominal) like being covered with these little cuts all the time. Theres no big gash you can show anybody, nothing theyd believe would really appal, hardly these damn little nicks, they suck the l ine of descent right step to the fore of you (92). Johns mother would like to be free of her husbands ties that seem to terrorize her wherever she goes. It appears that he does nothing to cause her extraordinary pain, but the little problems are the ones that hurt her the most. Just being with her husband leaves her with all of these painful thoughts and memories every private day.Its the little problems that Johns mother is trying so hard to escape. However, her motivation for escape also has to do with John. He inevitably this escape as much as his mother. John was growing up and falling in with the wrong crowd, making very bad decisions. His friends have words of a trip they took to Old Orchard Beach in Maine. When opinion about this, John decides that he too necessitate to get out of Camden. This is exactly the kind of adventure I feared and longed for (78). In this quote, John is conveyance of title his need for escape. His mother sees how necessary an escape is and how d esperately John needs a new outlook on life.And this is exactly what his mother intends to flip over him. As they go on their journey, both John and his mother make love a little taste of the freedom they have hungered for. Years posterior when discussing the trip, his mother explains the real reason behind the joy ride. Ill suppose you what I do remember. I remember that the reason for that trip was you. What I remember was the vicious little monster you were becoming (110). In this quote, Johns mother is revealing her true motive behind their escape. She treasured to give him an experience that would allow him to change the way he was behaving in the first place it became too late.Her son was falling in with the wrong crowd and she treasured him to get out of there as fast as realizable before he did something horrible. Whether the escape is permanent or temporary, it remains a memory that result forever be engrained in ones mind. An escape can break down anywhere from minutes to a lifetime, but it will remain a memory throughout ones entire life. For example, when reminiscing, John says This whole trip was nothing more than a joy ride, like the one my junior high friends had taken, and now I could understand their reluctance to talk about it.No doubt it had been a gimcrack thing, devoid of glory (108). John is saying that their escape had only been a temporary freedom and that it ended shortly after it had begun. In compare his joy ride with that of his friends, he claims that both did not end up the way they had imagined and that he did not want to talk about it, just as his friends had not wanted to talk about their trip. However, he goes on to say More than twenty years now, as I infer back on our joy ride that spring, it seems far more unusual than it did at the time (109).He is expressing his sincere thought on the subject in that even after decades have passed. Although it seemed to somewhat fail because he and his mother ended up goin g back to his father at the time, with time, he begins to realize that the trip meant more than he originally thought. No intimacy how long or short the escape is, the memory will last a lifetime. The word escape can be defined in many ways. The definition that applies most to this story is an act of breaking free from confinement or control. In Joy Ride, John and his mother were beggary for an escape from their life.Throughout the actual trip, Johns mother had him convinced that she wanted to escape from her husband. But at the end of the story after years have passed, she explains that the true reason behind the escape was to change the alley he was walking. John needed to escape the group he was in. quite a little attempt to escape for many reasons. For John and his mother, it was for freedom, freedom from Johns father, freedom from the expectations of Johns friends. And although it was not a permanent escape, it will be permanently engrained in the minds of both John and hi s mother.