TOW #23- Feet in Smoke

“Feet in Smoke: A Story About Electrified Near-Death” by John Jeremiah Sullivan

Author John Jeremiah Sullivan frequently contributes his works to The New York Times Magazine, alongside editing for Harper’s Magazine and The Paris Review. His pieces have won several awards, including the Eclipse Award, the National Magazine Award, and the Whiting Award. This specific memoir is about Sullivan’s brother’s brush with death. Sullivan utilizes anecdote and vivid imagery to prove the importance of his brother, Worth, to him, and the horrifying ease with which death can taunt life. Primarily, Sullivan describes his relationship with his brother through a story about him sneaking into Worth’s room to listen to music, even though his older brother had forbid it. Sullivan proved through this story that, since his brother is seven years older, they were not always very close. That is, until they were able to share their love of music. Additionally, Sullivan uses descriptive imagery when he writes about the day his brother was dangerously electrocuted. He states that, before singing the opening lines of Sullivan’s favorite song, “a surge of electricity arced through his body, magnetizing the mike to his chest like a tiny but obstinate missile, searing the first string and fret into his palm, and stopping his heart. He fell backward and crashed, already dying” (Sullivan). The diction of this specific quote creates a horrible image in the minds of the audience: the crippling picture of a man seemingly struck by lightning, collapsing after being stung by the current. The combination of the brotherly anecdote and the vivid imagery appeal to the emotions of the readers. The story causes the audience to imagine their family members, and to remember the times when they truly felt connected and like family. The following image of the near death experience, though, shatters these happy thoughts with the fear most people have: losing a family member. The brutal and abrupt diction utilized immediately following a touching story shows the readers the shock that Sullivan felt in the moment he heard of his brother’s condition, and how it affected him so negatively, proving his love for his brother, and how death can appear in an instant.