Sam here. We’re reading The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World by Lewis Hyde. Chapter 4 is about the bonds created through gift exchange and I can’t help thinking about a connection this has with Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Gran Turino.
I watched Gran Turino last weekend. The language and thematic elements are quite strong, be advised, but so is the story. Eastwood plays a cold, mean, Korean War veteran named Walt Kowalski. Kowalski hates minorities, particularly Asians, and especially the Hmong family who just moved in next door. When their teenage son, Thao, tries to steal Kowalski’s prized car (a Gran Turino), Kowalski nearly kills him.
Enter the binding beauty of gift exchange. In order to restore the Hmong family’s name, Thao’s parents, in line with their tradition, tell Mr. Kowalski that he must let Thao work for him. In other words, Thao must repay the debt incurred by his criminal behavior by serving Kowalski for a period of time. And Kowalski must accept. If he doesn’t, Thao and his family cannot be freed. It is an ironic situation. Only through a bond-servant agreement between these enemy parties can gift exchange occur, and, eventually, healing for both of them.
Hyde emphasizes that gift exchange produces relational bonds. Interestingly, Gran Turino flips the equation, causing the bond to produce the gift exchange. Either way, it’s true: Something powerfully right takes place when we give and receive gifts. Had Thao’s parents not pushed for this unique relationship, Thao may have missed valuable lessons; had Mr. Kowalski denied the request, he would have cursed Thao with unpaid debt and may have missed out on his own necessary healing. In the end, the gift relationship binds them.
I see allegorical references to Scripture in this movie, the most obvious one being Thao’s parents who author a unique relationship in order to reconcile a debt.
1. How have gifts bound you to others? To Christ?
2. Benjamin Franklin said, “When I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring favors but paying debts.” Do you see your work as paying debts (Not financial, of course)? If not, why not?
Photo by nAncY. Used with permission. Post written by Sam Van Eman.
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Other Current Book Club Posts:
Marcus’s Revolution Day – a poem about motherhood and the large hadron collider
LL’s The Gift: Can You Compare?
Laura’s Unbonded
Previous Gift posts:
- Chapter 3 – The Gift: Generous Elves
- Chapter 2 – The Gift: Hike with me
- Chapter 1 – The Gift: Don’t be a keeper
- Chapter 1 – The Gift: Laish and the Silo Effect
- Introduction – Mozart, Tiger Woods and Me: Gift 1-1/2
- Introduction – The Gift: Art, work and ribbon
- Invitation – Let’s read: The Gift
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We’ll see if I get ’round to posting on this later in the week.
In the meantime, wanted to say I loved this comparison of the movie to Hyde’s thoughts. Cool how it’s the converse and yet not.
And now I need to see the movie. (I’m already reading the book!
I wonder how the book treats this subject.
sorry, still reading chapter four.
hope to catch up soon…but, i have to chew on it, as i read.
munching away!
oh! and thanks for using the photo.
big smile.
Sam–
I, too, am behind on my reading. So sorry. Just finished the chapter and will have a post up soon.
The movie sounds interesting…others have told me it’s a powerful story. This reminds me of some ways prejudice have been overcome in the past–namely, working side-by-side with people of diverse backgrounds.
Love the questions. Food for thought.
So, I’ve not only caught up to all of you, but actually pulled ahead. It’s like a little Tour de Reading and I win the yellow jersey today.
I’d be happy to slow down again, but my Editor has encouraged a slightly quicker pace, and I see her point. At my rate, we could be reading this book when the internet takes on 8 track status. She is so wise.
The end of all things
is near.
Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Each one should
use
whatever gift
he has received
to serve others,
faithfully administering God’s
grace
in its various forms.
If anyone speaks,
he should do it as one
speaking the very words
of God.
If anyone serves,
he should do it with
the strength God provides,
so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.
Amen.
hey sam, you wear the yellow well,
but,. not for long !
i’m ready for a speed read
sam.
i probably can keep up with any reading pace that you choose to take, and then go back and cover it again at my own meandering pace.
thanks for doing this.
Well, I think my speeding up is just getting to normal speed – one chapter per week. I’m not much of a fan of rules, however, and I hate to skip over captivating content, so if something great comes up, I’ll push for the occasional extension.
Regarding my own first question above, my current job relies on donors. I’ve never had employment that made me feel so bonded to others in a gift relationship as this one. Quite a powerful experience overall and an emotional one at least a few times each year.
Maybe all paychecks have gift relationship behind them, and we simply lose sight of this when too many middle men/women process the cash before passing it along unseen via direct deposit to our accounts.
Sam,
I finally have my post up. It is rather anticlimactic…
I love what you say about your job. This book has me re-thinking the way I give to others in various relationships. It has made my job more enjoyable to look upon my interactions with others as a sort of gift in some ways. I find I am receiving more, as well.
Amazing what perspective does.
i think that we could truly look at the exchage of something for a
paycheck could very well be a gift relationship.
it may be this perspective along with acting upon this perspective, especially along the lines of gratitude and grace of each person involved, that can make something a gift exchange instead of a commodity exchange. i might be how people see and treat eachother. it might be the attitude and heart of the people which forms the basis of the relationship that in turn creates the gifts.
ohhhhhhhhhh…i get it.
the Spirit is what makes a gift.
the Spirit is the power of the gift.
and the Spirit is the gift.
hum.
Laura and nAncY, good words on perspective. I wish it weren’t so hard to keep fresh.
Laura, thanks for the heads up on your post. I’ll check it out.
that last comment probably did not make any sense to anyone but me.
but, i was thinking that the Spirit works in ways that we do not know, and in us and through us in ways that are very powerful, and the Spirit through Jesus is a precious gift that makes all the difference in our heart and mind. if we look to Jesus and Love God…being able to speak to God because of the sacrifice of Jesus, spending time praying and listening to God, should be the most important and wonderful thing that we do each day.
it is what keeps it fresh and allows a giving heart. a heart that is open to the work of the Spirit.
I live in Japan, and my cousins from the states came to visit me here. One of my cousins from my Japanese side of the family met one of my cousins from my American side of the family for the first time, and they became friends. They spoke completely different languages, so they communicated through nonverbal means and some simple words. By the end of my American cousin’s trip, the two had spent a lot of time together sight seeing and hanging out. The last night my American cousin was here, my Japanese cousin gave him a bunch of small toys and coins that served as memorabilia. They had almost no monetary value, but I know that between the two of them, it meant the world.
Hanging out with the Chief Giver has a deep effect on us.
Lead Like Christ,
Thanks for the very fitting story.
Little ole delinquent me… finally posted on this week’s chapter. Poem is a bonus.
Thanks, LL.
Readers, watch for posts like LL’s each week in the “Other current book club posts” above.
“Hanging out with the Chief Giver has a deep effect on us.”
i love that.
Sam. I haven’t read the book, and have only heard what you have shared at OLT. I am intrigued. However, despite my uneducated mind on this subjects of gifts I wanted to comment on the movie. I really enjoy the parallel and reflection of the movie. I just recently saw Gran Tornio and truly appreciated the movie in many ways. I am curious what you thought of Clint Eastwood’s character in the end of the movie. His gift being total sacrifice for another mans life (not to give away the movie). However, is that also not parallel of Christ giving of himself to save us. Again, I should read this book…but those are just some side thoughts.
Thanks Sam!
-Al
Allyson, thanks for stopping in! Some of the symbolism and gift exchange elements in Gran Torino were straight forward, but I spent the most time thinking about the ending. Unlike Jesus, who gave his life for all, Kowalski seems to focus his either on revenge or on the protection of Thao’s family, but not on the perpetrators. (I’m trying not to give too much away here.)
Also, what I missed was how many kids were in the lawn for the arrest. It may have been the same as the number that haunted him from the war. If so, that’s clever.
Do you do book discussions at your coffee shop? Byron would send them to you at a discount and it’s a great book for a mixed crowd (believers, atheists…). I had some trouble with Part II, and I’m not sure how it would work, but the first seven chapters are brilliant and universally applicable for artists and non-artists alike.
P.S. We’re hoping to start another discussion in September. Stay tuned!