Burke's Pentad in the Reading of a Life During the adult years
of my life, I have come to view many of the concepts of our
criminal justice and correctional systems as being antithetical to
reason. The most instructive example I have been afforded in this
regard is in gaining the knowledge of the life history of one of my
ex-inlaws, who I shall refer to as "Abe". In the following section,
I have used Kenneth Burke's five terms of dramatism to evaluate
Abe's ongoing dance with the system of justice. Utilizing the
tropes, I hope to make a political statement about the absurdity of
man's justice, while at the same time engaging in an act of
invention. Prologue: Abe is born in the early `50's to a fourteen
year-old girl and her mechanic common-law husband. During his
childhood, he increasingly becomes the target of his father's
drunken abuses, and has to endure frequent disappearances by his
mother. This downward spiral of human relations leads to.... The
Act: Abe runs away from home at 15, and holds up a grocery store to
obtain money. The Agent: Abe and two other young refugees. The
Agency: A cap gun purchased at the 5&10 for 79 cents. The
Scene: An A&P in Modesto, California The Purpose: To be able to
eat and travel. Their abortive stick-up is thwarted by the local
constabulary. Abe ends up in juvenile detention, where he is
offered a deal by the local judge - if he will enlist in the U.S
Marine Corps, then the charges against him will be dropped. Jumping
at the chance to escape his private hell, Abe assents and is sent
to basic training, where.... The Act: He is brutalized by drill
instructors, taken outside the barracks and beaten so badly he
urinates blood for days. The Agent: Non-commissioned officers of
the U.S.M.C. The Agency: Batons, as well as the coercive
psychological force they use on recruits. The Scene: El Toro Marine
Base, California, 1967. The Purpose: To turn him into a "killing
machine". Abe is immediately sent to Southeast Asia, where the
non-sanctioned conflict between good and evil is about to boil
over. Abe's platoon is sent on reconnaissance of a seemingly quiet
village, quiet until... The Act: His squad is ambushed by North
Vietnamese hiding in the houses. Abe drops to the ground and begins
firing. One, then two little children run into his line of fire,
but he cannot stop his programmed reaction, and they fall. A
screaming man in black appears above him and stabs him in the upper
torso several times. The Agent: 1) Abe, his brainwashers. 2)North
Vietnamese soldier. The Agency: 1)Rifle. 2)Bayonet. The Scene:
Chaotic firefight inside a North Vietnamese village. The Purpose:
1)To secure territory in an undeclared war, to protect one's life
2) Ostensibly, revenge for Abe's killing the young children. Abe is
sent back to the U.S. as he returned, except for the addition of a
Purple Heart, and the subtraction of one lung which was damaged
beyond repair by his attacker. Now 18, he finds no one waiting for
his arrival and no one lining up to offer him employment or
training. Saddled with the handicap of post-traumatic stress
disorder (then not clinically recognized), he begins having
blackouts, which one day escalates to....
The Act: Taking a bar and its patrons hostage for three hours,
engaging in gunfire with the police. The Agent: Abe, having
flashbacks to Vietnam. The Agency: Several small-caliber weapons,
with hundreds of rounds of ammo. The Scene: Downtown San Diego
California, 1969. The Purpose: To protect himself from the "enemy".
With the additional charges of heroin possession added to the list,
Abe is given 15 years in San Quentin prison. He serves three of the
years without incident, but then one day becomes the target of a
racial groups' hatred of his skin color. He is beaten, stabbed
repeatedly, and left for dead in the shower. As he recovers in the
infirmary, he begins to change, as he puts it, "to lose his
humanity". He hatches a plot to lash out at thoseresponsible, which
leads to.... The Act: During a disturbance in the exercise yard,
Abe slips behind two of his tormentors and slashes their throats,
and they bleed to death before being noticed. The Agent: Abe The
Agency: A switchblade purchased from a guard. The Scene: San
Quentin prison, California, 1972. The Purpose: Revenge, to embody
the animalism which had been programmed into him. Though suspected
of the killings, he was never charged with the crimes, and he was
given respect by the other inmates after that. After 5 years in
prison, he received parole. Life on the streets was more uncertain
than in prison, though, and he drifted across country to Florida.
There, he was offered a large sum to perform a specific underworld
activity: pilot large pleasure boats which were anchored off coast
into port. He never was asked nor was told what his cargo was. He
was beginning to enjoy life for the first time, when one night he
was called to work, then dropped off by helicopter fifty miles
off-coast. The vessel looked like many of the others, and all was
routine until he was accosted by the Coast Guard as he came into
port. When the hold was opened, they found... The Act: Two people
who had been murdered, and hundreds of kilos of cocaine. The Agent:
Abe's employers, who had bungled their usual theft of a legitimate
vessel. The Agency: Underworld network which was shipping cocaine
from South America. The Scene: Florida Keys, 1976. The Purpose:
Money, with Abe as the flunky. This crime led to a 50 year sentence
for second-degree murder, and a concurrent 25 year term for drug
smuggling. At first hesitant to play stool pigeon, Abe eventually
cooperated with the U.S. Attorney's office, and the murder charge
was removed. Abe this time enjoyed status in prison, for his cell
mate happened to be "Murph the Surf" of jewel robbery fame. Despite
the rather humane treatment, he yearned for freedom, and one day
escaped in a laundry bag. He began a life underground with a new
identity, but found it impossible to obtain documents such as
driver's licenses and social security cards. He learned the craft
of masonry while working as a construction laborer, and became a
family member during this time. Pulled over one morning on the way
to work for a defective taillight, he was arrested for marijuana
possession. His fingerprints gave away his former identity, and he
was returned to prison with an added five year term for escape.
Depressed at being separated from his wife and child, Abe... The
Act: Attempted suicide. The Agent: A friendly prison guard/dealer.
The Agency: Barbiturates
The Scene: U.S. Prison, Miami, Florida, 1982. The Purpose:
Escape from the downward spiral of his life. His sentence commuted
in 1985, Abe attempted to join the legitimate economy, but found
all doors closed to him. Not earning enough in his construction
jobs, Abe began selling marijuana in small quantities to supplement
their funds. Life began to take on a veneer of normalcy, until...
The Act: One of his buyers, caught with possession, gave Abe's name
to the authorities. Abe was sent to state prison with a 20 year
term, with no parole. The Agent: State of Florida law enforcement.
The Agency: "Three-strikes, you're out " laws The Scene: Lakeland,
Florida, 1989. The Purpose: Creating a "drug-free" America. Abe was
diagnosed with metastatic carcinoma of his remaining lung in 1995.
The state gave him a medical pardon, which allowed him to spend his
remaining time with his daughter (he had been divorced while in
prison). But even this bit of sanctity was to be upturned when...
The Act: All of his possessions which had value were legally seized
The Agent: The State of California The Agency: Law which allowed
seizure of property. The Scene: Orlando, Florida, 1996. The
Purpose: To repay the state of California for welfare in lieu of
child support given to his illegitimate son and his son's mother,
whom he had only had a brief fling with in 1969 The son was now 26
years old. Abe now lives by the generosity of his few friends and
his ex-wife. His death is imminent, he cannot afford to pay for his
pain medications, and he has no social benefits remaining because
his entire life was virtually spent in incarceration. Burke's
pentad, as a theory of reading, then can also be seen as a useful
tool to expose the absurdities that many people face when they try
to live under our current system of (in)justice.
