Hey Nostradamus! ; 1999: Jason (pgs.43-92)

In the first half of the the second chapter of Coupland's novel, "Hey Nostradamus!" one of the main characters, Jason describes what his life has become years after the Delbrook massacre, and also allows the audience to receive a better understanding of what happened the day of the shooting by narrating how he experienced the awful incident. We are able to see the issues he is dealing with such as those of his view on humanity, the hypocrite people,his terrible relationship with his father Reg and lastly, the death of his brother Kent and how poorly he coped with them leading to an unsuccessful pitted life. Jason tells his story in his truck alongside the beach with his adopted dog Joyce while writing a letter to his nephew's and reminiscing on events from the past hat highly impacted his life. Moreover, the day of the massacre we see that after Jason killed the head shooter, he struggles letting go of Cheryl and accepting her death but is forced to be separated from her. He then goes to the lot and lays on her truck covered in her blood, soon after he is awaken and escorted home. Once Jason arrives home, his mother is shaken and worried about his being and the cops explain the incident and how he was a hero however, Reg had shame and called his son a "murderer" causing the authorities and people to question Jason. After Jason is proven innocent, he goes in depth about all he has had to dealt with Reg. Reg's attitude towards Jason was extremely negative and the cause of an end to their relationship. Hence, at the end of this first part, after questioning attending his brother's memorial he decides to go to support Barb and after the service gets drunk to escape all the phony conversations. Also, Reg states that one of the twins doesn't have a soul and Barb furiously kicks him out of her house. Clearly Jason has not a had a pleasant life overall but the fact that he is still standing and living day by day shows that he wants to do something with himself.

I thought that this chapter was very helpful to my understanding of why Jason appeared so odd in Cheryl's story. I felt sad because Jason seemed like a good person and the fact that he struggled more than a usual person has makes me think about how my whining sometimes is extremely ridiculous and unnecessary. I really liked that he talked about his father a lot because it made me think how it's sad that there are people out there just like Reg that use religion for the justifications of one's bad actions. I think this man is crazy however i think that instead of being left alone someone should have tried to talk to him and talked some sense into him and made him understand how much religion was affecting others but mainly himself. As i continue to read, i keep wanting to continue because i find it really interesting. I enjoyed reading Jason's part of the story and getting a better understanding of the massacre and his life in general.