“Eating Jack Hooker’s Cow” by Michael Paterniti is a story of competing motel owners ; Jack Hooker and Bout Sinhpraseut who goes by Donna. Jack’s motel is between two of Donna’s and he does everything he can in order to try and attract guests, including putting up an “American owned” sign outside of the motel. Despite all of his efforts, the story ends during a storm, and rather than staying at Hooker’s motel, cars pass by and choose Donna’s motel instead.
The first main point that Paterniti was trying to make was that American’s are all much more alike than they may choose to believe. One of Donna’s motel guests tells a story about the Tran’s; a family that doesn’t speak English. When hearing the story of the Pilgrims for the first time made, the family connected their own journey to the United States to that of the Pilgrims. One of them made a remark that those around them were “boat people” just like them. Most American’s wouldn’t consider themselves to be “boat people” as most of them never voyaged to America. However, this comment brings light to the fact that most if not all of our ancestors were immigrants themselves, making everyone in America much more like them than we often think. Although the story was about the two competing motel owners, the reasoning behind their competition in the first place is their strong desire for a successful business. Both characters are trying to achieve the American Dream. Despite the fact that the owners were very different in many ways, the two of them were exceptionally similar when comparing their hopes and goals. Through Donna’s character readers are able to grasp Paterniti’s point that an “American” doesn’t have a particular look to them. Someone striving for the American Dream can be of any race, ethnicity, sex, etc. The United States is a mixing pot of many different types of people, none of which should be restricted on the basis of physical appearance. The final point that I think Paterniti is trying to make is how hate breeds hate. This point was noticeable throughout the entirety of the reading and there were many examples including Jack Hooker’s hate that formed because he feels hated, later leading to Donna’s hate which also stemmed from feeling hated herself. Although this story was written many years ago, this theme is still very prevalent in today’s world.
