Chapter 13/14 in Ham On Rye (1 Viewer)

[HenryChinaski]

Okay so I've started re-reading Ham On Rye for the umpteenth time and I guess I never really noticed this but Henry gets hit by a car.
Does anybody know if this actually happened or if he just made it up to make the novel more entertaining?
I've never heard or seen any kind of footage where he talks about said incident so I'm guessing he made it up?
maybe some of you bukowskians might know.

 

[snapsvisor]

Having read your post and becoming extremely curious, I scoured google for hours. I tried looking up medical records or finding such information in his FBI files, but to no avail.

But he did fail to meet medical standards for the draft in WWII, and was exempted from service for psychological and physical reasons. As these are not specified in his case, they could be the result of injuries from a car hitting him. He was deemed 4-F by the Draft Board. I found this - "The 4-F classification was given primarily for muscular and bone malformations, hearing or circulatory ailments, mental deficiency or disease, hernias, and syphilis." He was also placed in "Military Unsuitable Group 5", and I couldn't find any information on that.

So ff he was actually hit by a car, it's doubtful he told authorities, otherwise there would be a record of it somewhere. It might even be common knowledge. I prefer to think that he was hit by the car, yelled at the motherfucker, then ambled off to a bar to drank away the event.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

snapsvisor Good job on that! You went above and beyond the call of a poster. Thank you and a belated welcome from me and my little dog.:)

 

[bospress.net]

I second that welcome. Damn fine work and from someone new to the board! Welcome.

Bill

 

[Father Luke]

Aye. Three cheers for the snapsvisor !

 

[HenryChinaski]

hahahhahaha i never thought anybody would full-on investigate that. well done, good sir. I like to think he was hit by the car too. it makes him seem wayyyy more badass to just schrug it off and not say anything. anyone of us gets hit by a car and I damn sure everyone would know about it right after it happened.

 

[snapsvisor]

Thanks for the thanks and welcomes, it's all in a day's work.

I agree, I think it's just his personality to drink it off. Also, it could be possible that the said accident was a hit and run, and he never had a chance to identify the driver. Or perhaps it was just a light hit and he wasn't badly hurt at all. All reasons for him to just shrug it off and continue wherever he was going, and never shed any light on it for us. :)