AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Desiring to escape his meager middle class existence, and a dead-end job making doughnuts, J.R. dreams of success as a world class counterfeiter. It is a dream that is consistent with the American dream, as J.R. explains in a journal entry: "I had a viable dream! A big, daring, foolproof plan to enter the great mansion of capitalism by using the side door. You can acquire money by earning it, winning it, stealing it, or printing it." Or is the notion that one can attain wealth by any means necessary truly compatible with what we've come to call "the American dream"? Have we as a nation, under the magical power of money, failed to truly consider the nature of our greed and its effect on our neighbors? Is the "American dream" founded on our mindless faith in a 'false-god'? If so, where will such a 'love of money' lead this country in the end? These are some of the questions author John Rimshas explores in his postmodern novel entitled In Dog We Trust.
Determined to reproduce the perfect twenty dollar bill, J.R. attempts to bring his plan to pass without any real consideration for the rest of society. He reasons that as long as he does not deliberately do any obvious harm to another American citizen, he is not really doing anything wrong. Yet through the course of the novel, and with each succeeding journal entry, J.R. and his 'partner in crime' -- his lovely girlfriend and fellow printer Mickey -- begin to doubt the innocuous nature of their initial intentions; as they slowly see that something as American as acquiring money, when approached with the wrong goal or motivation in mind, or even worse, if accomplished through illegal means, does indeed harm both society at large and one's own soul.
"Actually, it was an accident," J.R. confesses in his journal, explaining the strange occurrence that would alter his career as a counterfeiter, and also the entire financial system in America. While preparing to print more phony twenty dollar bills, one of the photograph negatives had been reversed; and instead of the standard motto that resides on the backside of traditional (or authentic) legal tender, he read the words, "In Dog We Trust." At first it appeared to be merely a mistake; but after a minute, considering the comic (and sardonic) implications of the phrase, J.R. decided to play a trick on the world and the American economic system. So he printed a couple thousand copies of this "funny money," featuring the 'sacrilegious slogan' written on the back above the Whitehouse; reasoning that nobody would know the difference.
According to the field of psychoanalysis there are no accidents. When we "slip" and say (or see) something that betrays our conscious mind, we have, in reality, stumbled upon a truth about our self or the situation at hand. This insight may in turn open us up to a new world within ourselves and change our perspective, and even our life, from that moment onwards. Such was the experience of the narrator of this novel. More significantly, J.R.'s decision to use these "dog bills," which the media defined as "a deliberate attempt to make a mockery of society," contributed to the loss of faith in American currency. Consequently, the circulation of these counterfeit bills (further deflating the value of money in America), helped topple the country's financial system; as it ushered in a sort of post-apocalyptical milieu characterized by anarchy and a survival of the fittest approach to existence.
Ingeniously, Rimshas draws us into the drama of our narrator, whose experience, ironically, runs parallel -- and in a sense presages -- the broader American narrative. In this way, we see that J.R.'s inspiration for gaining wealth, along with the methods he employs to carry out his get-rich-quick scheme, are not unlike the driving motivations and unscrupulous manipulation of the market exhibited by Wall Street brokers and world bankers of late. As J.R grows disheartened with his life dedicated to making money (literally), he plunges into a state of despair that mirrors the economic depression of the nation.
Through the lens of the narrator's experiences we not only get a look at the negative aspects of American capitalism, but we also find that "after the monetary collapse," there exists the possibility to enrich one's life through genuine relationships within a smaller and more personal social arrangement; one centered on religious faith and communal existence. The juxtaposition between these two socio-economic systems, one based on crass self-interest, and the other built on bartering and shared beliefs, provides the reader with a picture of two dramatically different ways of life.
Philosophic in nature, In Dog We Trust describes the potential pitfalls and catastrophic consequences of placing one's faith in something as ephemeral as money. Written in journal form, as each subsequent journal entry brings us closer to the narrator's present place and time, John Rimshas dissects the nature of American capitalism; while demonstrating how our dependence on money can become an addiction as destructive as any other drug habit. Couched in the context of a profound, and often comical, experimental novel, it is a timely work that provides the reader with a literary means of analyzing both the nation's recent economic crisis and the human heart.
Christopher Ackerman
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