Walt uses a lot of religious language and imagery too. Where does it come from?
What interests me about American language, the language of the people, is that it’s very crude, very lively, very inventive. But at the same time, there’s a Biblical component to it, especially the Bible in the King James version, which is undoubtedly the most read book in American history, as well as the book that has been most listened to. For many people, especially people of earlier generations, it was the only literature they knew. So there’s an astonishing combination in the American vernacular of what you might call the high and the low. Walt’s speech is a perfect example of that. Isn’t Walt searching for some sort of truth? No more or less than anyone else. We’re all looking for the truth, aren’t we? Something to believe in, something solid to stand on. You can read this book in many different ways, and I don’t think that one reading is more valid than another. They all coexist. You can look at it as a parable of childhood, but you can also look at it as a piece of American his
