Communion is Everything (Literally)

              Before reading chapter 2 of this book, I had never noticed just how symbolic and meaningful meals were. I knew of course, that eating together is a way of unifying and uniting people, but Foster also brought up some of the more implicit meanings that a meal can hold. For example, Foster’s description of someone not wanting to eat with another person, or someone even trying to kill the person they’re eating with are both circumstances that bear a lot of significance. Both situations show resentment that is extremely deep rooted, and reveal a lot about the sentiments between the people in either case. Refusal to eat with another person shows not only the magnitude of antipathy for another person, but even reveals a quality of honesty in the person doing the refusing, although rather harsh in nature. On the other hand, an attempt to kill another person at a meal by poisoning or similar means reveals the deceitful and manipulative qualities of the person committing the murder; at some point the attempted murderer had to fake kindness to some degree to get their victim to eat with them, instilling a false sense of trust in them. Having said this, behavior at meals gives a great deal of insight into our values and our character. If a person is, for instances, very mannered at the table, putting a napkin in their lap and refraining from putting their elbows on the table, it can be told that they value respect and propriety. It can also be told that they probably do not like people who are loud or rude. The preparation of the meal also gives insight to personality. If a person spends all day cooking a meal themselves, then a hospitable and caring quality can be seen in them. In addition, such diligent preparation of the meal shows that she likely cares deeply for the people she is cooking for, seeing that she or he would likely not have gone to such great efforts to prepare a meal for guests who she harbors resentment for.

              Just as conduct at meals can reveal true personalities, the communion that is shared at meals can also break down bad sentiments between people. The communion in sharing a meal often shows reconciliation, another term inspired by religion, between those at the table. Many movies and TV shows even end with a shot of family or friends laughing and eating dinner together, despite any discord or argument in previous scenes. By this account, it is probably even safe to say that meals shared by loved ones also symbolize commitment and loyalty.

In foster’s description of James Joyce’s story, “The Dead”, in the last paragraph, he states that in death there is a sense of unity and therefore, life itself is a form of communion. In making this claim, it would seem that Foster invalidates all of his previous claims about communion, replacing those statements with the idea that everything we do is some form of communion simply because it involves living. Perhaps what he really means is that in the form of meal or even in the smoking of a marijuana joint, as Foster described in this chapter, is a symbol of the quality of life we all share. If the communion in sharing meals can be viewed as a symbol of life, then this can be related back to the communion received in church. The bread and the wine offered at each mass in church, the communion, represent the receiving of the blood and body of Jesus Christ, which symbolically give us life. In both cases, life is the unifying factor, joining people together to share in not just a meal, but the receiving of life.

(yes, the picture is the cast of Duck Dynasty eating dinner together)