Breaking Bad’s Walter White: a reluctant man at sea

The painting pictured above was shown a couple of times in this episode of Breaking Bad, as Walter stared at it in his hospital room. I chose to put it here because it really spells out the theme for this show, at least from Walter’s point of view. Like a seaman of centuries past, he is a man who is engaging in a perilous profession that is separating himself from his family in a way that’s impossible to avoid, the ultimate purpose being to provide for them. He might come back with the earnings of the wealthy, or with some scraps of lint and enough coins to buy a week’s supper, or as a final spoken word from a shipmate’s tale of his demise.

In any case, the risk is worth what the man considers reward: the well-being of his family. As for their happiness? That’s unfortunately up to them to find for themselves, because it’s not going to be from him.

One thing that men of the sea have that Walter does not is the love for where they are and what carries them; namely, the sea and a ship. Walter obviously does not like or admire what he has had to resort to in order to provide for his family, though he does it anyway. He figures out the math for how much longer he has to endure cooking meth and working with low-life (though seemingly redeemable) Jesse, because he doesn’t want to do this “job” for one minute longer than he has to. As long as he can finish it all before his cancer completely overtakes him, in his eyes, he’s done his duty for his family.

So far he’s seeing that his life of crime is coming at a greater cost than he had anticipated, as he continues to have to find ways to distance himself and lie to his family. Walter may have given up on his chances for a healthy, long life, but he’s going to start seeing that what he’s doing for his family won’t mean anything to anyone but himself, if the people benefiting from it don’t even know who the person who provided it really is anymore.

What happens when Walter dies and the family has a load of unanswered-for cash to spend on what Walter hopes will be the home, college and their well-being? Would Skyler use it without a thought as to where it came from, especially with someone in law enforcement in the family? I don’t peg Skyler for that kind of person, and it’s especially true when, as I said, Walter is becoming unknown to her.

Walter and Jesse deserve awards for how well they were able to act to family and the law. How long can two people like this carry on with lies like that and still be able to live with themselves once they consider themselves “done” with what they’re doing? That is, if they survive long enough to live with themselves. Jesse can return to getting high. Maybe, eventually, Walter will join him.

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Mar 23, 2009 @ 17:00 EST5EDT