In my continuing study of Raging Bull I came across the Wikipedia article on Jake Lamotta and a bit of narrative brilliance. This is the “Early Life” section of the article:

“LaMotta was born in New York City, specifically the Toodles McGee section of The Bronx, near the Pelham Parkway and Morris Park area. He was forced by his father into fighting other children to entertain neighborhood adults, who threw pocket change into the ring. Jake’s father collected the money and used it to help pay rent.

In 1941, at the age of 19, LaMotta turned pro.”

Here, in four sentences, we have a fully established character and narrative line. These two images, with nothing unnecessary in between, create a powerful effect. We feel intense sympathy for Lamotta, brutalized by his father, followed by the immediate and understandable result of these actions.

People say rewriting is removing everything inessential to the story. Lamotta’s story is the story of a boxer. His adolescence, his first girlfriend, what comic books he read are irrelevant to our understanding of his story. A discussion of them would only cheapen it.

Looking at these lines I was reminded of another great omission in the history of narrative. The bible omits eighteen years of the life of Jesus Christ, including his entire adolescence and young adulthood. We see him as a young child, then as a fully grown adult. In the lost years of Jesus section in Wikipedia this period is described as follows:

“There is an account of the visit of the Magi who came to worship the holy child (Matthew 2:1-12), and the subsequent flight into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod (Matthew 2:13-23). There is a general reference to the settlement of Joseph and Mary, along with the young Jesus, at Nazareth (Matthew 2:23; Lk. 2:39-40). There also is that isolated account of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus’ visit to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, when Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41-50).

Following that episode, however, there is a blank space in the record that covers eighteen years in the life of Christ. Other than the generic allusion that Jesus advanced in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), nothing is known of this time span.”

One would argue, in light of the profound effect that this story has had on humanity, that part of its power comes from the omission of those eighteen years. Through the absence of adolescence, a time of weakness, upheaval and confusion, Christ becomes godlike. Jesus with pimples cheapens Jesus on the cross. It is unneccessary and damaging to the narrative to discuss Christ’s adolescence, just like telling us Jake Lamotta’s favorite toy as a child would be. What is in essence a narrative jump cut has a profound effect on our understanding of the meaning of Christ’s  life and character, just as it does with Jake Lamotta.