[4][5][6] Silences A middle-class couple, Bill Whitman and his wife Elaine, invite a few suburbanite pairs and singles to a dinner party at their home.
[7] Accomplices Bill recalls a dinner that he and Elaine attended years before at the home of his former ad agency boss Miller Thomas and his wife Francesca.
Miller removes an expensive painting by Marsden Hartley from the wall, and in a gratuitous demonstration of his right to dispose of his own property, thrusts the artwork into the fireplace where it burns to ashes.
[8] Ad Man Whitman, a former New York City producer of TV commercials, now writes brochures for resorts in San Diego.
His personal secretary, Shylene, attempts to raise his spirits by accompanying Whitman to a company event where he is presented with an award for an animated commercial.
Whitman recalls Fido's improbable encounter with the 22-year–old Caesarina, through the chance discovery of her recently deceased husband's cell phone, which the spouse lost in a fatal car crash.
Whitman delights in observing the denizens of the night, In a tavern he has a strange and moving encounter with a weeping woman who informs him "I am a prisoner here.
"[16] Whit The nearly sixty-three year old Whitman reports with satisfaction the most notable advertising creation of his career, a highly effective 30-second animation depicting a bear and a rabbit promoting a banking chain.
The story appears as the title piece in Johnson's posthumously released volume of short fiction The Largesse of the Sea Maiden (2018).
[24] Critic Gavin Corbett emphasizes the significance of Johnson's placement of "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" in the volume: "This is the first story in the book and, thematically, the keynote.
[26] J. Robert Lennon also recognizes the change in outlook that "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" signals: These vignettes set the tone for the longer stories to come; they invite the reader to observe without judgment extremes of personality and behavior.
There is also the gentleness of the adman's narration, which carries over into the rest of the [collection of stories]; the mature Johnson, while still preoccupied with characters downtrodden, marginalized, angry, and insane, has come to view them with a greater sense of compassion.
[27]Critic Kevin Zambrano issues this caveat: "If a Jesus’ Son fan picks up The Largesse of the Sea Maiden looking for more of the same, [the title story] will thwart that expectation, both in its cobbled form and morose content.