“God hates a coward”

“God hates a coward” is a recurring expression in Jim Gardener’s story, used to turn hesitation into a dare. In Boston it helps propel him from an uneasy drink toward a binge, and later becomes a line he performs before an audience; its bravado sits uneasily beside the consequences of his drinking and the personal history he cannot escape.

The Expression as a Dare

Gard wakes on June 26 wanting to drink, while Bobbi Anderson wants to dig. Though he knows the distinction between drinking and not drinking is stark, he has long periods when alcohol seems unthreatening: he attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, identifies himself as an alcoholic, yet can also imagine a few drinks as manageable. That uneasy self-assessment frames the Boston episode, where a lapse in restraint begins with a choice that feels smaller than it becomes.

Ron Cummings invites Gard to drink, then suggests finding more exciting entertainment. When Ron hesitates about whether his heart can take it, Gard finishes the thought with “God hates a coward.” The phrase converts doubt into a shared joke and a spur to action. Ron responds with laughter, signs the bar tab, and the two set off together; the apparent lightness of the exchange masks the risk already gathering around Gard’s decision to drink.

Repetition and Performance

Gard repeats the phrase as he commits to the outing, telling Ron, “God hates a coward,” and asking him to hail a cab. The recurrence makes the line more than a one-time punchline: it is a ready-made justification for pressing onward when caution might have interrupted the sequence. Its comic confidence contrasts with the seriousness of Gard’s dependence on alcohol and with the harm his past drinking has caused.

Later, during a poetry reading, Gard announces that he will read a long poem from his first book, Grimoire. He winks toward Patricia McCardle and again invokes the phrase, drawing laughter from Ron and the audience. This time the expression operates as stagecraft, turning a tense moment with Patricia into a joke shared with the room. The scene also carries a warning: the laughter does not erase her anger or the possibility that she will remember the exchange.

The Cost Behind the Bravado

The Boston binge lasts eight days, ending on the breakwater at Arcadia Beach. Gard’s later account recalls the Famous Thanksgiving Jag of 1980, which ended his teaching career and marriage and came close to ending Nora’s life. That history gives the phrase a darker edge: the courage it celebrates is not simply the courage to face danger, but can serve as a way to override restraint while avoiding the consequences of earlier choices.

After the binge, Gard experiences a profound depression and thinks he should have died. The thought is followed by an urgent recognition that Bobbi is in trouble, though he doubts his ability to help her. Later, he feels a measure of physical and mental renewal after a night in Bobbi’s rocking chair, and reflects that he can sometimes feel regenerated after a stretch without alcohol. The line’s recurring bravado therefore coexists with a less theatrical struggle: relapse, shame, and the possibility of recovery do not resolve into a simple moral lesson.

Narrative Significance

The expression’s meaning changes with its setting. In the hotel bar it helps make a dangerous choice sound amusing and mutual; at the poetry reading it becomes a device for commanding a room and needling Patricia. In both instances, humor and performance give Gard a way to move through discomfort, but they do not control what follows. Set against his drinking history and its consequences, “God hates a coward” becomes an ironic refrain: a slogan for pushing forward that can conceal the difference between courage and self-destructive momentum.