During the snowstorm when Jimmy visits his classmates he finds what he least expected. He finds a family ready to embrace him and appreciate him. While at his classmates house there is one frame on the bottom left corner of the page where Jimmy points out how he was raised to be "quiet and fearful before his elders," but in his friend house he has quickly forgotten this and was able to escape with his friends and "shriek like animals."
In this picture you can see Jimmy thoroughly engaging with his friends and appears to be truly enjoying himself. It is obvious that this situation is preferrable to the one at his own home. The picture seem to show all of Jimmy's friends enjoying his company as well. This is very different than the previous scenes in his school where he had been sitting all alone looking solemn and sad. It seems as if the author is trying to create a place where Jimmy can escape, his friends fathers workshop. He says the "bemused face he was used to hiding behind every day of his life melted away" when he was in this shop.
The picture in the bottom left corner of the shop, door closed, laughing children and a father figure in my opinion optimizes everything Jimmy misses in his own home. As the scene progresses, in the middle frame on the next page, Jimmy says he "began to fantasize...he shared more in common with him(his friends father) than his own son." In this picture you see Jimmy sitting, working with his friends father while his friends sit on the other side of the table looking somewhat confused. It is almost as if once he was accepted with his friends he took the first opportunity to move past them. I is not friends that Jimmy wants, it is a Father. He is as quick to leave his friends as he his to make them. In this picture, his one friend, on the left looks particularly confused. His eyebrows are raised almost to say 'why is he getting so much attention?'
Next, as the scene progresses further. Jimmy is given the seat of honor next to his friends father. Presumably this is usually his friends seat that Jimmy has now moved in on. Another example of Jimmy stepping away from his friends toward his fantacy Father. However, Jimmy's real father is not far behind to enter and ruin Jimmy's moment with a new family.
3 comments:
You do a good job picking a scene that tells a lot about Jimmy’s grandfather’s character as a boy. You explain what’s going on here pretty well, focusing in on the father figure that he is currently lacking and clearly longing for. You could even try going a little bit deeper into your analysis of these frames. For example, do the details of the house or the Italian boy’s family play a role in the meaning? Or you could discuss the symbol of the horse, which appears a lot throughout the book.
I think the most interesting part of your essay is when you start discussing Jimmy leaving his friends, for example “It is not friends that Jimmy wants, it is a Father. He is as quick to leave his friends as he is to make them.” Maybe you could even bring in a short discussion of what this means in relationship to what happens later, when the friends mock him when his horse comes out looking terrible. Or how does this all fit in to the brief appearance of the Italian father during the Exposition?
You do explain the scene, but I’m not sure if you really examine what it means in regards to the big picture and how we’re supposed to understand the book as a whole or part of it. Perhaps you can touch more on how father figures are viewed throughout the entire book?
During the snowstorm when Jimmy's Grandfather, Jimmy visits his classmates he finds what he least expected. He finds a family ready to embrace him and appreciate him. While at his classmates house there is one frame on the bottom left corner of the page where Jimmy points out how he was raised to be "quiet and fearful before his elders," but in his friend house he has quickly forgotten this and was able to escape with his friends and "shriek like animals."
In this picture you can see Jimmy thoroughly engaging with his friends and appears to be truly enjoying himself. It is obvious that this situation is preferable to the one at his own home. The picture seem to show all of Jimmy's friends enjoying his company as well. This is very different than the previous scenes in his school where he had been sitting all alone looking solemn and sad. It seems as if the author is trying to create a place where Jimmy can escape, his friends fathers workshop. He says the "bemused face he was used to hiding behind every day of his life melted away" when he was in this shop.
The picture in the bottom left corner of the shop, door closed, laughing children and a father figure in my opinion optimizes everything Jimmy misses in his own home. As the scene progresses, in the middle frame on the next page, Jimmy says he "began to fantasize...he shared more in common with him(his friends father) than his own son." In this picture you see Jimmy sitting, working with his friends father while his friends sit on the other side of the table looking somewhat confused. It is almost as if once he was accepted with his friends he took the first opportunity to move past them. It is not friends that Jimmy wants, it is a Father. He is as quick to leave his friends as he his to make them. Maybe this is part of the reason his friends turn on him when his sculpture does not come out as perfect as he expected. In this picture, his one friend, on the left looks particularly confused. His eyebrows are raised almost to say 'why is he getting so much attention?'
Next, as the scene progresses further. Jimmy is given the seat of honor next to his friends father. Presumably this is usually his friends seat that Jimmy has now moved in on. Another example of Jimmy stepping away from his friends toward his fantasy Father. However, Jimmy's real father is not far behind to enter and ruin Jimmy's moment with a new family.
Heather - some great questions, although maybe a little short on your own ultimate views.
Scott - This walks a fine line between analysis and plot summary; the fact that Jimmy's grandfather practically narrates some of these ideas to us comes very close to pushing it over the brink. You do have an argument here - that Jimmy really needs a father - but in some ways, at least, this is obvious. Some of the suggestions Heather brings up - re: how you could push your analysis farther through the details of specific images - would have helped you to move into less obvious territory.
One thing which I found very strange was that you didn't address the fact that Jimmy's grandfather is narrating these events and feelings from something like an eighty year distance. How should this effect our understanding of the material? You might have also incorporated the appearances of both the Italian father and son later in the book...
Overall, this is too simple, in several ways.
Post a Comment