It's hard to get through either Sleepwalk or Jimmy Corrigan without noticing the overbearing tone of sadness. This sadness however is represented as reality and that seems fair. Throughout Corrigan I questioned why Jimmy was depicted as having such a child-like relationship with his mother? I think Chris Ware was simply trying to depict the true psychology of the modern family. The overbearing mother seems to be the result of a lacking father in Jimmy's life. Why then is Jimmy's father presented for only a short while before being taken out of the picture and replaced by the grandfather and his story? It seems that Ware was trying to show the progression of the patriarchal relationships throughout the Corrigan family history.
Sleepwalk presents individuals rather than families, but the depravity of everyday life remains. At first I wondered why Tomine would present each story as being so darkly unhappy. It seems that Tomine is challenging us to analyze what we would rather not in order to better understand the way we handle bad days. I couldn't help but feel that some of the characters in the story were abnormally strange, but given the abnormalities of everyday life it doesn't seem so strange. I also wondered what the significance of using Sleepwalk as the title story was. Out of the entire book Sleepwalk was the story that was most memorable and it seems that Tomine simply chose it as the title story as a way to set the tone.
Tone is one of the most important aspects of these stories. The illustrations in Sleepwalk set that tone with use of black and white drawings and downcast figures. The complexity of panel formations in Jimmy Corrigan is an interesting concept. Why would Ware use such complex formations and how does it effect the reading of the novel? Ware does what every writer attempts when creating a work. He forces the reader to read closely without losing interest. Corrigan, too, is a dreary story but is composed of such vibrant colors. Why would he choose such vibrant colors for such glum prospects? It seems that throughout the novel Ware is using irony to portray thejuxtaposition of day to day living in modern life with the absurdities of those same things.
1 comment:
i felt that, though all of the stories were definitely grim, they almost all offered an opportunity at happiness. there is never total defeat. i certainly agree with the darkness you saw.
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