For your homework, finish reading Jimmy Corrigan. Then go to the following link and read the Chris Ware interview:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/tintinandi/sfartists_ware.php
Once you've finished reading those two items, go back to Post #9 and read what your peers wrote about themes. Choose one theme that someone raised. Based on what you see in the book as a whole, what do you think Chris Ware was trying to say about that particular theme? Provide 1-2 specific examples from the book to support your response. (Examples can be analysis of how certain strategies are used, specific elements of the plot, etc.)
Reminder: Don't worry about the Lolita and Persepolis excerpts until next week.
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Taking into consideration the theme of isolation, I think Ware is trying to point out how awkward and unnatural relationships or encounters can be when someone feels isolated and has a hard time relating to others. For example, when Jimmy's in the doctors office his reactions to normal doctor visit stuff are out of place. A lot of his facial expressions seem to convey a feeling of disbelief and worry. On page 126 in the center there's a picture of Jimmy and it makes me think of a little kid day dreaming that the doctor is going to pull out this huge needle and the kids freaking out cause needles are lame. So, jimmy who is 36 is acting like a kid - still learning how people usually act and what they do in certain situations.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the theme regarding the long term effects of abusive relationships, I think Chris Ware attempts to show this particular theme by the repetition of Jimmy's, as well as his predecesors, low self-esteem and social ineptness. He does this constantly whenever Jimmy is introduced to another character in the comic or when he is faced with a problematic situation; he cannot function and when Ware shows the reader that ALL of his predecesors are like this as well, he establishes the connection between repetitive abusiveness and the effects that it can cause in the offspring of someone who behaves this way. I think Ware wants to make an important but simple point that a person cannot function like this, therefore should not be raised this way. An example of these effects of repetitive abusive nature is on page 261-263 when Jimmy's grandfather is sitting with his great grandfather. His grandfather just cannot behave like a normal 8 year old should because of his dad''s constant, brutal abuse. Another example is on page 298 when Jimmy first meets Amy. Maybe he didn't get physically abused by his father, but he did suffer the abuse of him not being there for him for over 30 years and because of this lack of paternal guiding, he cannot function right in the real world. Ware makes this clear for the reader in order to really show the harmful effects of abuse.
ReplyDeleteSo the overall theme adresses the tragedy failure in the home. Through this not only Jimmy suffered but also his mother and grandfather. Jimmy in the terms of isolation and extremely low self esteem. His mother in the terms of having Jimmy's father leave her (that is bound to leave scars). And his grandfather in the terms of abuse he faced as a child.
ReplyDeleteWare exploited this through the events when Jimmy gets a letter from unknown father that has never paied attention to him for 36 years. With this absence Jimmy has obviosuly missed those developmental stages that boys need experience with a male figure head.A mother simply isn't enough. Also his mother speaks down on him and this also puts a form of isolation that he is not good enough and incapable. He himself cannot bring himself to move outside his comfort zone of his fantasies and thus is isolated by his mind and reality. This whole failure in the home has cuased Jimmy to become one pathetic an weak human being. True no family is perfect, but from this graphic novel the reader can see that family is key to learn and grow in life. JImmy didn't have that.
By looking at what other people in the class said about theme and reading the interview, I noticed that Ware's theme was very personal to his own life. As he says, he likes to create characters that he can "'fall in love with' and somehow feel something deeply about." He is able to do this by making the character have major flaws. A character that is normal might not be as easy to fall in love with as one with serious social problems and family issues, such as Jimmy. The theme that Ware tries to layout in the book is one that strongly relates to family and how the absence of parents can really affect someone; it can cause them to be emotionally impaired and unsocial. An example of this theme in the book could be Jimmy's inability to talk to girls (or anyone for that matter) and his demented dreams/thoughts.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on the book I would have to say the overall theme is the effects of bad parenting on a child. I think that because the theme is as mentioned, that Ware is trying to tell us what his life was like growing up. He went 36 years without a father, his dad with an abusive father, his grandfather with an absent father, and great grandfather with an abusive father. But not just the men in the family, also the Jimmy’s mom in this story. She was way too controlling and over protecting. Because there has been such bad parenting in this story it totally effects Jimmy in the worst way possible. The guy can’t even talk to his adoptive sister (pg. 326ish). He can never speak his mind, and he’s a freak. So the theme that I think Chris Ware is trying to have conveyed is very straight forward.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most prevalent themes was the impact of weak family relationships. Ware is trying to show without strong family bonds, the individual will have problems of there own.These family problems do not just end with that individual, they continue on for generations. Jimmy Corrigan ends up being an anti social person who can hardly communicate with his sister as well as other individuals. He has low self esteem and does not say what he feels. Also James Reed has trouble with his own peers like the girl because of his abusive father. James Reed hits the girl in one of the scenes because of the impact of his own abuse.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the rest of my classmates opinions on the overall theme, I noticed the negative effects of bad family relationships coming up a lot. This is entirely true throughout the story. Jimmy does not have a single normal relationship with anyone in the story. He is awkward, antisocial, and meek around everyone. This occurs due to his father's absence and his mother's overbearing attitude towards Jimmy. James Reed is very similar in which he has a horrible relationship with his father. He is constantly abused, which causes him to not stand up for himself unless it's to a woman. His mother was never there which could also be an underlying factor in his inability to communicate with the outside world
ReplyDeleteI want to talk about the theme of self-expression. Throughout the book, Ware explores how each character chooses to express themselves and their feelings. Whether it be by abuse, by fear, by silence, by kindness, or by any other form of communication, each character has a different personality and a different way of showing it. Jimmy' form of self- expression is within himself...and that is him imagining that he is superman. Jimmy's dad expressed himself through abuse and his way of treating and talking about women. Jimmy also expressed himself through his emotional crying and inability to communicate. Jimmy's mother expressed herself through her overprotection of Jimmy and so on. Self-expression are the actions that made family relationships so bad.
ReplyDeleteBased on the book as a whole, I think Ware was trying to illustrate the melancholy of isolation. Ware achieves this through hiding the faces of the less important character. The crutches that Jimmy use throughout the novel also give a sense of a barrier between him and emotional connections with other various characters. Through the traumatic childhood Jimmy endured, he still retains a childish nature in socializing as his train of thought is greatly sporadic (as seen in pages 333 and 335). Jimmy's character is somewhat built up by the end of the novel through Amy's acceptance of him as family but then is abruptly shattered back to his normal sense once they find out that their dad has died. In the final page Amy is shown alone just as Jimmy has been regardless of her working the Thanksgiving shift at the hospital.
ReplyDeleteI chose the theme of father-son relationships and how the childhood experiences of a person directly influence his personality and sense of parenthood in the future. I think that Chris Ware was trying to show the huge impact of how our parents raise us and its positive or negative effects in our lives. It molds the way we shall treat our own children in the future. I think that he's trying to tell his readers that the love and or abuse that we show our children can and will carry out to the next generations. In the book, the abuse that James Reed experienced growing up was clearly shown in the scenes with his dad (on pages 244, 259, etc.). They had no real relationship, and he had no mother to comfort him. This caused him to be an antisocial and a fearful kid who always worried about being scolded by his father. In Jimmy's case, we see how he has grown to be so passive and introverted, and that is because he had no father to build up his sense of self, and his mother often imposed on him (page 4, 14, etc.). Here we see the negative effect of how James Reed was raised and how that was, in a way, passed on to Jimmy who grew up without a father.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing up Jimmy Corrigan, reading the Ware article and going over the past blog, I came to the conclusion that the main theme in the book is the sense of belonging. We see Jimmy break down in the very last section by saying that he just wants people to like him. For the first time we see Jimmy really speak his emotions and feelings. All he wants in the world is for someone to talk to him, and be his friend. No one offers him that. We see people like Peggy, who complain about him whenever he is around. His own father neglected him for his whole life, showing that not even his dad wanted to be associated with him. But, there is a glimmer of hope for Jimmy and his want to be accepted by someone. It comes at the very end of the book, when he meets a new employee that sits next to him at work. She is very talkative, a nice compliment to Jimmy, and she seems to have gone through the same experiences as him and has a liking towards him.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the previous blog response on Jimmy Corrigan, I think Chris Ware theme is isolation pg 159, abuse pg 244,and
ReplyDeletemisconceptions. Chris shows this by domino
effect of the different generations in Jimmy Corrigan, his father,Grandfather, great grandfather, and mom. I think that it started with his great grandfather
because he was treated poorly it reflected on how he treated James. It passes on to further generations, eventually reaching Jimmys
generation. Then it also shows how Jimmy’s father left his mother, and this could be because his father left him, and he has issues with commitment, and all this is reflected on Jimmy because of his poor childhood he is often alone, depressed, and very pessimistic. Even at the end he is shown weeping over the death of his dad, once again ALONE.
Throughout the book and the blog responses, we've noted the immense trail of emotional/ physical abuse passed down generation-generation, with the Corrigan men and even Jimmy's mom. If it weren't for p325-340 where Jimmy is shown a box filled with pictures and all the happy memories of his adopted sisters relationship with his father. This would further traumatize Jimmy in ways that show his dad may have been a great dad, but Jimmy never got this experience, due to his dad abandoning Jimmy's growing up, and only just recently, after 36years, finding out about how life could've been, through the childhood photos of his adopted sister. We would've probably felt the Corrigan men had no chance of changing their abusive/neglected ways. We seen now how Jimmy's dad actual was a great dad and Jimmy is seen believing he too may have a chance at better relationships, if given a chance to present itself. At the closing of this book, we see just that, a young talkative lady, introduces herself to Jimmy at his/her new job. She appears to be able to associate with others better then Jimmy, yet after talking to each other, they seem to have lots in common. This should be a wonderful new chapter to the rest of Jimmy's life. Hopefully Jimmy won't ruin it with any abusive/neglected behaviors that he's been involved with his whole life prior to this. Good luck Jimmy Corrigan.
ReplyDeletefrom looking at the previous blog, i think that Wares theme was failure in the household. I think that he was trying to say that failure in the household can greatly affect an individual and how they turn out as a person and how they respond and act around others. For example, chris ware uses the strategy of using every generation of the corrigan family as a family failure, ultimately leading to the way jimmy corrigan is. jimmy is antisocial, wierd and lifeless
ReplyDeleteI still believe one of Ware's main themes was neglect, and physical/physical abuses effect on people. Jimmy has always been neglected through out his whole life, and is constantly enduring some form of abuse, either from his dad or people like Peggy. This type of abuse just wears Jimmy down, and really effects his social skills. When introduced to new people, or even situations he is extremely awkward, and not sure how to act. He can never hold a full conversation, and for the majority of the book all he says is "hmm" or "hah." He never has any real friends, or in that case any real relationships as well. Its just easy to see how abuse and neglect can really effect a person negatively through jimmy.
ReplyDeleteI think that Ware is trying say that the theme of this novel is that the lack of a strong united family, where the mom, dad, and children are together, serves to undermine the correct development of the individuals. This theme seems to be prevalent in the many responses in blog nine as well. Jimmy's Corrigan facial expression through out the entire novel shows how his broken up family has shaped his anti-social behaviors. At the end of the story when Jimmy's dad dies, the already broken up family is now in true shambles as Jimmy can't comfort his sister and runs off. The lack of a strong unity in the family is the underlying problem that develops all other problems in the story.
ReplyDeleteBad father-son relationships leave their mark during childhood. James' relationship with his abusive father left him scarred, even though his father abandoned him afterwards. James remained a cynical and bitter person his entire life.
ReplyDeleteJimmy did not grow up with his father. An absence of his father led to his mother engulfing him and resulted in Jimmy's social awkwardness. Even though he met his father later on, Jimmy did not change. His childhood experience left him a permanently antisocial.
It seemed as though Jimmy's grandfather knew the futility of seeking jimmy. On page 336, James says "I told him not to call you ...I told him it was too late." JImmy and James are parallel characters, but James has enough life experience to realize it would be pointless for Jimmy.
I think Chris Ware is trying to explore the effect on childhood abuse.I read from the previous blogs, that the abuse was done by poor communication. Throughout the book you have a dominating figure and the generations of the corrigans show the passive behavior they tend to fall to because they don't know how communicate properly. Chris explores this by showing us the characters fantasies in replacement to them actually sticking up for themselves. Jimmy has no real sense of how to communicate properly because his past generations were the same way.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the theme of isolation and loneliness, Chris Ware utilizes Jimmy Corrigan and Co.'s intertwining life stories to illustrate the importance of human connection. Jimmy's loneliness is highlighted in the backdrop of the strained relationships between his family members. Abuse cascading down the Corrigan family line, leading to James William's leave and thus Jimmy's isolation, shows Jimmy's lack of development as the result of a cruddy emotional foundation that a present father would've remedied. His emotive lack and ignorance to his surroundings helps none. This is contrasted with Amy, who grew up fine with a more responsible James William, though she's shown to break when he died, showing that Jimmy is not unique as a human. Anyone could break should their foundation flounder. Through these relationships, Chris teaches the power of family and friends, and their context in our lives, and how finally how lucky most of us are to be connected.
ReplyDeleteThe theme in which i found interesting through my peers' papers is abuse. In his interview, Ware said," My single goal is to create people with whom, for better or for worse (and regardless of how embarrassing it sounds) I can "fall in love" and somehow feel something deeply about, and through." That statement basically means he enjoys writing about a character he can relate to.
ReplyDeleteSo, if Ware likes writing about relative topics to his own life, i would imagine that he himself was abused as a child, which is why he reflects upon this idea as an adult through his comics.
One theme that many people raised was the importance of social adeptness, rather than the ineptitude often shown by the characters. In the case of Jimmy Corrigan and James Reed Corrigan, their inability to communicate their feelings in a socially acceptable manner results in their alienation and even hatred by the rest of society. When James Reed was unable to express his sadness and lonliness, he instead struck out in a violent way, which resulted in his further alienation at school. When Jimmy was incapable of asking the mail woman on a date, he instead retreated into the comfort of his mind and his fantasies, which in the real world translated to him standing in front of the mail woman for a prolonged period of time, looking like a creepy idiot.
ReplyDeleteThere were several interpretations of birds found in Jimmy Corrigan. Chris Ware leaves clues and symbols throughout the book to remind the reader of various transitions and I agree with Patrick and Nathaniel that the bird is one such symbol. The bird(s) are included in scenes striking for their lack of action A bird is first shown of page 6 interspersed between panels of different buildings. On closer inspection, one may infer that it's the same building at different points in time. From pages 104 through 107 the bird is also shown, here in the midst of a war zone. Despite the minute and momentous changes occurring around the bird it doesn't change. I believe the bird is the symbol of the unchanging nature of some things despite the events that they may witness.
ReplyDeleteThe bird is also shown to play a more direct part in the story. On pages 134 through 136, Jimmy Corrigan imagines himself to be the bird soaring above all unaffected by the scenes beneath. However, on this one occasion, the bird crashes into a window. This event implies that Jimmy Corrigan can't escape the history o his life and, despite his best efforts, he'll be affected by them.