White Vs. Epileptic
What is the significance of Jean-Christophe's hunger for power?
Epileptic is the story of a boy dealing with his older brother's sickness, which is epilepsy. Although we see Pierre ( the author and main character) and his struggles, we also see the struggles of his brother Jean-Christophe as he copes with his disease. It's tragic for Jean-Christophe mainly because he sees it as a weakness. He fantasizes about power by imagining himself to be Hitler and leader of the Nazi army. Jean-Christophe is by no means anti-semetic, he just uses it as an escape from his reality that he sees as weakness. David B. plays with the pictures by overemphasizing the leader. Jean-Christophe ( assuming it is him) is seen in all pictures as the center or twice the size. In Egyptian pictures, it is noted that people of power are pictured significantly larger than the servants to depict their power. David salutes Egyptian mythology by placing Anubis, the Egytian God of the death realm, in the comic.
What is the significance of of Daved B's depiction of Jean-Christophe's fantasy.
Hayden White says this about humanity
"Far from being a problem, then, narrative might well be considered a solution to a problem of general human concern, namely, the problem of how to translate knowing into telling"
David B uses the illustration to tell what he knows about his brother: Jean-Christophe despises weakness. We get a glimpse of the present in the beginning of the book as we see Jean-Christophe as bloated, scarred, and slightly disfigured. Through out the book Jean-Christophe leads a destructive and fantasy filled lifestyle. At one point David B., in the form of Pierre, tells Jean-Christophe that he has become more careless; this is after Jean-Christophe walks in front of a car. It seems as if Jean-Christophe trys to fight hard and deny his reality but deep down knows it's inevitable and that he will have to face it. The Jean-Christophe of current day we see is the one who accepts his destiny. Just like Hayden says, David B uses this narration to tell us Jean-Christophe's struggle to cope and accept his fate
I liked the particular art you talked about in this blog, although I hadn't realized the perspective of Jean-Christophe being so much larger. I t was cool how you compared it to Egyptian art. I had forgot that the gods and such were depicted as being larger.
ReplyDeleteI think your bringing up the increased size of powerful figures in ancient Egyptian art is a great point! It provides additional meaning to the image you've chosen to accompany your post.
ReplyDeleteIn a side note, I don't know if Jean-Christophe so much accepts his fate and learns to cope as he merely accepts his self-inflicted misery as inevitable. But that's just my opinion.