Day Dreams

Something that stuck out to me from Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth was the way it allowed the reader into Jimmy’s head. Scenes in his life are often briefly interrupted to display the day dreams running through Jimmy’s head, always without warning and always with much detail. The reader is usually unaware that the graphic novel has strayed from reality until the daydream is over. Throughout the novel, Jimmy is fairly silent and apart from brief narration in cursive from time to time, so it is rather difficult to read him. This is precisely where the day dreams come in to give insight on Jimmy’s take on any situation.

Being as quiet as he is, it is not surprising that Jimmy has cultured a creative world within his own imagination to help him to perceive and process his world. His daydreams early in the novel feature a science fiction and fantasy theme. He sees a robot on an aircraft, surveying the world with its bright spotlight of an eye. The robot comes to symbolize himself as it answers to the name Jimmy and receives a crutch just like the one Jimmy uses for his foot injury. Jimmy uses this day dream to cope with how he sees himself as different from everyone else and feels like an outcast. His fantasy daydream portrays Jimmy as a father, confident and calm, recounting the story of his father’s rage over the stolen car, a moment he is currently living through. It is his feeble attempt to cope with seeing his father so angry, but the day dream quickly goes sour with Superman dropping the house with Jimmy and son included from a great height. Jimmy is left searching for his son’s body parts and is forced to smash his son’s suffering head with a cinder block. This possibly symbolizes Jimmy’s own fear of having children and being unable to be a good father to them just as his father wasn’t for him and his father before that.

The majority of Jimmy’s daydreams could be called disturbing as his daydream of his potential father ends in his brother being stabbed to pieces with a pitchfork for borrowing his father’s car. He daydreams of being forced to shoot his brother who is portrayed as a miniature horse. Jimmy daydreams of having intercourse with any females he meets, especially those who are friendly to him. These more disturbing daydreams are likely a result of his abandonment by his father as a child and his inability to connect with others as a result of this. Jimmy’s daydreams in Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth provide a great amount of insight into Jimmy’s character.

Jimmy Corrigan's Search for Superman

Throughout the novel, Superman is incorporated.  He is shown as the actual Superman, in Jimmy's fantasies when he himself is Superman, and also intertwined with other characters in the book.  He represents everything Jimmy is not, and is yet another fantasy in which Jimmy immerses himself in on a regular basis.  At the beginning of the novel, Jimmy witnesses the “real” Superman jump to his death off of a building.  This moment was crucial and I found it to symbolize a turning point in Jimmy’s life where he had to become his own hero and stop waiting on someone else to save him from the monotony of his existence.  Shortly after, Jimmy receives a letter from his father and that’s where his adventure (however dull it actually is) begins. 

 The page in the novel I chose included Superman in a way that I felt was profound and revealing.  It is the page on which Jimmy gets hit by the mailman’s truck in Michigan.  Jimmy is engaged in one of his fantasies when he wanders right out into the road, like a child.  He is laying in the road while the mailman repeatedly says “You okay, Buddy?”  Jimmy’s response is a blank stare as usual.  However, the first panel that shows Jimmy looking up at the mailman appears to be Superman’s face looking back down at him.  This is symbolic of Jimmy once again wishing his hero was here to come scoop him up and solve his problems.  I think that in Jimmy’s mind he can’t do anything right, and he feels that the only solution to his multitude of issues is a fantastical one.  His life is so mundane and ordinary, he can’t help but look for more theoretical but exciting ways to seek release and happiness. 

The next panel in the scene switches the image back to the mailman, whose face is partially obscured, which puts much less emphasis on him as a figure in Jimmy’s eyes.  As the scene continues, the mailman repeatedly asks if Jimmy is ok and Jimmy’s dad arrives on scene.  When Jimmy’s dad comes into view from Jimmy’s perspective, he is shown in almost complete shadow and he seems to drastically contrast the image of the Superman Jimmy was looking up at.  In this way Jimmy’s dad is shown as the disappointment he is to Jimmy.  He isn’t fulfilling any of Jimmy’s expectations and the whole trip so far has lacked any sort of bonding between the two Corrigan men.  I also found it noteworthy that although the mailman kept asking both Jimmy and his dad whether they knew each other, neither one acknowledged the nature of their relationship and Jimmy’s dad never actually offered any assistance to Jimmy.  Jimmy’s dad only responded with “He’s mine” while Jimmy remained silent.  This is yet another instance where we can see the connection between the two of them is not forming at all and both feel uncomfortable in their situation.  In fact, Jimmy’s dad finally answers the mailman’s question with what he considers to be a justifiable answer of “He’s mine! He’s wearing my pants!”  To me, this isn’t the exact phrase I would imagine my parent using to say I was their child.  I think this scene demonstrates just how abandoned Jimmy feels by his father and how disappointed he is that his dad isn’t the real life hero or role model he had hoped to find on this trip.   

Jimmy Corrigan: The Most Depressing Kid on Earth

The Adventures of Jimmy Corrigan is the first graphic novel that I have read. I went in to this experience with as open a mind as I could have, and have found myself enjoying the book more than I expected. One apprehension that I had before reading that has proved to be real, though, is that I can’t get passed the fact that Jimmy (1, 2, and 3) and all of the other characters in the book are cartoons. Maybe this is the same reason why I don’t enjoy animated movies, but I can’t easily make myself relate to animated people. I feel bad for Jimmy, but only to the extent that I would feel bad for Eeyore in the Winne the Pooh series- my subconscious cannot separate the fact that he is not real. I know that pretty much all of the characters in the books we have read thus far are also fictional, but the fact that colorful cartoon versions of them aren’t staring up at me on every page makes them more transcendent and relatable, in my opinion.

That being said, the page I picked is the one that evoked the most emotion out of me when reading, even if it was more fearful disgust than empathy. This page is the one that follows the dream Jimmy has about Superman picking up his house and dropping it on his imaginary child. We see this child, Billy, pegged into the ground, a conglomerate of limbs and body parts. Jimmy picks up Billy’s head and holds it close, as Billy tells him that he is in pain. Then, Jimmy sets Billy’s head on the ground and crushes it with a cinderblock.

This page perpetuates the theme of violence that seems to run through the novel, especially in Jimmy’s dream scenes. It has a series amount of shock value, but at the same time, an underlying current of sadness. We know from Jimmy’s less-than-shining social skills that he probably won’t ever marry and have children. This dream, however, lets us know that he would probably like to. He wishes to be a father and have meaningful relationships, but yet, he also dreams about smashing his own child’s head. This also is an example of Jimmy being his own worst enemy, another theme in the book. If he could seem to get out of his own way, maybe his life would be better. How will he ever do this though, if he keeps dreaming about things like smashing his child (or stabbing his father)?

Ware does a good job of making readers think that Jimmy is a weirdo, this page being a prime example. Every time a sliver of hope reveals itself (maybe Jimmy has the capacity to be a loving father despite is own paternal relationship!), Ware, most literally, crushes it.

“It’s okay Billy it’s okay they’ll fix it they’ll fix it just like it was,” Jimmy lovingly says, cradling his imaginary son’s decapitated head. Here, Ware makes readers think that he has the ability to have a loving human relationship. The last scene of that page, however, is Jimmy standing over the cinderblock, his sons head squashed underneath. One step forward and two steps back for Jimmy Corrigan.

The Corrigans and Women

It seems that every Corrigan talked about in this book has had issues with retaining an actual relationship with a woman. It starts off with James (Jimmy’s grandfather) who grows up without his mother. Many times throughout the book he wonders how different his life would have been if his mother had raised him, instead of his abusive father. James falls in love with an orange-haired girl, but he struggles to actually go up to her and tell that he loves her. Later on, he becomes heart broken when he she bullies him for making a disfigured horse. The absence of James’ mother also takes a massive toll on Jimmy’s great grandfather. Jimmy’s great grandfather knows he’s not fit to be a father (as he has trouble being a caring parent and taking care of simple household chores) and clearly shows his disgust with raising James throughout the novel. From what the reader can tell, Jimmy’s great grandfather never ends up remarrying and sleeps with prostitutes in their small apartment.

In addition, Jimmy’s father has had his own troubles with women. He talks about splitting up the Jimmy’s mom and sleeping with countless of women when he worked at the airport. Even to the day where Jimmy visits his father, he still objectifies women as sexual objects (ex. he checks out the cashier at the fast food restaurant). Not only has his troubles keeping a relationship impacted his life, but also his kids. Being a single dad without the qualities of a father causes Jimmy’s grandfather to not raise either of his children and forget about his son. When he does try to meet up with his son, one can clearly see that he has little to connect with and converse about.

Finally, Jimmy has his own problems with women. The only woman that is interested in him is his mother. She calls him every day and Jimmy has trouble keeping his life straight without her. When he leaves for a few days to visit his father and only calls his mother once, Jimmy constantly thinks about how worried his mother must be. She seems to be consuming his life and to the point where it irritates Jimmy. When it comes to talking to other women, Jimmy really struggles. Whenever a female is nice to him, he thinks of them sexually (ex. the nurse). The is probably due to the fact that he hasn’t ever had an actual girlfriend, so he doesn’t know what being in a relationship is actually about. The one girl he does love is Peggy; however, he’s never told her how he actually feels and she seems to dislike him.

Jimmy's Crutch

Ware's use of symbols is quite extensive and at times I feel that I am unable to truly grasp the underlying messages a particular page is attempting to convey. One of the symbols which is present throughout most of the book is Jimmy's crutch. After class on Monday I realized I couldn't remember why Jimmy needed the crutch in the first place. At the very beginning of the book Jimmy doesn't have a crutch and his foot isn't wrapped. Jimmy's foot injury first appears when he wakes up on the airplane (26). Jimmy appears to be faking his injury. When his dad asked him what happened to his foot he doesn't really give an answer and Jimmy is using the crutch on the wrong leg (34). After Jimmy is hit by the truck the doctor examines Jimmy's foot and nothing appears to be injured . The doctor said it is a minor sprain at the worst and doesn't even need to be wrapped (124). However, Jimmy uses the crutch and appears to have a foot injury throughout the rest of the novel. Something may or may not have happened to injure Jimmy's foot but by the middle of the novel it is apparent that he longer needs the crutch.

The injury serves as a symbol about Jimmy's psychological issues. His greatest fear is that people won't like him, but this fear causes Jimmy to act in a way that makes him unlikeable. He thinks that people don't care what he has to say and that everything is his fault. If Jimmy could simply get out of this mindset, he would be a lot more likeable. Much like Jimmy's foot injury, Jimmy's social problems are imaginary. Jimmy perceives the problem as himself, but this isn't actually true. The real problem is that Jimmy believes there is a problem, a mentality which Jimmy is never able to break free from.

The Importance of Family Lineage in the Manifestation of the Oedipal Complex

           Chris Ware’s graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth explores the importance of family lineage and how the failures of one generation are inherited by subsequent generations. The text links the importance of familial bonds to an individual’s development and well-being, and in doing so offers the quality of upbringing as an explanation towards why Jimmy exhibits an exacerbated, more manifest form of the Oedipus complex.

            The visual component of the graphic novel allows the presence of family lineage to be clearly communicated through the use of images, as each of the Corrigan men possess identical facial features. These common traits – such as their sunken eyes, round head, and plain features – clearly mark them as a Corrigan, and resurface through generations of the family. The most compelling example of this appearance occurs as Jimmy and his father meet for the first time. Characterized by beady blue eyes, vacant expressions, and identical outfits, the narrative presents each Corrigan in succeeding frames to highlight the similarities between the two men (37). In effect, this passage cements the importance of one’s origins and genealogy, and seems to offer an explanation of why Jimmy is who he is. Beyond the use of physical appearance to communicate the importance of lineage, the text uses issues of fatherhood and abandonment to explore the cyclical nature of family heritage and its impact on the next generation. Patterns of abuse and neglect resurface through each generation, as Jimmy’s great-grandfather is depicted abusing his grandfather through corporal punishment (159) and lying to him about returning home (268). Following these actions, the narrative explores the subsequent consequences of Jimmy’s grandfather’s upbringing, as Jimmy’s own father is also depicted as an absent and unlikeable man who was absent during Jimmy’s childhood (190). Through detailing the failure of two father-son relationships, the narrative communicates the important role of fatherhood and family lineage in shaping one’s development. The destructive effects of abandonment and neglect are exhibited in two identical scenes in the narrative, where Jimmy and his grandfather are each depicted lying in bed with their eyes wide open - anxious, isolated, and restless (57; 166). The explicit similarities between these two generations highlight how the behavior and mistakes of one generation have a cyclical effect on the subsequent generation, and demonstrate the integral role of family lineage and parenting on an individual’s development.

            Through emphasizing issues of family lineage and the inheritance of a prior generation’s mistakes, the narrative sheds light on why Jimmy exhibits a more manifest form of the Oedipus complex. Sigmund Freud argues the Oedipus complex is a universal urge present in all human beings, and the only difference is that psychoneurotics “are only distinguishable by exhibiting on a magnified scale feelings of love and hatred to their parents which occur less obviously and less intensely in the minds of most children” (Freud 814). Accepting Freud’s claim that certain individuals express stronger and more visible degrees of the Oedipus complex than others, the text offers family lineage as a contributing factor that might explain these individual differences between those who do and do not overtly express Oedipal urges. The importance of family lineage and ancestry is symbolically represented through Jimmy’s crippled leg. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is marked with a swollen foot because he was bound and abandoned as a baby. Symbolically, Oedipus’s limp marks him as an outsider, and is a physical representation of the crippling effect of his past on his own identity. Comparable to Oedipus himself, Jimmy is depicted waiting for his father in the airport with a limp and a bad leg, and uses crutches for a majority of the narrative (30). This image reveals Jimmy as a marked, Oedipal individual, and the presence of his crippled leg symbolically illustrates the debilitating effects of Jimmy’s family’s history and its role in shaping his Oedipal urges. The extent of these desires are revealed through the graphic novel’s form, which enjoys the ability to use both text and images to communicate a story. In the first meeting between Jimmy and his father, the text and images of the narrative diverge to reveal Jimmy’s manifest and latent construals of the encounter – as the dialogue details the awkward conversation between father and son, the images of Jimmy’s parents having sex reveal his latent thoughts and worries (37-38). The graphic novel’s ability to communicate both the explicit and latent construals of the situation expresses Jimmy’s Oedipal desires, as he proceeds to imagine himself viciously killing his father while remaining on the bed with his mother (37). Therefore, understanding the importance of parenthood and family lineage ultimately sheds light on the nature of Jimmy’s obsessive relationship with his mother (13; 231). The origins of Jimmy’s Oedipal desires seem to emanate from the Corrigan lineage, as Jimmy’s great-grandfather is depicted before a mirror, fantasizing about killing his own father (231). Here, the mirror plays a symbolic role – as Jimmy’s grandfather imagines himself shooting his father, the mirror allows him to take the role of the father, fulfilling his Oedipal desires to assume the role of the patriarchy. In exploring the importance of family lineage and the cyclical consequences of past generations, the narrative offers the impact of one’s ancestry as an explanation for the evident, heightened presence of the Oedipus complex within Jimmy.

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund. "The Interpretation of Dreams." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, and John McGowan. 2nd ed. New York City: WW Norton &, 2011. 814-845. Print.

Neglect

In Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware, one theme central to the plot is neglect. Jimmy is neglected by his father, as was his father by his grandfather, and his grandfather by his great-grandfather. None of the Corrigan boys ever felt safe or secure around their fathers, and it made them all self-deprecating, negative individuals. One page really stuck out to me; it portrays just how alone and neglected Jimmy’s grandfather, James, feels at home with his father.

On the page, James is at a friend’s house for the first time. The friend introduces James to both his father and his mother. Both are welcoming and kind, which James isn’t used to in his own home. The boys begin to mold lead horses with James’ friend’s father, and James, for once, feels like he is doing something worthy of being proud of. James feels “hyperbolic praise” as his friend’s dad watches James work on his mold; James feels as if someone cares about what he is doing. After working on their molds, James joins the family for dinner. James explains, “I was given the seat of honor next to him, for some reason,” him being the friend’s father. James feels as a son should feel, although he has never felt that way before in his own home. At home, with his own father, James is always left alone. He doesn’t receive any of the attention that a child should receive from their parents. Even though James is nine-years-old, he often cooks his own dinner and falls asleep all alone while his father is out drinking.

At the bottom of the page, James relays his feelings, “And so, for a while that day, safely concealed beneath the thickening blanket of a late November snowstorm, I allowed myself to believe I had become their child, and they, my family.” It’s heartbreaking that the one time James feels like a real child, he isn’t even in his own home with his own parents. The neglect he always feels went away for just one night, and it was all pushed right back into his face when his father picked him up on the next page, only to inform him that he could never come to this house again.

Empathy in Jimmy Corrigan

To me, in the novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, the character I felt the most empathy for was the first Jimmy, or present-day Jimmy’s grandfather. This could be because we meet James as a small child, and we meet Jimmy and his father as grown adults. However, I also believe it is because James at least tries to go out and improve his life situation in the small ways that he can, but he is repeatedly beaten down (quite literally) and ridiculed.

I found two pages in the novel that seemed to be transitions in young James’ life as well as sources of empathetic understanding. The first occurs after James and his female friend return from exploring the White City. The two begin to argue, and she calls James a bastard. Since he doesn’t know who his mother is, he immediately retaliates and fights her back. He is so filled with rage that he can’t think straight, can’t realize that he’s destroying the one true friendship he has. He is filled with shame and anger and an ever-boiling rage against his father and lot in life, and it all lets loose in that one moment.

The other transitional moment that inspired great empathy for me occurred when James’ failure of a horse statue was brought to him at school. He had such high hopes and dreams for that tiny piece of metal: it was meant to bring him closer to the girl that he mistakenly pushed away. It was supposed to repair their fractured relationship, and act as a token of his love for her. Instead, it becomes his greatest failure. Not only does his plan spectacularly backfire, but all of his peers are there to witness it. He lost the chance to repair the relationship with the girl he loves, and he also loses friendships with people he thought truly cared about him. His “friends” point and laugh at him, and then walk off together, leaving James alone yet again.

These two events allow the reader to feel great empathy for James. Unlike his descendants, he actively tries to go out and better his situation. He tries to make a friend, but loses her in a moment of weakness, then, in an attempt to rectify their relationship, he is made a mockery of by all of his fellow comrades. James is definitely the character that I feel the most compassion for. I feel as though there are too many gaps in Jim’s (Jimmy’s father) life in order to fully feel empathetic to him. And I do feel some empathy towards Jimmy, particularly when he opens up to Amy and his grandfather, but it’s hard for me to feel totally empathetic towards him because he does not do much to be actively improving his life. Young James, on the other hand, tries several times to reach out to his peers or to interact with his father and he is constantly pushed down repeatedly.