Hey seniors:
Tonight's topic is Thurber's potrayal of family, and here's your question:
How does Thurber show us not only how the idea of “family” is unique but is also universal? How does his family connect to yours?
You can respond to the question as well as respond to others. We'll discuss further in class.
Thurber, as we all have read, recounts many anecdotes that deal with situations he has been in with his family. I think Thurber shows us that the idea of "family" is unique to every person because every person goes through unique experiences with his or her family. This is shown in chapter two, on page 11, when Thurber says, "Many autobiographers...describe earthquakes their families have been in. I am unable to do this because my family was never in an earthquake, but we went through a number of things on Columbus that were a great deal like earthquakes." I think this reveals to us how Thurber saw family as a very unique idea, because every family goes through experiences that, although might not be earthquakes, can be described as momentous or maybe just memorable. For example, Thurber compares the earthquake to the fissure-like "repercussions of an old Reo" (11). And every family probably has an earthquake-like experience, but it is unique to that family.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the universal idea of "family", we can use the same earthquake example. Although families might differ in their experiences, in the end there will be some memory they can reflect upon that makes them cry, laugh, blush,etc. Or maybe they just think of that groundbreaking event as equivalent to an earthquake. No pun intended.
Thurber illustrates that his family was unique through the use of anecdotal evidence and humor. Thus, we as the audience, learn of his forgetful and eccentric grandfather, his father frustrated by Roy's antics, his paranoid mother (sending out candy to the people Muggs had bitten), and his prankster brothers. While Thurber's characters seem to be exaggerated and the majority of their characteristics exist only to be told in stories, the uniqueness of the characters not only contribute to the idea of how each individual family is different, but also that eccentricities are a universal theme within a family unit. Every family has a tale about their "unconventional" uncle and his mishap with the toaster, or, in Thurber's case, an aunt who throws shoes in an attempt to ward off burglars. One of the reasons Thurber is known as "one of the finest humorists of the twentieth century," is because he not only draws inspiration from his own family, but he twists his stories so that the situations may seem outlandish, but the way the characters react to them is both relatable and humorous. Thurber's stories seem humorous to us for many reasons - his use of the various types of comedy included - but a large reason why I enjoyed his stories was because I could relate to how he saw his family and their familial dynamic.
ReplyDeleteThurber is able to create identities for the members of his family so that we as readers can relate and understand them more. As we learn of the tendencies that Thurber's family has, it becomes easier to relate them to our own families. Even though every family has its own qualities that are nurtured and celebrated, that does not exempt families from sharing qualities with each other. One similar quality about Thurber's family that is shared with a plethora of other families is the nature of grandparents. I personally have a grandmother who likes to live in the past, and everything that this current world has to offer she considers "to much". She often suffers from delusions and does not include herself in family activities. In my opinion it is not the universal qualities that make us cherish our families, it is the qualities that are unique. However i also believe that there is no quality of any family that is truly unique.
ReplyDeleteI basically agree with what everyone else has been saying, in that Thurber accentuates the ridiculous characteristics of his family members in order to make us as the audience remember similarly absurd personality quirks in our own family members. In this, he acknowledges that each family will have its own strange occurrences and episodes which are unique to the members within it, but every family _does have_ one of these stories. In my family, for example, my father is famous for his painstaking method of packing for a trip: we always say that we'll be out of the house and gone by eleven a.m. at the latest, but end up leaving past one because he's still putting everything just so in the trunk of the car. From there it's a recount of how everyone else reacts to his insistence on packing everything by himself, and that's where the individuality of my family comes in. The universal quality is the formula of events--one person has a certain characteristic, and everyone else then reacts, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the idea of experiences within a family is what makes Thurber's theme of "family" both unique and universal.
ReplyDeleteEach reader's own individual idea of "family" is based upon his or her past experiences within a family – the only real common feature to a family is that people see themselves as members of a somewhat exclusive group. For example, there is a sense of "family" through blood ties, but there is also a sense of "family" between people that have similar interests and form a community based on that interest. Thurber takes this theme of a "family unit" and distributes fairly typical roles (the father that goes to work, the senile grandfather, etc.) who each have absurd personalities that makes his own family unique. In a similar way, when we recount stories about our families, we tend to exaggerate our own families' peculiarities -- though they may not be the same or similar to the eccentricities in Thurber's family, we can relate to the feeling of wanting to make our own family seem different or special.
One thing I noticed that made Thurber's family seem particularly unique (or at least different from mine) was that Muggs could be considered as “extended family”. The family members work to keep him satisfied (trying to bribe him / keep him in good spirits with food) and let him do whatever he wants (like eating at the table) because they are afraid of being bitten. In a sense, the family is acting more like Muggs' pets than the other way around...
In the introduction of My Life and Hard Times, John K. Hutchens notes how Thurber’s autobiography “has not faded at all,” describing it as a classic or “a work that defies time and may even be enriched by it” (Thurber xi). One such reason his work can be considered a classic is his portrayal of the unique characteristics within his own family as the reader can connect to this theme of family eccentricities. Thurber describes many of the peculiar characteristics within his own and extended family: Briggs Beall, his cousin afraid of dying in his sleep; Aunt Melissa Beall, the superstitious aunt who believes she is destined to die on South High Street; and his mother who is paranoid yet aggressive. To further emphasize how unique the idea of family is, Thurber writes humorous, unusual, and sometimes unbelievable anecdotes to accompany the strange characteristics of his relatives. Yet, at the same time, I was able to connect with the idea of how strange families really are. What makes the idea of a family universal is that most people can relate to this theme of unique families by looking into the peculiarities of their own families. Personally, I can connect to Thurber’s family by comparing some of his eccentric relations to mine. For instance, like Thurber’s mother, my mother is sometimes aggressive and normally the one to restore order in the house. Thus, Thurber’s theme of the unique but universal family holds true for many, and therefore his autobiography is made a “classic.”
ReplyDeleteUpon first thought, "unique" and "universal" are contradictory adjectives, but Thurber demonstrates through My Life and Hard Times that families are described by both. While families' specific experiences vary greatly and set them apart from others, the same experiences create the bonds between members that are common to all families. For example, Thurber describes his mother's unfounded belief "that it was dangerous to drive an automobile without gasoline: it fried the valves, or something" (14). This situation is unique to the Thurber family, but the comedy produced by the older generation's misunderstanding of new technology is something that most families can relate to. My grandmother, for instance, does not understand how to use a digital camera. When we gifted one to her for Christmas and spent an hour explaining it to her, she still asked, "Where's the viewfinder?" and "How do I replace the film?" Although the details of these two situations are different and make our families "unique," they serve the same "universal" purpose of drawing family members together and creating bonds.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Thurber seems to be presenting families in general as having both unique and universal characteristics. From the discussion in class today, we saw that Thurber's family is anything but typical (for example, the father is more timid than masculine, the mother is more paranoid than nurturing, and both are often too confused to act as a guiding force for the family), suggesting that he believes there is a unique dynamic for every family. Readers are forced to look at these characters, then, in contrast to a kind of "ideal" family. In such an "ideal" family, the parents would be expected to be wise, order-guarding figures who can be strong for their children, while the children themselves would be obedient and attentive, seeking to learn from their parents rather than play practical jokes on them. However, Thurber knows that this is definitive of no real family, and so has established another level of connection between his family and those of the readers: no family is an "ideal" family. Each has its own attributes, faults, and shared moments. In other words, Thurber is telling us that it is the uniqueness of all families that is their immutable common characteristic.
ReplyDelete"My Life and Hard Times" centers around Thurber's family as it is an autobiography and the anecdotes that the book contains are about his family's experiences. The unique personalities of Thurber's relatives are significant to the novel's humor and ensure that Thurber's family is perceived as unique. As strange as his family is, I'm sure any reader can relate to Thurber's experiences with his family. Each family is different in that we may speak a different language, eat different foods, come from a different culture or financial background, and much more. I think that Thurber intended to portray the crazy personalities of his family members because we also have family members with their own unique personalities and it's something that we can relate to.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I can relate to that I'm sure not a lot of my classmates can is the personalities of Thurber's maids. In my homeland, having maids is common and it's something that has been embedded into our culture. My grandparents have had to cycle through several maids, just like Thurber did, because of their unique characteristics. For example, one of my grandparent's maids decided to sneak out of the house at night to attend parties and visit her boyfriend. Another maid decided that she was tired and took a nap on my grandparents' bed, which led to an awkward moment when my uncle walked into the bedroom.
These unusual events that occur within the family can actually bring a family together. They are something that were serious at the time, but now humorous because they are so silly.
I would like to agree with homedemo's point about anecdotal evidence and use of humor. As we have discussed, practical humor, for example, was used when Roy stored the tin and steel things underneath Reo. Thurber shows that family is unique with showing each of the characters personalities individually, but that the combination of each of his family members is what makes his family so unique. Of course there are traits we see in this work that set off bells in our heads and we realize that we have our very own Roy or Grandfather. What makes each of our families unique is the fact that each one has a different combination of quirks and somehow they just fit together in a way that it works. Thurber's family relates to mine because I definitely have the prankster brother that will do anything to cause mayhem. I also see traits that are relevant in my own family but they are not necessarily brother-brother.
ReplyDeleteThurber's family is definitely not completely normal. As we discussed in class today, most of the main characters do not follow the common standard for their familial role. Throughout the story, Thurber is able to make the reader realize that their family has experiences and characters similar to his. If nobody's family is normal, then families are "universally" abnormal. Thurber's ability to make the reader relate to the anecdotes at hand seem to be the reason that his work is so well read and has stood the test of time. I too can relate. My grandmother has similar views on electronics as Thurber's grandmother did. The fist computer that she ever bought blew up when she plugged it in for the first time and ever since, she hasn't wanted to get very close to one. And my neighbohrs had a dog like Muggs that would bite everyone that got near it. I suspect that stories like these come to all readers minds when they read the light comedy. That is what makes its family tales to "universal."
ReplyDeleteAs was noted previously John K. Hutchens does state that Thurber's novel has not faded, "on the contrary, it is as alive and wise and funny as it was when it was born." The reason I believe this book has remained timeless is because of the fundamental theme of family. As many others have pointed family is such a universal topic because it relates to everyone, yet every family is unique. A story that struck me was after the Old Reo had gotten smashed and the grandfather thought someone had died. "'Was he drunk?' demanded grandfather, sternly. 'Was who drunk?' asked father. 'Zenas,' said grandfather... It is revealed that Zenas, Grandfather's brother is actually dead. This story was particularly striking to me because of the use of black humor. Often times my family will find humor in serious situations/events. Thus, Thurber’s novel is a classic because a lot of people can relate to it. Someone can relate the strange grandmother who thought electricity was leaking in the house, to maybe their grandmother who hasn’t adapted to technology; yet, the grandmothers will still have a certain uniqueness about them. By using a universal theme, and making it unique, Thurber creates a timeless piece.
ReplyDeleteOk. I pretty much agree with everyone here too. I'd like to add though that Thurber also switched the traditional gender roles in his family in order to make them more unique. For example, as we mentioned in class earlier today, the patriarch of the family in My Life and Hard Times is more timid while the matriarch is more aggressive. These roles are clearly switched from the traditional roles held by family members in the 1930's, when the work was written, in which the men were the head of the house while the women were quiet. Thurber uses this switch to emphasize the unusual qualities of family, and in the case of the family in the book, their unique qualities lead to the experiences they have together that set them apart from other families. Through the portrayal of these characters as unique, Thurber reminds us that all families are unique in their own way, which makes the characters relatable. By making the characters relatable, therefore, he also reminds us that families are universal because they are all unique in their own way, and all have their own experiences.
ReplyDeleteJames Thurber's My Life in Hard Times reveals that an individual can have a strong emotional bond with any group of individuals, whether they have biological ties or not. This implies that the idea of "family" is unique specifically because each individual may have their own concept or definition of a family. Although different perceptions of a family unit are unique, it can be stated that the idea of the family is also universal because most people will have some group or unit that serve as a family. Thurber presents this idea by showing that even through all the preposterous incidents that his family endures, and the quirky habits of his family members; the family unit itself remained cohesive.
ReplyDeleteFor my family, it is very evident that we indeed have our own little 'quirks', but that in no way threatens our stability as a family. Readers can relate to the novel; even though most family's are not as off beat as the Thurbers, they all have their own eccentricities.
I also have to agree with what people said previously.
ReplyDeleteThurber introduces us to his family by telling us about certain periods of his life. Those certain periods happen to be quite funny, and enjoyable. Thurber shows us that family is unique by the way he describes each of his family members.
Each of them have certain characteristics traits that make them 'various' and sort of 'typical'. In his writing, we remember that there is no such thing as a 'perfect family'. He tells us about a variety of events that involve his family, that we eventually will have to connect one of his stories to our own family.
This is where he makes the theme of family 'universal'. Even though families differ greatly from one another, he tells us about so many events, that we will end up connection our family to his.
To me, his family relates to mine because we all have different roles that are most of the time out of the ordinary. I think that this book makes us realize that every family is able to flow and live together, as long as you accept your family members as they are.
i read through most of the posts written (typed?) before me and i do agree with them. especially with xsweetshortie who explained that traditional gender roles seem to be switched.
ReplyDeletethurber shows us that the idea of "family" is universal because his family is a model that anyone can relate to. although we see that his family is quirky and downright odd at some times, who hasn't felt that way about their own family at one point or another? thurber's family is "uniquely universal" in that they make us laugh and believe that they are so weird in their own way, and are relate-able.
although i don't have a paranoid grandmother who thinks electricity leaks, i do have an entertaining grandma :) for example, she tried to call us with what she thought was the phone. turned out to be the television remote. she only told this story to me, because she felt too embarrassed to tell anyone else, haha :D
Thurber shows how the idea of a family can be both “unique” and “universal” through the varied personalities of the characters, as well as the gender roles we discussed in class. Thurber tries to show the reader how each and every family is unique by describing the quirky nature of his own family. Through their eccentric mannerisms and the exaggerated events that surround them, Thurber displays his family in a way that is unbelievable. By describing his family as having these distinctive idiosyncrasies, Thurber implies that no other family could be as crazy as his could. Although the events that occurred to Thurber’s family were of the usual sort, it was Thurber’s family’s unique reactions to these events that made them memorable. In this way, Thurber shows how each and ever family is unique in that the personalities of the members of that family are also unique.
ReplyDeleteYet at the same time, this idea of family is universal in that every person has unique aspects that define them; thus, every family has unique aspects that separate them from each other. Thurber tries to explain how every family will have some peculiar characters that help define the family. We can see evidence of this from Thurber’s portrayal of gender roles in his stories. For example, though all of the women in the story are paranoid of different things, they all share the commonality of paranoia. Similarly, though most of the male figures in the stories are uncaring, impersonal, and stubborn. Thurber uses these similarities to make a point that though all of these characters may have different personalities, they do share the same core beliefs. Thus, the idea of a family can be applied universally.
Thurber’s family connects to mine in that when I read the story, I get a feeling that my family is not that different. When I first read Thurber, I could not help but thinking that these characters are wild and exaggerated. Then it occurred to me that I have members of my family like that as well. While they may not engage in crazy activities like those that the Thurber family does, each one of my family members really is unique in his or her own way. In this way, Thurber connects to his readers by showing the similarities of all families.
In his book "My Life and Hard Times," Thurber depicts the idea of "family" as unique by describing his own unique family members, who all seem to have their own little quirks. For example, Thurber devotes half a page on his "nervous first cousin" Briggs Beall who believed that "if he were not awakened every hour during the night, he might die of suffocation" (4). By further exaggerating the characters' oddities, he also adds humor and makes his family appear all the more unique. However, Thurber's idea of family is also universal as every family has eccentric members and gets into out-of-the-ordinary situations. Thus the reader may be able to relate to Thurber's strange family due to his/her own "unique" family.
ReplyDeleteHis family connects with mine because I also have a few odd members in my family. My brother, for example, who is almost as big of a drama queen as Briggs Beall, was convinced that he had skin cancer for a month when he discovered a little freckle on his arm. The next month, he was convinced he had asthema, and so on.
Thurber’s recollection and portrayal of events allows insight to the complex and quirky characteristics of his family. By detailing comical and chaotic events involving family members, Thurber evaluates the common qualities upheld by a family. This is achieved as Thurber excellently details the various attitudes present among his family members. In doing so, Thurber allows the reader to accept his family members as their own, as we can recognize similar attitudes and personalities apparent in our own families. Feeling a sense of communal understanding to the distinctive familial qualities present in Thurber’s life, we are able to notice the universal qualities of My Life and Hard Times. Thurber achieves this sense of understanding by recalling events with varying emotional levels. For example, comical, frightening, surprising, and chaotic moments of Thurber’s life are detailed. These various moments are present in everyone’s life, thus, allowing readers to relate personal experiences that match the general mood of Thurber’s stories. Furthermore, he details experiences in life that are endured by everyone such as his experiences in school, among authority figures, and with pets. All of these stories spark a recollection of personal memories holding similar emotional sentiments. I found similarities between my life and Thurber’s life when he details his interactions with the older generation, more specifically, his grandpa. Thurber recognizes the forgetful nature of his grandpa and his unawareness of surroundings. This aspect allowed me to distinguish this quality among members of my family, allowing me to notice the comical aspect of family as well as the unique and universal aspects of this bond.
ReplyDeleteThe interactions and experiences in a family make a family unique, as the experiences are their own. Each family member's individual personality and behavior also contribute to the whole family's experiences, which is a major reason as to why each family seems so unique. I find a similarity between Thurber’s family and mine, which is in the troublemaker brother who can create chaos in any setting. Very much like Roy, my younger brother seems to be interested in startling/tricking family members. Although they are harmless pranks, they can get old very easily. When we compare interesting stories with peers about household and family, the differences between our family and our peer’s family are emphasized greatly, leading us to feel that our family is unique. Thurber shares various short stories about his family, and ensures that his family’s peculiar behaviors are mentioned, for that is where a family’s individuality originates from. We also tend to ensure that our family’s peculiar behaviors are mentioned in order to show our peers how unique our family is, which is how we are able to relate to his stories and even find them humorous, to an extent.
ReplyDeleteSane grandparents are all alike. Insane grandparents are each insane in their own ways. Perhaps I'm misusing the phrasings of Anna Karenina, but I feel the general principle is the same in My Life and Hard Times.
ReplyDeleteThe picture in most peoples' minds of a typical family is far from what most families actually are (my 'typical family picture' is somewhat like this Norman Rockwell picture here: http://www.gravytrainblog.com/.a/6a011570d70884970b0120a6783696970b-500wi). Each family has its own quirks, idiosyncrasies, and characters that differentiate it from the ideal family. However, because each family has these little eccentricities, it becomes a universal experience. While I may not have family that is as technologically incompetent as Mr. Thurber’s, I can certainly relate to his experience, because I too have relatives who are prone to blunders. It is possible to see elements of one’s own family within Thurber’s family, as I think most readers did at one point or another. Family is such an easy concept to relate to because with very few exceptions, everyone has one. Everyone knows their relatives’ peculiarities, and though they all may be very, very different, the fact that such a group of people can come together and bond through unconditional love is indeed quite universal.
I, too, definitely believe that Thurber's use of family in is comedic pursuits is quite effective largely due to the universal nature of the "uniqueness" of family. As other's have stated, a large number of Thurber's humorous anecdotes are based off of the unconventional actions of his relatives. For example, the eccentricities of Thurber's grandfather in terms of wanting a funeral for Zenas after the Reo breaks down, the strong yet over-the-top reaction of his mother to the prospect of a ghost's presence in the house, and the rather unreliable, vicious character of the family dog, Muggs all show Thurber's family members who are wildly different from so called typical individuals. Beyond breaking simple gender roles, most of these family members break the molds of rationality that we as individuals hold dear to the core of our existence.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as most of us have experienced, often through our familial relationships, people often act quite irrationally, which is exactly what Thurber exaggeratedly utilizes for comedic effect, especially vis a vis family. Personally, I come from a family filled with interpersonal histrionics, which makes Thurber's family based comedy appeal to me. Thus, Thurber undoubtedly uses the universality of family to push his point home, and also to bring light to the fact that no matter how eccentric and comical one's family may be, at the end of the day, these bonds are the universal ties that make us who we are.
Thurber attempts to show the readers that all families are unique, in that they all have certain traditions or quirks that separate them from the “traditional” family. In exaggerating the flaws of the characters in his family, Thurber draws attention to the reader’s own family, causing the reader to compare his/her family to Thurber’s. This comparison may be either by thinking, “Hey, MY family is like that too!” or simply by criticizing the exaggerations and, at times, stupidity of some of Thurber’s family members and therefore denying any similarity between Thurber‘s family and the reader’s own. Either way, the reader is cursed to think about his/her own family quirks, or lack of, after simply reading the first few chapters.
ReplyDeleteSince previous comments seem to have established that all families are in their own way unique, it would be safe to say that all families, in a way, can relate to Thurber’s. In my case not many examples exists, as I see my family very little, however even I can think of several instances where my family has performed unique tasks. For example, my grandmother can directly relate to the grandfather in the story, as they both have unique driving skills. My grandmother often drives on the left side of the road, arguing that “There aren’t any oncoming cars, so why not!”. Either way, if all families are unique and can in one way connect with Thurber’s, then Thurber’s idea of family truly is universal.
Sorry for the 2 deleted posts. I kept noticing typos.
ReplyDeleteAfter skimming through the majority of these posts I'm finding it hard to come up with an idea that is both original and relevant. To start off I'll say that like what most people have said, I think that Thurber is able to present the family element as both unique and universal through the odd characteristics each family member possesses. The family Thurber describes is unique because of their quirky abnormalities, yet the fact that this makes us think of our own unique family members makes the concept universal. By now you've probably read something along those lines about twenty times…
I'd would also just like to add that personally, I wasn't able to connect Thurber's stories to experiences with my family as well as it seems everyone else seems to have done. Although I am aware of my own family's uniqueness, I feel like Thurber's exaggeration (for the sake of comedy) kept me from recognizing this connection while reading it. My relatives all have their little definitive traits, but I don't have anything close to a cop-shooting grandpa, a cousin who thinks he can't breathe once asleep, or an over paranoid shoe-throwing aunt. Because of the drastic differences between Thurber's family and mine, I wasn't able to identify with the family described in the book before participating in this discussion. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, but it makes me wonder how useful writing in the form of comedy is for expressing ideas like this.
I don't know what others have said and I'm too lazy to read all those posts at 11 at night. But I am inputing my thoughts and that is Thurber is definetly creating this unique family with these outrageous situations that you wouldn't really find in real life because he obviously built upon his stories (I know because he said so in the afterward). So, with his now revised comedic stories, he creates the unique family that is composed of switched gender roles, the mother is the chief of the house while the father is timid, and exagerrated reactions from every single character, like throwing the shoe through the neighbor's window and then wanting to throw another shoe. However, he also displays his family as being a universal family because of the unseen compassion they have for each other. In every family there is bound to be unseen compassion that you didn't know existed. That is a universal occurance in all families. People may disagree with me and say, "Hay, wut bout thems families dat leave their chill'uns to foster homes and liek stuff." Well here is my answer: Human beings are not robots or computers. We all feel emotions no matter how hard we try not too. Others can easily minimize these emotions, but most cannot. There is always some compassion in everybody towards some one. And most likely it is a family member since that is the people you are surrounded by most of the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd answer towards the second question, I only wish my family was like Thurber's family. Maybe we can trade one day, or something. Of course we connect through our different traits in families. We all have these different quirkes in my family, and some of them do, like in Thurber's book, conflict with one another.
And for ChristsServentIB, I have this to you dear sirmadam, you need to open your mind more out of that little bible-thumper head of yours and actually put aside your differences for once or just not answer questions any more on this blog if you are going to talk about god all that time.
In response to the first question, I would like to reiterate the concept once again that each family is indeed unique with a broad assimilation of personality types and hence experiences, allowing the forging of deeper connections between family members. These experiences constitute memories that can be pulled out fondly from the depths of our minds, and represent a shared history that one can only reminisce over with family. However, the fact that each family has these perhaps odd memories or unique experiences means that it is a universal component of family life.
ReplyDeleteSince the first question has already been well addressed, I would like to move on to an interesting point that Danny brought up, namely that it was difficult to relate to Thurber’s family experiences because they involved such elaborate escapades and comical caricatures, ones that are not perhaps part of the typical family life growing up. In some ways I agree with this notion, as although my family has had its share of odd moments and slightly odd characters, I have never discovered the degree of eccentricity and improbability found in My Life and Hard Times. For example, the character of Grandpa is almost too good to be true, with his capricious personality and ability to be struck with such lucid clarity after causing havoc, including after shooting the policeman and after insisting his brother Zenas had died.
However, contrary to Danny, I do not feel that this takes away from the overall humor of the novel. In fact, I think part of the humor derives from the fact that Thurber’s family is so atypical, and involves such a concentration of entirely quirky relatives or familial associations in such a small Mid-West town. It reaches the point where his family almost seems to have an affinity for insanity, as seen within “A Sequence of Servants” (Dora Gedd, Belle Giddin, Ms. Doody, Ms. Robertson, Juanemma Kramer, etc.), and it is this incredulous repetition of mad-as-a-hatter characters that creates the hilarity. While perhaps one cannot directly relate to the experiences, in the reader’s mind this almost tangible image arises of his family; Thurber’s detailed anecdotes reveal the underlying characteristics of all his family in brief snapshots, which are in a sense made eternal through humor, as it continues to appeal to generation after generation of readers. I am thinking particularly of his mother, stating “Now don’t you dare drive all over town without gasoline!”, throwing a pan of cold water over arguing boys, protecting Muggs (who hardly reciprocated that love), throwing a shoe through a neighbor’s window, etc. So, perhaps it is not so much the idea of a universal family unit that Thurber has preserved, but more so Thurber’s own humorous family in all its glory.
Within his novel My Life and Hard Times, Thurber centers most of his anecdotal vignettes on his family. He connects with his readers through his use of comedic elements to exaggerate the typical events that occur within such a close familial unit.
ReplyDeleteAs previously mentioned in class, majority of the job and gender roles are typical for during the time period. However, it is the personalities of those whom have the job that seem to be quite outlandish and unusual. Thurber uses the same concept in trying to portray the family as both unique and universal. Notice how the relatives in the book are all quite closely related (blood-wise). There are no second cousins, relatives removed, or even step relatives for that matter. This makes it easier for the reader to relate towards the characters mentioned within the novels because of Thurber’s use of typical relatives within the family. Moreover, it portrays his understandings of his relatives and family for that matter to be more universal.
Furthermore, Thurber never fails to mention detailed stories to explain each relative’s personality. Such as Old Aunt Melissa Beall, Thurber goes on to describe her with her theory of her destiny to die on South High Street since she was both born and wedded there. He uses additional anecdotes to add unique characterization to each of the characters he introduces. Making each of his relatives unique in their own way.
Thurber’s portrayal of family is unique to mine in the sense that every relative is not “typical”. For example, the grandfather can be closely related to mine, as he lived around the World War II era. My grandfather will always change any conversation’s subject towards some anecdotal story of his childhood during the war. Interestingly enough, he always seems to favor reiterating the same topics if not stories. Although they are all humans like you and me; each one of my relative’s personality is different from one another.
To start off with, Thurber structures his entire novel around anecdotes in which his family is the main focus. This already establishes his family as a central theme. Then, the fact that his anecdotes feature crazy encounters with family members equivalent to earthquakes shaking someone from their grounding embraces the idea that even though family members may act in ways with which we do not agree, we are still bound together permanently. Thurber highlights the idea that our wild family stories are not only normal for a family but that we wouldn't have families if we couldn't see past the inherent adversity and cohere nonetheless. The effort that the narrator makes to make sure Briggs is not nervous about suffocating, even though he does not believe in Briggs' cause, allows him and Briggs to reveal to each other the strength of their ties. When the brother believes that the mother is having another fit of paranoia, he ignores the fact that she woke him during the night and reassures his mother, reiterating that "You're alright." If Thurber feels the necessity to dedicate an entire novel to the workings of the family, he firmly believes the progression of the family to be as important as reacquiring after an earthquake the ground on which we stand.
ReplyDeleteI essentially agree with everyone else on how Thurber shows us not only how the idea of “family” is unique but is also universal. However, the humor he pulls from the idea of a "unique and universal family" is not restricted to poking fun at his own family members. Thurber sees the extended community of Columbus as his "family" - a concept he believes is universal and therefore binds everyone together. He points out the quirks of each of the people in the Columbus area, not only poking fun at his family for being quirky. For example, in the chapter about the maids, he describes some of the most memorable maids that his mother had. He describes them with an intimacy, giving us a window into their personalities, like that of which he uses to describe Briggs Beall and Aunt Sarah Shoaf - and by making fun of them, incorporates them into his idea of a universal family.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, Thurber uses his idea of family also in the episode of the "Afternoon of the Great Run." In this example, he furthers the notion that Columbus is one universal family - but illustrating how a couple of simple acts would lead to everyone in the town believing the dam broke. He also illustrates a type of intimacy between the people of Columbus - on page 31, he comments, "It was two years or more before you dared treat the breaking of the dam lightly. And even now, twenty years after, there are a few persons, like Dr. Mallory, who will shut up like a clam if you mention the Afternoon of the Great Run." (31) This sort of silent agreement by the townspeople not to mention the Afternoon of the Great Run illustrates that they have a shared intimacy, and do not want to bring embarrassment to the community as a whole. The people of the city of Columbus once again act as an extended family - by sharing a secret.
Thurber's notion of family relates to mine specifically because of the quirks present in my own family and friends - and Thurber just exaggerates the problems with his for humor. This represents the uniqueness of the Columbus community and of my family.
Firstly, I think it is very interesting that Thurber describes his family members in unique and eccentric manners. As this autobiography is comedic and biased, it is hard to say whether these counts are true or false, but I believe he is trying to convey the importance of accepting people for what they are. Using family members as the axiom for his book, Thurber shows us that the concept of "family" is universal by mentioning a family member in each story. He cleverly utilizies their quirks or personality traits to add comedic elements to every single story. For example, there are stories about his dog Muggs, the pranks his brother, Roy, played on their father, through all of which he shows that every member in his family is imperfect and atypical. As Sriram writes, what stood out to me most was the story about the Afternoon of the Great Run. On Page 11, Thurber writes, "For example, on page 11, Thurber writes, "Many autobiographers...describe earthquakes their families have been in. I am unable to do this because my family was never in an earthquake, but we went through a number of things on Columbus that were a great deal like earthquakes." Instead of questioning each other, all city dwellers blindly follow the other in the run from the "flood." Thurber also writes abotu the movie actress that stays behind to play the piano instead of running with everyone else. This story takes family to a new level as we see a type of widespread trust that binds the Columbus community.
ReplyDeleteEvery family is unique in its own way. They go through different experiences and have their own personalities, however through the use of anecdotal story telling Thurber effectively pushes the characteristics of his own family to make them stand out, and in doing so he portraits them as very distinct and unique people. Furthermore, by having these family characters live through bizarre situation they share unique experiences which they accumulate as a unique family. Similarly, all or most families have these kinds of experiences like when the bed falls over and causes a commotion, while the experiences might differ the reader would relate to the whole concept of going through every-day silly experiences with their own family but without all of the exaggeration in their character which sets Thurber's family apart and makes his family unique. Personally I can relate my family to his, as my grandfather resembles Thurber's (without the exaggeration). He is very stubborn and wouldn't listen to reason, you just have to let him be until he calms down by himself.
ReplyDeleteThurber shows in many ways how each family is unique in its own specific way and that the foundation and pillars of their family is also universal as well. In "My Life and Hard Times", Thurber's family is strange, and seems to get even stranger situations, that include "ghosts" entering his house, a flood that never happens, and dog that bites, which the family doesn't seem to do anything about. However, overall, the warmth and love that the family members had for each other is a universal foundation that all families share.
ReplyDeleteSince "My Life and Hard Times" is an autobiography, family is one of the central themes that Thurber expresses through the various quirky eccentricities of each character and their interactions with each other. By encompassing such wide range of weirdness, Thurber expresses the fact that even if these crazy antics are annoying and agitating, for family, many people will put up with it and more. For example, Roy continuously pulls practical jokes and pranks that incredibly riles his father's annoyance and raises his hackles; however, in the end, the father and son remain as close as a father and son can be.
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