Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan strikes me as an experiment in self-loathing and an exercise in writing a comic book to make the reader as uneasy as possible.
First, the strange embodiment of time creates uneasiness because we’re constantly going back and forth between the present reality, the present fantasies/nightmares, and the past without any obvious markers for having done so. I was grateful for the first and only summarization of events which I cannot give page numbers for because they are not included in the book and I think it’s contrary to the author’s purpose to try to count them.
Which brings me to a question – why are there no page numbers? What purpose does it serve to never let the reader know where they are in the book? I think it adds a layer to the already intricate storyline by leaving the reader always a little uneasy. We never really know where we are in the story, or even really what the story is until very late in the graphic novel. In terms of the panel format, it seems that Ware is purposely consistently changing it and on top of that the font also changes size making it very difficult to not pay close attention to where you are on the page. I was grateful for the little arrows giving me some direction, but it still made me uneasy to have to figure it out anew for every page.
The protagonist was my biggest problem. Because the protagonist harbors no typical hero quality I found myself constantly looking for some redeeming characteristic. Although it could be argued that wanting to be liked fits into that category, I would argue that it is specifically this trait that makes Jimmy so unbearable, spineless and empty. He has no sense of self worth. But I don’t think we’re really supposed to like him. He is the alter-ego that nobody wants to admit (and of course I am certainly not doing that here), the victim who cannot be anything other than that.
On a separate, but maybe relevant note, I think the grandfather’s story of physical and emotional abuse could easily be Jimmy’s story and I think Ware is again playing with a sense of time and order. Although Jimmy did not know his grandfather’s story it seems that he is, personality-wise, a direct descendant of that history. This places him even more firmly in the victim role, but because it wasn’t him I find it even more difficult to like Jimmy.
I wondered about the lack of page numbers my self, and was thinking of blogging on the subject, but you’ve beaten me to it. I agree that it has much to do with creating a sense of confusion, but also think the lack of numbers helps solidify Ware’s intention of creating a non-linear story that challenges our preconceptions of comics. Not only does the story jump around in time, space and reality, but it also lacks a strong story arc. As a result, you could flip to almost any page and get an idea of Jimmy’s life. Page numbers provide too much structure for a text that more often seems to defenestrate order.
Lindsay,
I understand exactly what you mean about Jimmy Corrigan being an exercise in uneasiness. In some ways, I think this is the reason our un-hero-like, totally lame protagonist, Jimmy, is the way that he is. Jimmy is entirely uneasy in his experiences with socialization, as Phineas says, Jimmy is essentially a child trapped in a man’s body. An extremely shy child, to be fair, but what would you expect with a mother as lording as Jimmy’s? In this way, I feel like the graphic novel isn’t just letting us, as the reader, take a look at Jimmy’s life, but also letting us look at life the way Jimmy sees it. I guess I wasn’t repulsed by Jimmy as much as our classmates because I tended to be under the assumption that a lot of the oddity and pitiful-ness he is portrayed with is partially his own construction. I don’t think Jimmy likes himself, so of course the image we would be granted of his through his eyes wouldn’t be flattering. As such, I just kind of thought Jimmy was a little too hard on himself. Am I saying I want to be best friends with him? Not at all. But do I dislike him simply because he comes off spineless, no.
In some ways I really liked Jimmy. I liked the never-ending awkwardness that surrounded him, which made his real life seem almost as bizarre as his fantasies. He is a man so down on himself that every encounter with another person is like a train wreck (as with the woman on the plane) or just plain weird (as with the Jack in the lunch room). I mean, really, open to most any page in the text and you’ll get another gold medal winning Jimmy moment. It begs the question, why doesn’t anything seem normal about Jimmy’s life? Or better why does everything seem so normal, rather so extremely ordinary, that it is perceived as sad, pathetic, or weird? For me the answer can be as simply as: that’s what made the story entertaining for me. I don’t really care about Jimmy’s family tree, or the history of Waukosha, but the series of unfortunate events that comprise Jimmy’s life are almost absurd, absurd in the way that people like to see pictures and read about.
Good points, Kristine. To me, the tragic aspect of Jimmy’s character was that he’d never really had anyone love him effectively (something the various Jimmys in the past also experienced), and thus never learned to love someone back. I think this could be partly traced to his mother (who is portrayed as being extremely manipulative, self-centered, and blind to the needs and feelings of others – though perhaps not unreasonably so, as we see from the rather horrific first vignette about her one-night stand with the Superman actor). Though his father did abandon Jimmy (I think – that part was rather unclear to me), I did appreciate the way he was committed to his wife and adopted daughter, and his well-meaning but utterly failed attempts to connect with his son. And despite the harsh ending of Jimmy’s relationship with his sister, I feel if Jimmy could have lived with his dad, he might have ended up in a better place.
I, too, didn’t hate Jimmy. He just was, as far as I was concerned. I think what gave me pause is that I couldn’t blame the way Jimmy turned out all on his mother, though I can see she was a huge contributor. Jimmy has so many violent fantasies (along with Grandpa Jimmy) that I can’t smile and take the “it’s his mommy’s fault” excuse. Then again, like you, I was entertained by the ride first and concerned with various elements second.