The
Eyes
| Vs. |
"A journey that perhaps we can only begin to understand through an appreciation for the countless capacity of language which, through storytelling, brings us together, despite great distances between cultures, despite great distances of time." (Leslie Marmon Silko, Literature as an Institution)
This page and its subsidiaries have two objectives. First, to compare the the perspectives of the author, reader and the character. Secondly, to compare the literary techniques that Spiegelman, Hermann and Silko use to help their character relate to the reader. It is this narrative character who, by the author's hand facilitates the flow of information between author and reader.
What can the author make the reader see?
What type of description is necessary to convey an intensity of the emotion?
How does the reader fuse with the character to understand the event?
What the eyes sees is: what is read, what is shared, what crosses the borders of perspective.
Sarah Toner wrote, "while some traditions are based on an expansive notion and ideas of transcending boundaries, others are rooted in living according to boundaries, and adapting to fit into them. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and MAUS by Art Spiegelman are both American pieces of literature, each shaped by products of different cultures--accordingly, notions of boundaries are addressed in contrasting ways in the two books, and this becomes evident by the methods with which the two stories are told, how culture is reflected in their plots, and each novel's inter-generational theme." Sarah Toner
There is truth in this analysis, yet all of the inter-cultural tension that defines the author and the novel accordingly falls under the great, universal dilemna of articulation. The ability of the author to produce descriptions of and through the character that will relay the true, or authoral meaning of the story is problematic of all literature. The medium of language available to describe the character's perspective is similar to the problem of our memory. There is an infinite depth in memory, primarily because each person's constantly evolving with more and different connections made every day; however, there is a finite means of describing those memories and a limited vocabulary to express the hours of thought that authors use to effectively connect with the reader. Therefore, although cultural tradition has significantly predetermined the method of how an author will tell his or her story, the pervasive obstacle of linking author and reader resides in an error common to all writers, regardless of cultural heritage or audience.
All of the authors use the main characters to facilitate an intensity to the reader. To fully understand the multi-perspective process that occurs in these works of American literature one must establish the intent of the author, the effectiveness of the character and the resultant stimulation of the reader. The Eyes see and tell the whole story.