If you choose to submit a reading response for Jonathan Safran Foer's
Everything Is Illuminated, please do so in the comments section of this post. Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text. Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas). If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion. You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous. Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.
I find Alex to be an interesting example of the dangers of narrative truth. The unique opportunity to see the story from the perspective of a writer, editor (somewhat), and reader gives us insight into the mind of the writer.
ReplyDeleteSince we are able to read the communication between Alex and Jonathan, we come to realize that Alex likes to embellish his story, particularly with details of his sexual exploits and stunning good looks. We realize this is not true as he draws on a comparison between himself and Jonathan, who he mentioned earlier to be short and not particularly attractive. We see that the narrative put forth by Alex is not completely true. This makes it hard to trust all of what is written.
I find it interesting also that I can make a decision to believe that which is written by Alex to Jonathan but take what is written by Alex for his book to be unreliable. I think that is comparable to the situation in Miranda's diary in some respect. Alex has no reason to lie to Jonathan as he writes the letters, because Jonathan was there. Jonathan knows what truly happened. His letters are candid because it is a conversation between friends. Similarly, Miranda had little reason to lie to herself in her diary. So, we took the diary to be a true look at how she felt during her captivity. In the same respect, we take the letters from Alex to Jonathan to be more true than the story. Alex believes that many people will read the story, and naturally, he embellishes a bit to make himself look good. He is a young man, and he is obviously worried about what others think of him.
I get the sense that Alex understands the impact that an author has on his reader. He knows that the reader tends to view the author as a dispassionate viewer. When I read Alex's story, I see him as a tall, handsome Ukrainian; I see "the hero" as simply a short, homely man. In reality, they are similarly homely and unappealing, but Alex knows that I will accept whatever he says.
After reading the first half of Everything is Illuminated, I found myself having a strong dislike towards Alex. I feel like we can not trust his narrative because he lies about things just to make himself look better. Alex is the type of person that thinks way to highly of himself and it made me not want to pay attention to anything he had to say. However, after getting further into the novel, I found it funny and ironic that Alex was a huge liar. He was not a tall person, he was fat, and he has never had sex. After discovering this, I realized how extremely insecure Alex was, but at the same time I still did not feel sorry for him. At one point in the novel, Alex said he lied about several things just so his younger brother would look up to him. That comment left me confused because who would want their own sibling to desire to be caught up in their looks and how many people they have had sex with. Those traits seem to be sallow and not worth bragging about. Instead, Alex should be focussing on more important things like his family. I think if Alex wants his brother to look up to him, then maybe he should spend more time with him and be honest with him. Igor probably has a very low self esteem because he is "clumsy" and not like his older brother. If Alex told his brother the truth about himself, then maybe Igor could relate and not feel so alone. I think Alex has a lot of discovering to do and I hope that during this journey, her realizes what the important things are in his life and those things are family.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: Since we find out Alex has been lying throughout the novel, can he be trusted as being a narrator?
I agree with the other two responses in the sense that this is a great example of why narratives aren't always true. It is seen throughout the entire novel that he embellishes quite often. In his sections of the story he often tells the reader in parentheses that he's not exactly telling the truth and in his letters to Jonathan. Although this makes it difficult on the reader to understand what is actually happening and how it is happening, I think it makes the story even more entertaining and interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn the historical sections of the book, it is obvious that there are major embellishments. However, these embellishments are what make the story. For example, the story about the wagon that may or may not have fallen into the river is not only exaggerated, no one knows if it actually happened or not. Although this can be frustrating to the reader, nothing that happens in the rest of the book could have actually happened without this initial story. This also sets up the fable-like tone that is seen in all of the rest of the historical sections.
I believe that the embellishments that are seen in Alex's sections of the book were done to make the modern and historical sections fit together. This helps the book flow better and also makes it much more fun and interesting to read.
When I first started reading this story I was not a fan of only having Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Alex’s letters, and Alex’s chapters, but as the story progressed I found myself enjoying having only half of the story. In the first comment Alex’s letters and Miranda’s diary were compared. I agree with Adam that Alex does embellish, but he has no reason to lie just as Miranda has no reason to lie in her diary. The narrators are unreliable in these two stories but it’s all we have. I really enjoy this type of narration in a story.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Safran Foer’s novel was very boring at the beginning of the book, but as the story progressed I enjoyed hearing about Brod. Brod’s love story with the Kolker kept me glued to each page. I loved the metaphor on the bottom of page 135. The metaphor was so perfect for the situation and described it so well. The last sentence of the paragraph, “The last breath of a drowning victim” is so dark, but it's such a beautiful way of saying that the couple enjoyed every last second they had together.
In the same passage on page 135, the line “Life was a small space cut out of the eternal solidity, and for the first time, it felt precious” says that the couple hadn’t really truly loved each other until they experienced separation. Brod and the Kolker knew what it was to have each other but didn’t realize how much it meant until they knew what it was like to not have each other.
I did find it a little funny having the author as a character in the story. Did anyone else?
-William Osborne
Another element that complicates narrative truth in this novel, is the fact that there is a language barrier between Alex and the author. Throughout the novel we see many times that Jonathan has apparently told Alex to fix some of the words he has used in this section. By using a language barrier, the author has caused the reader to wonder if what Alex is saying is what he really means. Not only this, but the reader is also unaware on some occasions on what Alex is really trying to say. Many times he says that he "spleens" his mother. As this is not the correct use of spleen the reader has to imagine what Alex means by "spleening his mother." Thus, causing every reader to have a different definition of what Alex means.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this book, I particularly enjoyed how Jonathan Safran Foer turned a topic so devastating as the Holocaust into a moving, and at times, hilarious tale. I also loved how it had multiple stories in one.
Even though this tale was mostly supposed to be about the author's journey to find his grandfather's savior, we see Alex's growth as a character and at the end we see him grow into a man and stand up against his father. This ties into the whole theme of love throughout the whole novel. Alex's love for his brother, Little Igor, causes him to stand up for him and allows him to have a life that Alex never had. In the Trachimbrod sections, Brod goes to great lengths to do things for the Kolker even after he is injured and violent. I think this book shows how far we go to do things for the ones that we love.
--Kelcey Flegel
Everything is Illuminated is an interesting example of narrative truth. As I read the story it was hard to tell fantasy from reality. All the characters are faced with accepting the truth. They can never really come to terms with their pasts unless they except reality and truth; as is the case with the grandfather and the war, and Jonathon and Alex in discovering the truth about their pasts. I think for Jonathon he believes that having something to believe in is better than knowing the truth, because I don’t think he discovered what he thought he was going to about his family.
ReplyDeleteI also think the limitation of memory is key to discovering the truth. Memories are the key to unlocking history. Grandfather has memories from the war and Trachimbrod that no one knows. The people of Trachimbrod are obsessed with memories, they even write them down in a book. I think that it becomes an issue because they have trouble distinguishing between memory and what is currently going on. Does anyone else think this was an issue for the inhabitants of Trachimbrod?
Overall I really enjoyed the book. I laughed out loud several times. It was confusing at times and I was a little disappointed in the ending, but in general I liked it a lot.
In Jonathan Foer’s, Everything is Illuminated, there are many interesting characters present, but none more interesting to me than Alex. He is a dynamic character who is created to combine humor, sadness and pretty bad English, as we see him develop into a man.
ReplyDeleteThis development is one of the more interesting subjects I found in the story. I think it is because I can relate to growing up as a young man, or the fact that as we grow we learn that superficial things are not as important as telling the truth and digging for answers.
There are 2 aspects of growth in Alex that I think are the most important. The first courage that grows within Alex that leads him to tell his father what he truly feels. Truth and communication between children and parents is crucial for a healthy relationship and Alex finally sees that standing up to his father cannot be worse than living with him in his abusive state. “You are not my father…take it…and never return.” This quote is the climax of their heated relationship and draws a conclusion to the abusive interaction between the two. This is not only an important step in the growth of Alex, but it speaks volumes to Igor and is actually protecting him as well. It is giving him a better life down the road. That is why I feel this maturing of Alex is such an important consideration in the story.
The second aspect of growth is Alex’s feelings towards truth in writing. At the beginning of the story, Alex is perfectly content with lying about virtually everything to make himself look good through the writing. He even asks Jonathan, on 17. November. 1997, to make him, “look good in the stories.” But as Jonathan develops as a writer and as a human, he believes that it is cowardly to omit things and says that Jon and his family are cowards for living, “a life once removed.” He is not opposed to writing ficticious material, but now believes that if you are going to lie, at least make it seem great! For instance, he says that in the story his grandfather could save Jon’s grandfather. Alex tends to embellish the present, while Jon tends to embellish the past. This growth, though, in Alex is extremely important to the story and the development of Alex as a character. It allows us to draw emotional connections to him and sympathise greater with his situation and desire for a better life.
For these reasons I found Alex to be the most interesting character in Everything is Illuminated. He greatly adds to the story and helps us look more closely at narrative truth and moral truth, especially in his letters to Jon regarding their writings.
I think the limitations of memory are very interesting in the fact that the book seems to center around memories and the remembrance of the past then what is going to happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, the people of Trachimbrod have town meetings to make a plan as to what to do if and when the Nazis invade their town, but all they can discuss are past memories. Therefore they never do make a plan or take a course of action other than having the same parade they have every year. They don't seem to care about the future and therefore they care more about the past and what is happening in the present. This fixation on the past and its memories lead to the town and the people of the town downfall when the Nazis come during the parade.
Another example of their obsession with the past is the fact that they write everything down in a book which becomes an almost holy book to their town. Then when the Nazis come to their town and burn all but one page of that book it was as if at that point all of Trachimbrod had been destroyed even if all the buildings had not.
This story fascinated me from the beginning as it relates to narrative truth because it called into question our willingness and desire to trust the narrator unequivocally. Most people that recall events to us do so with some perspective, bias and motive (even when they are altruistic motives) that cause their recollections to be subjective at best. We have an acceptance for this in theory, but when the opportunity to put this theory of acceptance into practice arises, we often do not.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we show a dislike for Alex because he stretches, and at times abandons, the truth in order to make himself appear to be a better person (in his mind and according to his standards at least) than he really is. But I doubt any of us could say we never did, or dare I say DO, the very same thing. It’s in our nature to try to present ourselves in the best light possible because we generally consider ourselves to be good people; even when all evidence is to the contrary. In such cases we simply present the evidence in a way that is flattering, as Alex does when describing his stomach muscles that can’t be seen, or his father’s “punching ability”, etc.
He presents himself as wonderful, and his home life as not so bad, although unfulfilling. Whether or not he realizes these are lies is really ancillary to the point. The point is that this is truth he wishes to believe and wishes for the reader to believe, therefore it’s the truth he presents. The greater point is that most, if not all, people (inclusive of narrators) do this to one degree or another.
Donte Lazarus
While reading this book, I thought Lista was the most interesting and puzzling characters. As Lista shares her life experiences with the Nazis invasion to Trachimbrod with Jonathan, Alex, and Grandfather, I noticed how these life experiences affected Lista physically and mentally. First of all, I wanted to analyze how she was affected physically. As the three men were approaching Lista, Alex describes her as “donning a white shirt and a white dress, but they were covered with dirt and places where liquids had dried….She was a poor woman…. This was a clear-cut because of how svelte she was and how broken all of her belongings were.” Even though she realizes that she is weak and old and needs help from her neighbor, she is not willing to leave her old place for a better life. While she is sharing how the Nazis murdered the people from Trachimbrod and her family, Alex, the narrator writes this. “[S]he was not crying, which surprised me very much, but I understood how that she had found places for her melancholy that were behind more masks than only her eyes." Alex notices that these horrifying events had negatively affected her entire life in which she quickly learned to suppress and hide her feelings and identity in order to avoid being found and killed. This fear was instilled in her mind and affected her in many areas of her life, and she has had to learn how to live secretly, unnoticed such as behind a mask and not revealing her true feelings or identity.
ReplyDeleteMentally, Lista seems to live in the past. I was amazed that she even at her age, she has no trouble recalling exactly the chronological order of events during the Nazi invasion. “My sister, I told you, was not dead. There left her there on the ground after they shot her in her place. She started to crawl away. She would not use her legs, but she pulled herself with her hands and arms. She left a line of blood behind her, and was afraid that they would find her with this.” I know that if I was her, this would be a horrifying experience in which I would not want to remember but to block it out of my memory. Somehow, she holds onto these thoughts, and at the end of the visit, Lista leaves the group with these puzzling words, “I must go in and care for my baby…It is missing me.” She is a queer woman, and it seems as she is not one hundred percent present. I would like to leave with this question, for what purpose does Lista play in the events of this story?
~Taci Hodgins
There are two specific passages that I would like to comment on:
ReplyDeleteThe first is a section where Alex is writing to Jonathan, discussing the story of Brod and Yankel:
“Per your novel, I have been very dispirited for Brod. She is a good person in a bad world. Everyone is lying to her. Even her father who is not her true father. They are both keeping secrets from each other. I thought about this when you said that Brod “would never be happy and honest at the same time.” Do you feel this way?”
I was surprised to see Alex talk about truth in this manner; it almost comes is hypocritical. He speaks of lying in a negative way however, Alex includes many lies in his narrative to Jonathan. One example of his lying to Jonathan is when he describes himself as this tall guy who is some sort of womanizer. He later recants these statements as “untruths”. There are many other lies that he tells throughout the novel. It makes it very hard to believe Alex’s narrative. Also, I think it is ironic that he talks about Brod’s father lying to her, when in reality Alex’s father lies to him frequently. This can be demonstrated in the passage where Alex’s father hits him and says “It does not hurt” over and over.
Another quote that I would like to bring up is one that I believe can sum up the book as a whole, “I used to think that humor was the only way to appreciate how wonderful and terrible the world is, to celebrate how big life is. But now I think it’s the opposite. Humor is a way of shrinking from that wonderful and terrible world.”
This quote is taken from a conversation between Jonathan and Alex. I think that this quote says a lot about the book. I believe that the author wrote this book in a humorous way, but he is also telling an awful truth though the use of that humor. We discussed in class how sometimes this can be a very effective method; telling a bad story through humorous means. I personally believe people are more willing to read something that is humorous than tragic stories; especially when they include horrific details, such as the holocaust. That way, you are less likely to feel the full devastating effects of what happened in the past.
After reading "Everything is Illuminated," I thought it was a very good book and left me thinking about many parts of it. To be honest, I was not a fan of the author splitting up the book into three different stories, but by the end I was used to it and it did not really affect my understanding. I also found it humorous that Jonathan Safran Foer made him self a character and that he was purposely writing the book in incorrect English. I laughed out loud a many parts in the book and I also found myself not being able to put the book down.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this story was the best example of truth in narrative that we have read thus far. It seemed to me that almost every main character was looking for truth. In particular, Brod looking for the truth of love between her and her adopted father and then the Kolker, the Grandfather looking for truth about being able to cope with the war, and Alex and Jonathan both trying to find truth in their pasts. Although, Jonathan did not find exactly what he was looking for, he still stumbled upon another sort of truth.
The other thing that I found very interesting about the book was how we could see the transformation of Alex from the beginning to the end of the book. It was all illustrated through Alex and Jonathan's letters to each other discussing their novel that they are writing. At the beginning during the introduction, Alex makes up a lot of things about how much money, friends, and sex he has. As the story goes on he becomes more and more humble and starts to open up a lot. It is directly attributed to him finally finding a true friendship in Johnathan, and being able to tell him things that he could never tell anyone. We learn about Alex and his Dad, and how his Dad is very abusive and drinks a lot. This is another way we get to see Alex mature, ending with him finally standing up to his abusive father and telling him that he needs to get his things and never return with the climax of Alex telling him that he is not afraid of him. It was also very interesting when Alex told his Grandfather no when he asked him for money, since through out the book he said that he could never say no to his Grandfather.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book even though it was by far one of the weirdest books I have ever read.
It was pleasing to read that Grandfather was finally able to find happiness at the end of the novel. From the beginning of the story, it seemed as if Grandfather was very disillusioned for he thought that he was blind and weak even though he was able to drive for Jonathan's tour. He did not seem happy at all and his depression grew once he met Lista and had to admit to the story of killing Herschel and how he lied about where he grew up. Alex wrote to Jonathan saying that Grandfather grew more and more depressed since the trip and kept asking Alex for money to go and find Augustine. Grandfather often held the picture of Augustine and repeated her name over and over while crying. Alex knew that if Grandfather found Augustine, he would be even more unhappy because she is a part of the life with Herschel that he once had, but cannot have back. Alex writes to Jonathan telling him that his family seems to live a life that is "once-removed" by living in the past and never really living things in the present fully. Even though Grandfather commits suicide, it is pleasing to know that he finally found peace once Alex stood up to his father. Grandfather wrote to Jonathan saying how proud he was of Alex for he was able to tell his father that he did not need him anymore. Grandfather told Alex to "try to live so that you can always tell the truth". For the majority of his life, Grandfather was unable to tell the truth until now. The truth was able to set him free. All he wished for Alex and Little Igor was a life of peace for it is what has finally made Grandfather happy.
ReplyDeleteEven though he did not state it, I feel that Grandfather wished all the same to Jonathan too because it was Jonathan who helped Grandfather accept his truth. Thanks to Jonathan Grandfather will be able to "open the door in darkness".
Mark Doran
John Osinski
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Everything Is Illuminated, I thought the most intriguing part of the story was how Foer tied our theme of finding truth in fiction with the characters drive throughout the story to make their tainted memories of the past more fluid and clear. As the characters become more and more enlightened or “illuminated” as they research the past, the audience at the same time becomes more aware of Foer’s direction with the book and the narrative truth he is trying to impose.
A good example of this is shown on page 80, when the discussion about Augustine arises. The debate on how they perceive her changes in that are going back and forth on if the truly love her or just love the idea of her. They are unsure if they simply like the chase of her to find out if she’s actually out there and even exists. As they gain more and more knowledge about her it become clear if they are lying about the real truth about her just to conceal their feelings on how they see her idealistically and not realistically.
Other good examples come from the JSF’s family history and specific relationships that he had. After the story goes on we find that he was beaten by his father in his childhood. In addition, the story line of the town history of Trachimbrod and how the town’s name came to be and the origin of the religion and what role it plays. The story shows a conflict between the uprighters and the slouchers and who is the “correct” religion. The entire story is a gradual unveil of what the real truth is and how Foer chooses to unveil it.
John Osinski
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Everything Is Illuminated, I thought the most intriguing part of the story was how Foer tied our theme of finding truth in fiction with the characters drive throughout the story to make their tainted memories of the past more fluid and clear. As the characters become more and more enlightened or “illuminated” as they research the past, the audience at the same time becomes more aware of Foer’s direction with the book and the narrative truth he is trying to impose.
A good example of this is shown on page 80, when the discussion about Augustine arises. The debate on how they perceive her changes in that are going back and forth on if the truly love her or just love the idea of her. They are unsure if they simply like the chase of her to find out if she’s actually out there and even exists. As they gain more and more knowledge about her it become clear if they are lying about the real truth about her just to conceal their feelings on how they see her idealistically and not realistically.
Other good examples come from the JSF’s family history and specific relationships that he had. After the story goes on we find that he was beaten by his father in his childhood. In addition, the story line of the town history of Trachimbrod and how the town’s name came to be and the origin of the religion and what role it plays. The story shows a conflict between the uprighters and the slouchers and who is the “correct” religion. The entire story is a gradual unveil of what the real truth is and how Foer chooses to unveil it.
When Professor Camacho first introduced Everything Is Illuminated he explained to us that this book should give us a combined feeling of love and discomfort. After completing the book, I could not have explained it any better. This book is one of my all time favorites for those precise feelings. The entire time I read I became more and more confused and more and more enthralled. Alex’s bizarre way of narrating combined with the events from Trachimbrod left my mind begging for more. The story is so complex and bizarre, and by the end I was awestruck in the best possible way.
ReplyDeleteThe unit that this book was part of is “Narrative Truth” and I really learned a lot about what “Narrative Truth” means. This book is a perfect example of how the reader believes the narrator out of necessity, even if what the narrator says sounds like complete fiction. The best example of this is the descriptions of the fornication between the Kolcher and Brod. The way they viewed each other naked through the hole, and the way they fornicated through the hole were signified by the barrier that the saw blade created. Again, it is a very interesting way of describing perspective, but at the same time it is beautiful!
The last example is not a direct lie, but a truth withheld. The rape of Brod was explained in 3 examples throughout the book, with the last giving graphic details. After finding out that Sofiowaka was the culprit, I was not surprised. But, after finding out what became of him on the bridge, I began to ask so many questions, all of which I will never know.
Did this scene keep you speculating too? What was your overall opinion of Everything Is Illuminated?
-Chris Lendrim
I personally thought that this novel was a great example of how a first impression of a character could construct a sense of trust and validity for the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteWhen we are first introduced to Alex, he humors us with cockiness and ranting. What I found so intriguing about this was since I established a sense of enjoyment towards his persona, I WANTED to trust him and therefore found myself interested in Alex although sometimes he may stretch the truth in order to make himself seem like a better person.
As far as JSF is concerned, we see a young man that is so passionate about his heritage and past, that I believed every word he spoke of Trachimbrod. He seemed so enveloped with interest that I felt as if I had no choice but to deem his stories true. Some of his tellings may have seemed a bit farfetched; for example, the Jews praying from high up hanging from ropes to be "closer to God," but this is something that I did not have much trouble accepting simply because I respected his desire for knowledge.
What I enjoyed most about this novel was that I was able to retain the trust I had in both of these characters (for the most part) as opposed to "The Collector" where after each section my opinion was being changed and characterized by the insanity of the characters.
--Zach Greenberger
Everything is Illuminated is an excellent example of our theme Narrative Truth. The collection of letters between Jonathan and Alex illuminates a story of truth that is written between levels of fiction. Foer seems to have a writing theme through out his book. One aspect of this writing theme reminds me of how youth of today interact with friendships and social networking: “If you ain’t Facebook Friends, it isn’t official”. In Foer’s novel, the people of Trachimbrod will not view anything as official if it isn’t written or appears on paper, the Book of Antecedents. As absurd as that sounds, it is odd how real the action translates to today’s time. Foer continues using writing as a measure of narrative with the letter between Jonathan and Alex. Foer creates an evolution of the character through writing. Alex begins as an obnoxious character that ends up growing and maturing through his writing with Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteFoer’s description of religion hit me the hardest. The story of the religious nature of the Uprighters and the Slouchers and how they came about seems humorous and absurd but has some odd ties to religion today. The struggle in the Middle East has a lot of similarities to the religious struggles of dominance between the Uprighters and Slouchers. The fight between the Uprighters and the Slouchers for the location of the church mirrors the land fight in Israel. As you read the text and laugh at the silliness of the followers, Foer makes you wonder how absurd religion in our world may be as well. Are we following something as silly? Did the start of religion become divided by something as absurd? It is possible that the divisions of our religion originated from such beginnings as one main belief, because each religion shares the belief of blind faith. This blind faith prevents us from too many deep questions of our religion’s origin and those that do question are often considered to be non believers…
A young, Jewish-American writer attempts to find his grandfather's life in Ukraine. He finds Alex and Alex’s grandfather as his guide. Those three characters are my favorites. While I read this book, I think this book is a good example for us to discuss about truth. First of all, I really want to talk about Alex because Alex is a character I cannot trust most. From Alex’s letter to Jonathan, we can see that there are many lies of Alex. At first, Alex exaggerates about how many women he has, and how much money he usually spends at nightclubs. Later, he becomes honest with Jonathan and he explains that he actually was lying to Jonathan. He doesn’t have those women and he is actually a virgin, and he prefers sitting on the beach to spending money at nightclubs. Moreover, we also see a change of Alex from preaching up Jonathan to giving him some comments. Alex gradually accepts and admits the truth.
ReplyDeleteThe grandfather, Alex’ grandfather, also called Alex is a very interesting old man. He claims that he is blind, and he has a seeing-eye dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior. However, very ironic, he is the driver for Jonathan's trip. At least, I don’t want to believe the grandfather is real blind. Memory is confining for grandfather. His memories of the war are so painful that he refuses to acknowledge them. He lies in fear of his memories. Yes, he lies. However, I pity him. How can Grandfather get rid of his fear of his past? What is the best way for Alex’s Grandfather? I personally think that Grandfather can only come to terms with his past when he accepts the truth. Does anybody has the same opinion?
Yinyin Shi
When I found out that this book was set in Ukraine, I was excited because for I have experienced living in Ukraine as well, and I knew I would be able to relate to this story at a more personal level. Like Jonathan, as the American traveler, I too experienced life in the city and life in the village. At this time, I would like to quote two different passages and make a few comments. At one point Alex remarks about the differences between the city folks and the villagers. “I was afraid of the men in the field. I never talked to people like that, poor farming people, and similar to most people from Odessa, I speak a fusion of Russian and Ukrainian, and they spoke only Ukrainian…very often people who speak a fusion of Russian and Ukrainian come from the cities and think they are superior to people who speak only Ukrainian.” In this section, Alex places the city folks and the villagers into two separate categories, and he reveals that he is pretty proud of being from the city. For this reason, he is afraid to step out of his comfort zone and to venture outside the city. This belief is prevalent to the Ukrainians today. Part of this is due to their different cultures. The culture in the villages is clearly evident in the people’s lives. For example, their culture is largely based on tradition, many farm and raise livestock as a living, and some still use horses and wagons as their main source of transportation. The cities are largely influenced by Western Europe and Russia so the local businesses, families, schools, etc. keep up with the ever changing trends. Because the many of the villagers live in seclusion, they are normally unable to keep up with these trends.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I wanted to briefly mention this second quote. The narrator makes this remark while describing Lista’s house and property. “The house was whitewood that was falling off of itself. There were four windows, and one of them was broken. As I walked more proximal, I could perceive that it was a woman roosting on the steps. She was very aged and peeling the skin off of corn. Many clothes were lying across her yard. I am certain that they were drying after a cleaning, but they were in abnormal arrangements, and they appeared like the clothes of invisible dead bodies.” As I read this, I could easily imagine this because in the villages this is how many of the houses appear. I have distinct pictures in my mind of deteriorating houses, slouching women gardening or feeding geese or chickens, and clothes drying on a line while walking through the village dirt roads. Having been influenced by the western way of living, we as Americans would have a hard time living like this, but from personal experience, many of these villagers are content to live by such a simple lifestyle.
Can any of you personally relate to this story and/or what do you think is the purpose of the author describing the Ukrainian villages?
When I found out that this book was set in Ukraine, I was excited because for I have experienced living in Ukraine as well, and I knew I would be able to relate to this story at a more personal level. Like Jonathan, as the American traveler, I too experienced life in the city and life in the village. At this time, I would like to quote two different passages and make a few comments. At one point Alex remarks about the differences between the city folks and the villagers. “I was afraid of the men in the field. I never talked to people like that, poor farming people, and similar to most people from Odessa, I speak a fusion of Russian and Ukrainian, and they spoke only Ukrainian…very often people who speak a fusion of Russian and Ukrainian come from the cities and think they are superior to people who speak only Ukrainian.” In this section, Alex places the city folks and the villagers into two separate categories, and he reveals that he is pretty proud of being from the city. For this reason, he is afraid to step out of his comfort zone and to venture outside the city. This belief is prevalent to the Ukrainians today. Part of this is due to their different cultures. The culture in the villages is clearly evident in the people’s lives. For example, their culture is largely based on tradition, many farm and raise livestock as a living, and some still use horses and wagons as their main source of transportation. The cities are largely influenced by Western Europe and Russia so the local businesses, families, schools, etc. keep up with the ever changing trends. Because the many of the villagers live in seclusion, they are normally unable to keep up with these trends.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I wanted to briefly mention this second quote. The narrator makes this remark while describing Lista’s house and property. “The house was whitewood that was falling off of itself. There were four windows, and one of them was broken. As I walked more proximal, I could perceive that it was a woman roosting on the steps. She was very aged and peeling the skin off of corn. Many clothes were lying across her yard. I am certain that they were drying after a cleaning, but they were in abnormal arrangements, and they appeared like the clothes of invisible dead bodies.” As I read this, I could easily imagine this because in the villages this is how many of the houses appear. I have distinct pictures in my mind of deteriorating houses, slouching women gardening or feeding geese or chickens, and clothes drying on a line while walking through the village dirt roads. Having been influenced by the western way of living, we as Americans would have a hard time living like this, but from personal experience, many of these villagers are content to live by such a simple lifestyle.
Can any of you personally relate to this story and/or what do you think is the purpose of the author describing the Ukrainian villages?
~Taci Hodgins
When I began to read this novel, I thought to myself, "What an strange book". My opinion has not changed one bit about it. The amount of times the text switches to all caps early on in the novel, and the amount of times that the narration changes seemed to be so unnecessary. Luckily, our class discussions of narrative truth made it clear that there is a lot of significance in these oddities I found.
ReplyDeleteNarrative truth is a very interesting theme of this novel, and is so deceptive. Alex states on page one, “I have many girls, believe me.” When he made all of his early on arrogant comments, I pictured this tall, good looking, and full of himself man. After knowing these statements were very much the opposite later on in the novel, the image in my head dramatically changed, and I felt extremely fooled because I believed every word I read because it coming from the narrator. There has never been another time where I have read a novel, and the narrator was not trustworthy.
I would like to ask a question about a quote that I really enjoyed by Jonathan. On page 260 he states, "The only thing more painful than being an active forgetter is to be an inert rememberer.” This sounds like a powerful quote and makes a lot of sense logically, but I had trouble understanding the significance of it to the novel. Does this affect the way Jonathan’s character has changed, and is this something he would not have said early on in the novel before he set out on this journey?
-Mark Menezes
To clarify with my previous post above. The comment about never reading another novel with the narrator being not trustworthy, I had meant to say outside of this unit of study and the course. Obviously in "The Collector" and "Rashomon" we see similar examples of false accountability.
ReplyDelete-Mark Menezes
(Sometimes) Lying is the best way to tell a true story. I totally agree, because I think that putting a story in our own terms give us more control about it. Everything is illuminated is perhaps the most complex story we read in class. Family, Jewishness, Language and storytelling are the themes addressed by Jonathan Foer in this novel. For Alex and his relatives, family means doing things that you HATE for them and for Yankel and Brod who are actually not related means exactly the opposite. The novel is also full of ironic comedy. For example, the grandfather (supposedly blind because of the death of his wife) is actually assigned to be the driver of the trip. The duplication of “Junior” in the dog’s name is also very funny. Jewishness (heritage) is also addressed in this novel by the author on what seems to be a clear critique of the many religions we see today. The Uprighters and the Slouchers represent the good and the bad kind of Jews as we perceive our faith or religious practices to be” better” or more “meaningful” than the others. The way men dangle from ropes and shout while they pray because they think that will make them be closer to God is so ridiculous. They do it as a tradition that they simply kept it. This seems to be a direct critique about the many religious traditions we value today who are or might be as silly as the one seen in the book. Language is also used in a very intelligent for many purposes. For example Alex’s bad/horrible English is probably what hurts his relationship with JSF. Alex is really excited about writing to Jonathan and even though they already met, probably because they have the same age, he feels competitive because Jonathan is American and so he come up with all the lies about himself, his sexuality and tries appear as cool as possible (lying in the worst English ever, which JSF is always correcting). The power of storytelling is also tackled in the novel. The book is very confusing and it starts with Alex voice who is so overconfident describing his life in a attempt to sound “cooler” and show to JSF that he is much more than a just a tour guide. The trachimbod section is also confusing because fiction and reality are so intertwined that is impossible to know for sure even the legend of Trachim from which the story of trachimbod tradition’s revolves. When JSF puts the story on the context of his own life (his very-grandmother and himself) he has more control unlike Yankel and Brod who had no control over the decision of staying together, as a writer, JSF can actually tell a story that is meaningful for him…and so it does not really matter whether or not he is being so truthful.
ReplyDeleteRossana “Xana” Guerreiro
This book was definitely the hardest to understand out of all the books we studied in this class. I’m still not sure I understand it fully. This might be one of those books you have to read a few times before you really catch everything there is in the novel. It seemed to change its mind a lot like with the hole that separated Brod and Kolkers’ rooms which turned out to be nothing really. I think this novel is about love and some interesting truths within it.
ReplyDeleteThis novel makes the point that love is a very difficult thing to define. It is often easier to define by what it isn’t. Brod thinks that she loves her husband, the Kolker, but in actuality she just is in love with the idea of loving him. After the accident, Kolker abuses her beyond his control and as Kolker nears dying they finally have a few real conversations which they had never had over years of marriage. It takes the Kolker’s death for Brod to say “I love you” the first meaningful time. I think there is a lot of truth in this thought that people can find themselves in love with the idea of loving rather than genuine love.
In Alex’s novel which isn’t completely truthful, especially with the way he describes himself, we can still find some insight into love. When Lista is explaining what happened to trachimbrod, it has profound effects on Alex, JSF, and Grandfather. Grandfather opens up a little for the first time Alex has ever seen and he starts to feel proud of his grandfather for the first time. Alex always had love for his grandfather deep down inside of him, but it had never shown itself before now. Love is also a burden on Grandfather. His love for his wife and child caused him to kill his best friend and he lost his ability to love which is one of the reasons for his crying at night.
Another thing that I thought was interesting in the novel was in one of Alex’s letters to JSF. He talks about how sad and depressing a lot of the parts of their novels are and poses the question that why don’t they just make them less truthful and happier. Alex is realizing that there is little truth in the “happy ending” type of stories, but he still longs for true stories to end in this manner. A lot of times we will alter the truth to make it seem happier and more fulfilling. That is another thing that this novel says, though, that the only way to tell a sad story is through humor.
-Sean Graham
Everything Is Illuminated complicates our theme of truth in fiction. To begin with, finding truth in something we already know to be not true because of the genre makes this difficult. The main character in this novel, Alex, seems to be a very unreliable character and this makes finding the truth complicated as well.
ReplyDeleteTo begin the story we find out that Alex's job is to serve as a translator. This makes it very easy to become lost in translation and therefore not get the entire story, or get it told as it was originally stated. As in any case, like in the game telephone, once something is repeated, there is a great chance of the original story being distorted. As a readre we know this and must be able to determine what we believe to be the truth from this.
Next, Alex seems very interested in impressing the Jew because he is from America. Alex is infatuated with all things American and throughout the novel he is constantly reiteratinf this and speaking of how he wants to travel to America to study, etc. This makes Alex unreliable because he could easily distort something that his grandpa said so not to offend Foer. These kind of novels make finding truth in fiction very difficult.
The novel Everything is Illuminated was one my favorite novels that we read this year. Not only was it interesting, it was also beyond clever. The question of moral truth in this novel was very confusing at times. They had slouchers who were slouchers and uprighters who weren’t really uprighters. The way they became classified as these groups of people is really interesting by hanging onto a rope and a bible. I found this interesting because the only reason most of them let go was because of a fly. The other question in moral truth in this novel was about Yankel. Yankel was once run out of the village and was banished. Yet now by the luck of anyone in the entire village he is awarded as the young child’s father especially the fact that his two previous children had passed away. I thought this was funny that they would trust a man they once got rid of with a small child. We come to find out that Yankel was a very loving father.
ReplyDeleteReferring to Yinyin’s response I too thought it was very interesting how the grandfather claimed he was “blind” but still drove. In looking at the subject of narrative truth I began to wonder what he was actually trying to say and maybe he didn’t mean physically blind. He was blind to the fact that he had holes in his life that he needed to fill.
Mark makes an interesting note that I didn’t realize until we went to class and discussed it. I thought that when he was making these statements about getting all the girls and praising himself that he was being serious and thinking very highly of himself. When really he was just picking and making jokes about himself.
I am not a great reader but this book like some of the others we have gone over confused me at times. I didn’t understand why the text and font changed so much. Overall though, the book was one of the more moving and meaningful than the others we have covered. Referring back to my top paragraph. My question for everyone is that do you think that the moral truth was very truthful, or do you think that the moral truth came in a string of lies that helped tell a greater story?
-David Erbacher
Everything is Illuminated is another novel that gives you two stories in one. This challenges and confuses truth in fiction when you have two stories being told at once. These kind of stories one confuse me because I get the stories mixed up but most of all I don't know what to believe when there are two narratives going on.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the story Alex shows that he is a unreliable narrator when he starts describing himself as an attractive character and his relations with women. It makes you think of The Collector because we are introduced to a unrealiable narrator. The problem with this is that the narrator has the biggest influence on a readers opinion of what other characters are doing and how they act in the story. This novel especially over The Collector make you wonder if it is possible for a narrator to tell the truth. I don't think there is such thing as narrative truth but maybe narrative honesty meaning the narrator tells what he thinks or wants the truth to be.
This is shown because Alex likes to make his grandfather seem like the unreliable one when the story teller is the one being dishonest. This novel has made me not want to read books where I have to judge whether the narrator is telling the truth.
Also I'm still not sure even after our class discussions the significance of the hole.
Although I personally don’t like this book, the book “Everything is illuminated” was a great fit for the theme of the unit, the ambiguity.
ReplyDeleteNow, I want to mention about the overall style of the book. Honestly, the content in the novel was not that interesting to me. Briefly, a boy went to travel to find an old lady who saved his grandfather, and he found out that his grandfather was so grateful person. However, the tricks or setting the author used were splendid.
The ambiguity was easily found from the book. The first ambiguity I found was from the names of characters. Alex, Alex’s father and grandfather; all their names was Alex. If the author did not specify Alex, exactly which Alex talks about, then I would not be able to finish this book. Also, Safran was very complicated to figure out whether Jon’s grandfather or not.
Although there was easy foreshadows to be found, the author used a setting in a great way. As another setting for ambiguity, like YinYin talked about, it was Alex’s lying and bluffing about his appearance and position. This led readers into another maze. Even though Alex says true story, there is no creditability to believe in him.
-Ryan Yoon-
The title Everything is Illuminated is ironic. Illumination means bring to light or clarify, yet everything in this book is muddled together because of the language barrier and too many conflicting memories. Alex’s letters to Foer are in broken English. Alex uses words out of context. It seems that he used a thesaurus to use bigger words but uses the synonyms improperly. Many times when people remember an event it adds something to the people who were not there. In Everything is Illuminated, it is the exact opposite. Memory actually leads into another. It becomes hard to know what happened in the past and what happened in the present. The people that live in Trachimbrod are an example of this. They cannot distinguish their memories from one another. The grandfather’s also has problems with his memory. He is constantly reminded of the war, which haunts him every day.
ReplyDeleteEven though the title mentions everything is illuminated it is not. The grandfather is “blind” and has a “seeing eye bitch” named Sammy Jr. Jr. People that are blind obviously cannot see. For the grandfather this could mean one of two things, the grandfather is literally blind or he is blind because he cannot see things in his memory that he wants to. In my opinion, I think it is the later of the two. I think his past experiences, the war, have made him “blind”. He is so tormented by the memories of the war, he does not want to open up and share them.
Ryan Stonaker
Alex is one of the most untrustworthy but likable characters I have encountered this semester. He fabricates everything he tells us but yet underneath all the lies is a kind, scared young man. He makes himself out to be this tall, attractive young man with lots of women, cars and money. We finally see Alex as a young man with goals to move to America and be an accountant and to take care of his brother little igor. He has serious family issues but makes us believe his grandfather is just crazy and his father is just a very strong willed man. In reality, his grandfather is just lonely and sad while his father is an abusive alcoholic. As this story went out I found Alex to grow up and to impress me. I was also happy to see him make a connection with his grandfather and thus let us understand this old man as well. His grandfather was so lonely he would believe in anything that gave him hope in life and would lie to himself just to give himself life. This being the case with trying to locate Augustine knowing that she was long gone. In this book everyone seems to lie not only to eachother but to themselves because living a lie seems to be better than living in reality. All the while Alex, his grandfather and Jonathan were on this journey there were other stories going on in the book. I enjoyed Jonathan’s book about his history and his family. I was not only able to connect with the current characters but also a whole other set of characters. I found it so interesting that everyone lied to Brod about her real life. No one ever told her she was that baby in the river and that she had no family other than her adoptive father. Brod also lied to herself about loving Kolcher. She acted as if she did and went through the motions of love but never truly felt it for him. In the end when it is revealed Alex’s grandfather had a dark past and life no one ever knew about including Alex’s father we see that he had been lying to himself and everyone around him because he thought it was better. Lying is a huge aspect of this novel, everyone had their own personal reasons for doing it some were to protect, to deceive or because it was just easier. Alex lied to us, Alex’s grandfather lied to him and his family and everyone in the village lied to Brod just as Brod lied to her adoptive father and her husband. Maybe narrative truth is what truth seems appropriate by the narrator to share with the reader. Maybe it was easier for us as the reader to picture Alex’s life the way he wanted to rather than as a mess with his lack of self-esteem and his father’s abuse. Maybe Brod knew the entire time of her actual history but Jonathan thought it would be better for the readers to assume everyone wanted to protect Brod.
ReplyDeleteJessica Phillips
When first reading Everything is Illuminated, I felt that it wasn’t very truthful. Alex, seems to be a compulsive liar, and lies about everything that happens. I also feel that because the author is also a character, it takes away from the credibility of the book because it allows him to write whatever he wants to from that characters perspective and we almost HAVE to believe it because he is the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen Alex tells his stories, its almost as if he is living in a fantasy world and feels the need to make everything up. He even lies to people about what happened when those people were there for the actual events. This is what sticks out most to me and discredits the book and the characters the most.
Although Alex is not a truthful character, I found him to be very interesting because of the fact that he is not honest. I also feel that this book in a way defines “narrative truth.” The book makes you believe the narrator because there is no other person to really believe.
Overall, I think the book was pretty good and it was entertaining due to Alex’s fantasy life. I would definitely recommend this book to my peers and I would also read it again because it made me think about the truth and because it challenges the idea of what truth is.
-Ryan Cormack
I really hated this book. I thought parts of it were funny, but it was not an easy read by any means. The letters and chapters were confusing and all seemed to run together, which made it difficult to follow. The beginning was really boring and took me a while to really get into it, but I really did like the part where the couple had to start sleeping in rooms next to each other. I thought it was really odd that they had to sleep separately, but that’s what they had to do so that she would stop being abused. I do believe that something like this could strengthen a relationship. Without sex, some couples find that they have nothing in common, but this couple was able to grow together by just interacting in their conversations at night before they went to bed. The one night that they decided to have sex through the wall was so weird to me. At first I was confused as to what was happening, then there was no other explanation for what was going on. If the couple truly didn’t love each other, this relationship would not have worked out. I’m sure you have heard of the statement, “distance makes the heart grow fonder”; it definitely applied in this story and I truly believed it save their relationship.
ReplyDelete-Allie Nicosia
Everything is Illuminated definitely cured my hangover caused by The Collector. I absolutely loved this book. It is hilarious at moments and downright depressing at others. It is by far my most favorite book that we have read in this class. I love Eastern Europe, genealogy, and chopped up translations of the English language so I wasn’t surprised when I finished this book in record time and instantly wanted to reread it. I even rented the movie not too long ago (which was actually pretty good but only shows about half of what’s in the book).
ReplyDeleteAfter reading a few pages of Alex’s beginning part of the story I realized that he shared the exact same personality as my roommate. He’s not very attractive but thinks he is an Adonis, he is goofy and funny and you can’t help but like him, but you also can’t believe a word that the kid says. I guess, like my roommate, Alex’s imagination and exaggerations sometimes overpower the truth. JSF on the other hand is all about truth. The purpose of his journey to Ukraine is to find the truth and accurately document it so I think we have to take JSF’s word to be factual.
Even though this book was covered in the narrative truth section of class, this book accomplishes several more ideas. I like the fact that while JSF is purposefully searching out his own history, Grandfather is accidentally stubbles across some of his own personal history. We learn that he is responsible for the Nazi’s killing his best friend. Taking off on a tangent from other responses I think that much of this story has to do with regret and longing for things that will never be. Neither of the three men get what they ultimately want but through self evaluation and taking responsibility for their own lives they are still quenched of their desires. Alex wants himself and everything around him to be perfect like other lives he’s read about. He wants a different life so much that in his head he has created a new and improved version of it that causes him to ignore the less glamorous but important aspects of his own life. This is until the end where he stands up for himself to his father. Grandfather acknowledges that after years of internal suffering he had finally found peace (even though he killed himself soon after). Jonathon does not find everything he wants from the trip but through Alex and Grandfather finds out other important things he did not set out to find.
Jeff Kibler
The book gave me a touchy feeling about family. I would like to emphasize and talk more about the relations between the grandfather, Alex, Jonathan, and Lista. Throughout the story, my focus went towards the love and care between all of them. Alex, as a big brother, he tried his best to make little Igor proud of him and never stop on her dream about new life in America. The other person I would like to mention is Grandfather, after he killed his best friend because of his love to his family, I thought he would not be able to love anymore, but then he showed his love by taking care of Alex and Little Igor until he sees them ready to be on their own. Despite the fact that he also might do that because he feel guilty by the way his son treated Alex and Little Igor, but he surely show his love abundantly to these kids by taking care of them until he die. Another example is Lista, she locked herself in her small town and never took any chance to see other world and find better life, because she put herself to be the one that responsible to hold to the memories of Trachimbrod. The last person that I would like to mention is Jonathan, although he is far away from his family, but never lessens his love to them. People might do not recognize these small things, but for me personally when I read a book, story, or anything I would try to seek for the positive side of it. This is a very interesting example to learn from and to discover the love behind every action in the book.
ReplyDeletePoppy Aprilia
In all honesty, I really disliked this book. It made me less appreciative of foreign culture. This is mainly due to Alex's naivety, because I know he isn't the only over there that acts the way he does. Very judgmental of me, I know. On the other hand, however, I laughed several times at the dialogue created by Alex. For instance, the line "I was manufacturing a brick wall of shits" was really funny. It's interesting how different cultures have adopted American expressions but mess up the correct phrasing due to cultural insolence.
ReplyDeleteDuring the book, it's important to note the problem with authority, with respect to Narrative Truth. Alex gains a reputation by the readers as a liar and a fraud, but for some reason we accept this because it is entertaining. Even though his intentions are harmless, he exaggerates upon his looks and sexual identity, discrediting him as a narrator. While this may be a truth, I argue that we can still trust him. The fact that he is being included in such a big project makes me think that he would be truthful and honorable. Other than brief exaggerations, I doubt he would manufacture bold lies about reality other than the embellishments made upon himself. But that is the problem with authority, like I said. I also believe that there is a slight problem with letting people so young narrate. I speak not only about Alex but about Jonathan also. He is a 25 year old. But I ramble.
One part about the novel I enjoyed was the great character development. I think development is a great addition to any book (or movie). Seeing Alex mature from the boy into a man was very pleasing to read about. I think his experience with Jonathan enhanced this. It reminds me a little of a time in my life when I had to stand up to my grandfather and I felt really manly afterward, so I can sort of relate.
One last point I would like to clear up is this: Do most foreign people call female dogs bitches? When Alex called his grandfather's dog his "seeing-eye bitch," I laughed pretty hard. This book didn't do justice for me and I find it hard to evaluate properly with a clear mind.