Kate Sisk
Pictures on postcards are usually beautiful, happy pictures of places. The postcards on page 168 in “Jimmy Corrigan” are not quite the same. The descriptions on their backs are sarcastically positive and Chris Ware is poking fun at American society. Through these postcards, Ware questions whether progress was worth it if these postcards are what it has led to, just many sad little towns just like Waukosha. Each postcard’s title is grandiose and filled with similar language because that is how people envision America. But is our progression really any good?
The main thing that stands out when you look at these postcards is their ugliness. “The broad sweep of power lines, the delicate articulation of poles, signs, and warning lights, and the deep forest of advertisements all conspire to occasion countless views of complicated beauty, conceiving wonder in the curious onlooker at man’s great achievement, however ductile” (Ware 168). This is what has become of the land in America. Ware sarcastically calls this scene “complicated beauty,” and uses the word forest when talking about the advertisements. Really, there are no forests in any of these postcards. One postcard’s title is Murmuring Pines, but the forest that once was there is now a shopping facility. People look at what the country has accomplished as achievements, but Ware illustrates that these are not achievements; they are just the results of meaningless progression.
Ware also states the land pictured in the postcard titled Vista has “rich heritage” (168). What he really means by this is that the land can now never have any sort of heritage or personal meaning to it and the only history being left behind is the trash people throw out their window. All the land is is asphalt, power lines, and a gas station. It is not possible for anyone to find any personal meaning in any of these settings. Another postcard this comes up in is Sun’s Farwell Kiss. It pictures a restaurant, like any other restaurant. The darkened “space between the ceiling tiles and the concrete above… which no one ever thinks or cares about” is like the restaurant and the whole town itself. The restaurant is so impersonal it is just a space. People stick their gum under the table because no one cares about it. There is litter all over Waukosha because it feels so impersonal that people just don’t care about it. America has become many little towns just like Waukosha and now people cannot find any personal attachment to this land of asphalt, power lines and chain stores.
The postcard called Silhouette of History is describing the historical events of the start of the town and the importance of the “Treaty Rock,” but all we see is a Dairy Queen. The town is named Waukosha after the Indians who once inhabited the area. The rock is from when the townspeople subdued the Indians who “came from nowhere” with “no regard to society” who were “unruly invaders.” Basically, the town’s history is based on a lie made up to make the townspeople feel better about cruelly taking over land that rightfully belonged to the Indians. It is a false history, but no one seems to care about history anymore anyway, considering the “Treaty Rock” is not even in the picture. Then there is the question: was it worth taking over the land from the Indians? In this picture, we see nothing useful or profound has been done with the land that was taken from the Indians. The Indians were slaughtered and had their land stolen, forests were cut down, and for what? Ware suggests this was all for commerce. In the postcard called City of Perpetual Moonlight, the artificial light can extend the hours of when commerce can take place. Was it worth all the trouble if all that we end up with is a Dairy Queen that no one really even cares about?
Ware is illustrating in these postcards that our country has been mindlessly progressing and therefore, actually declining because of it. Other authors also argue this as well, such as Bill McKibben in “Enough.” We are going too far in technological advances and McKibben is afraid life will start to lose its meaning. Ware shows that this is already happening. Serene Panorama shows that life now is becoming more and more meaningless. It talks about how “intoxicated teenagers have fallen to their deaths” from the water tower. The idea of drunken teenagers recklessly and accidentally killing themselves strongly shows how much more meaningless life has become. The water tower itself represents progress, but what do people do with it? They are not grateful; they cover it with graffiti and litter all around it. Therefore, the progression we value so highly has not brought about anything necessary or much good. We are just pushing blindly forward, but we need to think that maybe another McDonalds isn’t a good idea.
3 comments:
I think that your essay is really well-focused and I liked your use of the images and text on the postcards. Your introduction does a good job of introducing your topic. You might want to change the last sentence in your first paragraph to something like: “But is our progression worthwhile?” (I’m not sure if the words “any good” convey the same meaning of what you’re trying to say, but I could be wrong).
In your second paragraph, I think you might need a transitional phrase before your quote to introduce it and you might want to include that the quote came from the postcard titled “Vista.” Why do you think there are no forests in any of the pictures? Is it simply because the town is barren of vegetation or did corporate America just come in and cut down all of the trees in order to build new shopping malls? You can include your personal views on why Ware purposely didn’t include any trees or forests, even though he talks about them on the back of the postcards.
In your third paragraph, you discuss how people no longer feel attached to the land and how they just litter it instead. Something to think about is why do people continue to live in little towns like Waukosha if they could really care less about “this land of asphalt, power lines and chain stores”?
I agree with your assertion that the people of this town don’t really even seem to care that their history is false since the Treaty Rock isn’t even pictured in the postcard. You give good reasons and evidence of why it really wasn’t worth it if the only end product is a Dairy Queen that no one cares about.
I liked how you brought in McKibben in your conclusion. You might want to see if you can find a quote from “Enough” that talks about McKibben’s fear of life starting to lose its meaning. In your conclusion, you mention another example from “Serene Panorama.” You could give this section about the teenagers accidentally killing themselves its own paragraph or combine it with one of your previous body paragraphs because I’m not sure whether you should be introducing new evidence in your conclusion. (This could be a style/organizational decision). After the buildup throughout your essay, your final sentence doesn’t feel like it correctly summarizes your paper. Are you arguing that we should stop constructing buildings that are worthless and unnecessary, or that our mindless progression isn’t allowing the preservation of historical landmarks that actually matter to people? You also mention McDonald’s in your final sentence but didn’t mention it at all in your paper. Maybe you can include it in the section on “Sun’s Farewell Kiss” because I think the McDonald’s symbol is important and it comes up more than once in the book.
Overall, I thought that you did a very good job of staying focused and showing how Ware is making fun of American society through his bland looking postcards. Just take into consideration why certain things are or are not featured in the postcards and how this relates to your argument about meaningless progression.
Pictures on postcards are usually beautiful, happy pictures of places. The postcards on page 168 in “Jimmy Corrigan” are not quite the same. The descriptions on their backs are sarcastically positive and Chris Ware is poking fun at American society. Through these postcards, Ware questions whether progress was worth it if these postcards are what it has led to, just many sad little towns just like Waukosha. Each postcard’s title is grandiose and filled with similar language because that is how people envision America. But is our progression worthwhile?
The main thing that stands out when you look at these postcards is their ugliness. Ware describes the landscapes in “Vista” saying “the broad sweep of power lines, the delicate articulation of poles, signs, and warning lights, and the deep forest of advertisements all conspire to occasion countless views of complicated beauty, conceiving wonder in the curious onlooker at man’s great achievement, however ductile” (Ware 168). This is what has become of the land in America. Ware sarcastically calls this scene “complicated beauty,” and uses the word forest when talking about the advertisements. Really, there are no forests in any of these postcards. One postcard’s title is “Murmuring Pines,” but all we see is a shopping facility. Ware still talks about the trees even though they aren’t there to show that they were once abundant, but now they have been all cut down for unnecessary shopping centers. People look at what the country has accomplished as achievements, but Ware illustrates that these are not achievements; they are just the results of meaningless progression.
Ware also states the land pictured in the postcard titled “Vista” has “rich heritage”. What he really means by this is that the land can now never have any sort of heritage or personal meaning to it and the only history being left behind is the trash people throw out their window. All the land has become is asphalt, power lines, and a gas station. It is not possible for anyone to find any personal meaning in any of these settings. Another postcard this comes up in is “Sun’s Farwell Kiss.” It pictures a restaurant, like any other restaurant. The darkened “space between the ceiling tiles and the concrete above… which no one ever thinks or cares about” is like the restaurant and the whole town itself. The restaurant is so impersonal it is just a space. People stick their gum under the table because no one cares about it. There is litter all over Waukosha because it feels so impersonal that people just don’t care about it. People believe that progression and commerce is for the best, so they just let it go. But it affects them- it makes their lives feel more meaningless. America has become many little towns just like Waukosha and now people cannot find any personal attachment to this land of asphalt, power lines and chain stores.
The postcard called “Silhouette of History” is describing the historical events of the start of the town and the importance of the “Treaty Rock,” but all we see is a Dairy Queen. The town is named Waukosha after the Indians who once inhabited the area. The rock is from when the townspeople subdued the Indians who “came from nowhere” with “no regard to society” who were “unruly invaders”(168). Basically, the town’s history is based on a lie made up to make the townspeople feel better about cruelly taking over land that rightfully belonged to the Indians. It is a false history, but no one seems to care about history anymore anyway, considering the “Treaty Rock” is not even in the picture. Then there is the question: was it worth taking over the land from the Indians? In this picture, we see nothing useful or profound has been done with the land that was taken from the Indians. The Indians were slaughtered and had their land stolen, forests were cut down, and for what? Ware suggests this was all for commerce. In the postcard called “City of Perpetual Moonlight,” the artificial light can extend the hours of when commerce can take place. Was it worth all the trouble if all that we end up with is a Dairy Queen that no one really even cares about?
Ware is illustrating in these postcards that our country has been mindlessly progressing and therefore, actually declining because of it. Other authors also argue this as well, such as Bill McKibben in “Enough.” We are going too far in technological advances and McKibben is afraid life will start to lose its meaning. “The great danger… of the world that we have built is that it leaves us vulnerable to meaninglessness—to a world where consumption is all that happens, because there’s nothing else left that means anything” (McKibben 46). Ware shows that this is already happening using a symbol for progression in “Serene Panorama.” It shows that life now is becoming more and more meaningless. It talks about how “intoxicated teenagers have fallen to their deaths” from the water tower. The idea of drunken teenagers recklessly and accidentally killing themselves strongly shows how much more meaningless life has become. The water tower itself represents progress, but what do people do with it? They are not grateful; they cover it with graffiti and litter all around it. Therefore, the progression we value so highly has not brought about anything necessary or much good. We are just pushing blindly forward, but we need to think that maybe another Dairy Queen isn’t a good idea. We need to stop this meaningless progression because it is making people’s lives more and more meaningless.
Lauren - excellent and detailed response.
Katie - This is good work. You stay admirably focused on the postcard page(s), showing just how much can be done there - your use of the water tower in the conclusion was especially strong. You have a great eye for both the details of the text and of the visuals (maybe a little better on the text). Excellent focus, excellent use of evidence, good incorporation of McKibben.
Let me play devil's advocate briefly. Think about this great quote which you incorporated:
“the broad sweep of power lines, the delicate articulation of poles, signs, and warning lights, and the deep forest of advertisements all conspire to occasion countless views of complicated beauty, conceiving wonder in the curious onlooker at man’s great achievement, however ductile”
Here's what I wonder - is it possible that, in some way, Ware is partially sincere about all of this? His labored care over details like power lines does, in my mind, create a kind of beauty - even if it's very different from natural beauty. I'm not saying that you're wrong, exactly - I'm just saying that there is some truth, as well as much absurdity, in this language.
I feel like you could have clarified your own views, as opposed to Ware's (or simply clarified the fact that you share all of his views) at the end. You kind of do this with McKibben, but only kind of.
Post a Comment