Remember Love

Remember Love

Jody Lisberger

            The three stories we read by Jody Lisberger have a common theme amongst them: suspense. Each story left the reader asking questions from the very beginning, and even as the stories progressed the questions either weren’t answered or were given very vague answers. I had trouble appreciating these stories, however, because the use of suspense left me more confused than “on the edge of my seat” which I think may have been the objective of the author.

            In the first story, Crucible, I had read The Crucible in high school at a similar age as the protagonist’s daughter, so I had a good idea of what it was about. Eventually I got the idea that Sheila was also having an affair, and she must have felt very guilty because of the character her daughter was portraying in the play was, in some ways, similar to her. The idea of this scared her and was a useful device in delaying the answers that the reader desperately craved, a key plot device needed in a suspenseful story. I was still left confused about how the protagonist planned to proceed with her husband; she didn’t appear to have a definite plan.

            In the second story, Bush Beating, the title was very fitting for the actions of the main character Philip, but also fit the theme of suspense. It was again very difficult to tell exactly what happened in the story; even when Philip revealed his recollection of the events he left out important details that the reader should probably know. Telling the story from the perspective of a mother questioning her adolescent son helped Lisberger in developing suspense for the story; it is only natural that a 13-year-old kid wouldn’t want to tell her mom all sorts of things, especially when it involves sex and potential rape. I had difficulty understanding whether or not the “sex” (if we could even call it that. I felt a little bad for Philip) was consensual, although it certainly sounds like it was forced by the way Megan ran away screaming and cursing at the boys. Philip sounds like a boy who has a lot of growing up to do, but exactly what happened that day will forever be a mystery.

            In the final story, In the Mercy of Water, the protagonist takes her sweet time in revealing her sexuality to the reader which is really an important part of the story, and even when it is revealed it is not said so in a direct way; the reader must infer it on their own. Annabel was a character whose sole purpose is to be suspenseful. Actually she is quite a tease; she knows Billy is interested in her and in some ways leads him on. But this is more so a tease to Kate, who feels that there is a serious connection between the two of them. Eventually, or so I think, Kate gets the happy ending with Annabel that she desires, but the character than Annabel is tells me that she is her own person and would have no trouble ditching Kate if something or someone better came up.

Maus & Fun Home

            The mood of Maus was, despite the description of the terrible conditions at the prisoner of war camps, mostly comedic. As ridiculous as that sounds, the dialogue between characters was funny. Vladek and Mala sound like a stereotypical Jew, similar to how Jon Stewart would speak when he is trying to accentuate his Jewish background. This is re-enforced when the discussion of money comes up; Vladek complains that Mala is always asking about his will. Understandably the author probably didn’t use these negative stereotypes in a comedic effort, but that became the result to me.

            The mood when Vladek is telling Artie the story, however, is entirely different. As prisoners of war, Vladek was desperate for normal: he wants a comfortable bed to sleep in, food to fill him, and to spend time with his family. All of this had been stripped from him. After several months of inhumane treatment he is finally freed from the camp, but he is not quite home yet. He still must disguise the fact that he is a Jew, even from the Polish. At this point, the idea of normalcy is almost completely out the window; his safety and survival are his top priorities, but going home to see his family is a very close second. The feeling of love and acceptance that comes with being with one’s family is a feeling he longs for, and it almost sounds like heaven when he is trapped in a prisoner’s camp.

            The imagery in the comic has much meaning to it. I noticed that the Jews are all mice, while the Germans are cats and the Polish are pigs. My lack of world history left me troubled to explain why the Polish were pigs, but the Germans and Jews are very obvious – it was like a game of cat and mouse! The mice had no way to defend themselves, they only feared for their lives while the cats mercilessly slaughtered them.

            Fun Home had a similar mood but in a more tragic way; the protagonist wishes he had a true family. He did in some sense, but the father tortured them in such a way that divided the family. By treating the home as the most important part of the family, and not the family itself, the children felt left out and unloved; they were merely an extension to their father’s physical body and nothing more. It became more and more apparent that their father was not happy with how things were. It seemed that he was upset with himself; like he realized how unhealthy his obsession with restoring the home was. I can only assume that is why he killed himself; he probably realized the damage he was causing his family and felt that it was irreversible. It was sad that he felt this way because no damage is truly permanent, but he must have felt so if he thought it was necessary to take his own life. In this fashion the protagonist felt empty; his father was no longer around but he questioned if he ever really was in the first place.