fiction macroblog #2

You won't believe what I did for this macroblog.

It's time for another visual thing, buddies.

So for this one I chose to do the artistic interpretation, because I love freedom and open-ended prompts.

I decided to take advantage of my struggles with analyzing this book, and instead focus on how goofy and ridiculous it is (because that's the cause of my turmoil). From my imagery post, you may recall that this book has a ton of silly metaphors, similes, and just describes things in the strangest way possible. I wanted to highlight this, as it's a massive contributor to the overall tone of the book.

Most of these wacky comparisons are made either by or in reference to Ignatius- and I wanted to show his perspective on the world. This is because a big part of the book is that Ignatius has a very different way of seeing things, due to his arrogance and relatively higher education. He has a much more extensive vocabulary than the rest of the people in New Orleans, leading to a bunch of fascinating descriptions of people, places, and things. Ignatius is a goofy, unlikable character. His main "thing" is how unlikable he is- he is, after all, the genius that the dunces are in confederacy against.

That brings me to setting, too- New Orleans is a crazy city, perfect for the crazy characters that are met throughout the course of the story.

So I thought to myself, "how can I include all of these goofy metaphors in a way that can be fun and also showcase Ignatius's character and setting or whatever?"

But then I got an idea.

There's this one painting that I like a lot- it's called Netherlandish Proverbs and was painted in 1559 by Pieter Bruegel (the Elder). It's just a big painting that illustrates a bunch of Dutch proverbs in a super literal way. It highlights the ridiculousness of language and how humans portray the world.

For example, one Dutch proverb is "To be unable to see the sun shine in the water," which basically means that you can't see the value in someone else's successes.

Bruegel painted a man who literally could not see the sun in water.

Perfect.

And thus I painted a slightly less-great, less-extensive and less-detailed version of this painting, using nothing but the descriptions provided to me by John Kennedy Toole.

It seemed to be a nice way to capture many things.

1. Ignatius is a wild character, whose great intelligence leads to him perceiving the world and people around him very differently. 
2. New Orleans, as a setting, is wacky. Maybe it doesn't have snake-haired people, but it's still a perfect home for characters that are just as crazy. 
3. The book is funny and ridiculous!
4. The descriptions contribute to the overall aesthetic of goof that this book provides
5. (goof is a fun word)

Try to find each metaphor/comparison in the picture. Some are easier to see than others. Well, most of them are pretty easy to find, and if they aren't then it's probably just because of the way that I drew/depicted it. I'm sorry. 

Here it is:

The things illustrated are (in no particular order):

• "... He was waiting in the warm water in which he wallowed like a pink hippopotamus" (175)
• "This, I should have known, was too much for his literal and sausage-like mind" (228)
• "Like a hen sitting on one particularly large egg" (232) 
• "The Gibraltar of wallflowers..." (323)
• "Her lacquered curls turned into snakes" (275)
• "... sharp Midwestern accents which assailed my delicate eardrums like the sounds of a wheat thresher..." (231)
• "... a depraved specimens of mankind who regularly bowl their way to oblivion" (101)
• "... Those aquamarine fingernails poised like talons" (372)
• "He filled with gas, the sealed valve trapping it just as one pinches the mouth of a balloon" (379)

That's all, really. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, do not regret reading it, and would recommend it to those of you who are interested in some good, lighthearted goofs. 

Thank you.