Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli, is a vast and profound book. It embraces with elegantly the faces of solitude, love and dualism, among so many other aspects. Mainly, I would like to talk about dualism.
This book presents a spectrum of personalities that contrast with the protagonist’s, Asterios Polyp. He is an architect who perceives the world, primarily, in its fundamental shapes. He notices the lines and ignores the form (accented aspect of the characters’ drawings,) in every possible way. He is an atheist, he has a polarized perception, he is skeptic and pragmatic. While being a professor of architecture, he meets a sculptor and they start a very special romantic relationship. Even though they have opposite ways of seeing and experiencing the world, they merge in a Yin-Yang form of relationship. They are the best representation of …show more content…
She, whose name is Hana, is the other face of the coin. She is sensitive, delicate, soft and kind, her sculptures tilt to abstractionism and she perceives the world in forms instead of lines. The author frequently represent their conflicts by drawing the characters differently, she, red colored, has volume and form, on the other hand, he only has blue, transparent and solid lines. Moreover, she isn’t the only opposite to Asterios’s personality, there are many other characters. The first one to appear is Asterios’s twin brother, who died when they were born, and whose memory follows Asterio throughout the story, showing the life Asterios could have had if another path was taken, a life that, speaking of which, is opposite to the one he has. He also meets Stiff Major, a mechanic who embodies the ignorance and ordinary life. Stiff’s wife, Ursula Major, a woman who believe in the energy, the soul and astrological signs. There’s also Jackson, the Major’s son, a little kid who has an hyperactive and mundane childhood. Willy Ilum, an oddity, he is a modern artist with an extreme devotion to
This book presents a spectrum of personalities that contrast with the protagonist’s, Asterios Polyp. He is an architect who perceives the world, primarily, in its fundamental shapes. He notices the lines and ignores the form (accented aspect of the characters’ drawings,) in every possible way. He is an atheist, he has a polarized perception, he is skeptic and pragmatic. While being a professor of architecture, he meets a sculptor and they start a very special romantic relationship. Even though they have opposite ways of seeing and experiencing the world, they merge in a Yin-Yang form of relationship. They are the best representation of …show more content…
She, whose name is Hana, is the other face of the coin. She is sensitive, delicate, soft and kind, her sculptures tilt to abstractionism and she perceives the world in forms instead of lines. The author frequently represent their conflicts by drawing the characters differently, she, red colored, has volume and form, on the other hand, he only has blue, transparent and solid lines. Moreover, she isn’t the only opposite to Asterios’s personality, there are many other characters. The first one to appear is Asterios’s twin brother, who died when they were born, and whose memory follows Asterio throughout the story, showing the life Asterios could have had if another path was taken, a life that, speaking of which, is opposite to the one he has. He also meets Stiff Major, a mechanic who embodies the ignorance and ordinary life. Stiff’s wife, Ursula Major, a woman who believe in the energy, the soul and astrological signs. There’s also Jackson, the Major’s son, a little kid who has an hyperactive and mundane childhood. Willy Ilum, an oddity, he is a modern artist with an extreme devotion to