In Paul Aster’s Man in the Dark, August Brill’s process of coming to terms with himself occurs in three stages. His insomnia at night, his characters he invents, and his interactions with his granddaughter Katya show the various states of his progress. While August is struggling to sleep his thought process and the story he creates a story for entertainment reveal his personal struggles and how he copes with them. Through August’s interactions with Katya, he is able to fully acknowledge his own issues and find a healthy way to cope with them. The novel moves from viewing the world as a fantasy to a more realistic view through this process.
The beginning of this novel is characterized by the ramblings of a depressive insomniac. Through these …show more content…
Brill refers to the antagonistic character August depicted himself as in the story by saying, “By putting myself into the story, the story becomes real,”(102). This character is only discussed; he never directly appears in the story. August’s character is the entire reason a parallel universe is at war because his writing controls everything they do. This demonstrates how August believed that he had a negative role in everyone’s life around him, and how he has still not forgiven himself. There are also many similarities between August and Brick including that both August and Brick cheated on their wives, and at the time, they do not feel extremely guilty about it. They are also both insomniacs, and the idea of suicide is mentioned in both of their lives. Brill mentions a desire to kill himself on page 102. In his imaginary story, Frisk says, “The old man invented you in order to kill him,” (70). Brick responds, “So now it’s a suicide,” (70). Another dimension to this situation is that August puts part of himself into Brill, so he is essentially having a version of himself kill his character, which could also be considered suicide. By placing himself into the story in two different characters, August tries to cope with his problems in an indirect way, instead of facing them head-on
The beginning of this novel is characterized by the ramblings of a depressive insomniac. Through these …show more content…
Brill refers to the antagonistic character August depicted himself as in the story by saying, “By putting myself into the story, the story becomes real,”(102). This character is only discussed; he never directly appears in the story. August’s character is the entire reason a parallel universe is at war because his writing controls everything they do. This demonstrates how August believed that he had a negative role in everyone’s life around him, and how he has still not forgiven himself. There are also many similarities between August and Brick including that both August and Brick cheated on their wives, and at the time, they do not feel extremely guilty about it. They are also both insomniacs, and the idea of suicide is mentioned in both of their lives. Brill mentions a desire to kill himself on page 102. In his imaginary story, Frisk says, “The old man invented you in order to kill him,” (70). Brick responds, “So now it’s a suicide,” (70). Another dimension to this situation is that August puts part of himself into Brill, so he is essentially having a version of himself kill his character, which could also be considered suicide. By placing himself into the story in two different characters, August tries to cope with his problems in an indirect way, instead of facing them head-on