Theme Of Fluctuations And Family In Andre Aciman's Out Of Egypt

Fluctuations and Family
Uncle Vili of Andre Aciman’s Out of Egypt memoir is manipulative and unreliable; he is also innovative, passionate, and a leader to his family. Some aspects of him are central and signature, while others are completely fluid. Vili is made of contrasts in morality, quality, and loyalty. It is difficult to guess who the true Vili is. Does he really, at his core, care about his family? Is he simply using them when it is convenient, or are they important to him but deprioritized because of other factors? How can one make an assessment of Vili’s true motivations and feelings based on his ever-changing masks? An answer to these questions is slippery, because Vili is hardly ever genuine. The fluctuations in his character and …show more content…
He has little success, and is dubbed by the narrator “a counterfeit Vili” (206). What makes Arnaut’s plan any different than Vili’s own, in times past, to move everyone to Japan? This idea is geared for survival, whereas Vili’s was aimed to make a profit off of foreign cars. Should Arnaut’s suggestion not appear more compelling? Yet he is referred to not only as counterfeit, but as “a counterfeit Vili”. This articulates how, to his family, Vili is not only such a strong figure that he became a standard by which others are measured, judged, but also that he alone is qualified to make decisions for them in that manner. At the same time, he is not just a guiding, almost parental figure to the others; he is an absent one. They need him, but resent that fact and therefore resent him. When he is gone, they want him there, and when he is there, they are too busy being angry at the times he is gone. The implication here is that Vili cares much more about his own desires and whims than the family’s needs. This concept is summed up well by the exclamation of “the only Moses we’ve got is Vili, and Vili is busy lording it in England” (164). …show more content…
He always knows what to say, or thinks he does at least, to boost the morale of his family, his troops. When comforting his bereft sister Marta, he says to her, “let’s not abandon hope. We’ll find a way. We’ve survived worse enemies before, we’ll outlive this one too...After all, each of us here is a five-thousand-year-old Jew- are we or aren’t we?” (28). In doing this, he offers solidarity, reminding her that she is not alone; she stands with her family, as well as what he claims to be five thousand years of Jews, whose strength stood every test time could concoct. Vili makes Marta feel powerful, as a brother heartening his sister, as a general heartening his soldier. This skill with words is a powerful thing, making him easily able to influence people. It is easy to see from here how Vili always convinces his family they are capable of feats they would not have believed otherwise, be it in this context of surviving emotional trial or in terms of following a plan of his to make a buck. Perhaps this ability is what makes him a leader. When he actually bothers, he has an intelligence and charisma that inspires trust: in him, and in the notion that everything will be alright. He makes people feel secure, by being such an energy that it seems not only likely but certain that if he is heeded, the natural way of things will dictate triumph for his followers as well. So perhaps