SUMMARY OF CHAPTER NINE - A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS PDF

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Summary

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER NINE - A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS A-LEVEL ENGLISH LIT & LANG...

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Key Notes: •

Self-Expression

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Shows Eggers’ Conscience

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Criticises/Evaluates himself.

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Echoes the character of John.

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‘Predatory mentality’.

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Key idea that Toph is once again Dave’s conscience.

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Represents his guilt in playing a part in an irresponsible act.

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Conflict with being a celebrity.

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Allows for the reader to make judgements upon himself.

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Uses Toph as a vehicle to critique his own professional decisions.

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Gives him the chance to voice his misgivings about the way he conducts himself at Might.

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Eggers does not shy away from publicly examining his flaws. Using Toph to talk about how poorly he treated Sari Locker, he presents himself as callous and imperfect. This is one of the reasons he employs meta-narrative techniques in his memoir, so that he can examine himself with an air of objectivity, making it easier to recognize even the most problematic parts of his personality.

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Although Toph doesn’t get to finish his point about Eggers engaging in a “kind of cannibalism,” the idea is worth keeping in mind, since Eggers—as a memoirist— consumes other peoples’ stories and uses them for his own narrative purposes. This is an idea that resurfaces later, especially regarding the guilt Eggers feels in writing about his friends and loved ones.

Key Event Two – Toph’s School Picture (pgs. 321-326): •

Dave explores his guilt and paranoia about Toph through his reaction to Toph’s school photo, which shows him looking very sad.

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Addresses the theme of guilt and responsibility.

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‘Do any of the other kids look sad? The girl whose mom and dad are getting divorced – is she crying? God no…All I do – I changed his sheets last week! All that, he gives me this.’

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Sense of entitlement even from his brother – ‘he gives me this…’

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Use of rhetorical questioning – he is confused as to why Toph is upset, he feels as though he shouldn’t be.

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Not quite grasped parenthood – ‘I changed his sheets last week!’, hyperbolic, he should be doing this as a parent anyway, lack of responsibility.

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‘Please sound normal Toph. You are normal’ – repetition of adjective ‘normal’, wants to be normal, wants Toph to believe he is normal despite Toph having a different childhood to others, desperation to fit in, wants Toph to be normal even though he knows he isn’t.

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‘No, No, No’, ‘This is bad, Unbelievably bad…’ – shows his paranoia, panic and anxiety, he wants Toph to be different, wants his life to be normal.

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Image of the photography – hyperbolic, paranoia about parenting, wants Toph to be safe.

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Idea of escaping – Dave doesn’t want to live in reality, wants to fit into certain groups etc.

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Idea of Dave being a hero.

Key Event Three – Shalini’s Accident: •

A close friend of Dave’s has a fall from a balcony as it collapses.

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He visits her in hospital and explores different reactions to death and illness. He watches different reactions to Shalini.

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Dave is again surrounded by death.

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Shows death as being unpredictable and shows that it is everywhere.

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Symbolism of the bear – connected to Eggers’ mother, ‘the bear is magical’, reminds him of his mother and allows him to reflect on memories of her ‘I think of that funny little voice my mother used…’ pg. 330-331.

End of Chapter: This is the end section of the book. Dave reflects upon the Rich affair and Shalini. He is not comfortable with anything he has achieved and there is a sense of selfcondemnation at the end. He relates Adam to himself and his own desire to share his tragic story. This ends the section of the book in San Francisco. It ends on a note of self-disgust. Eggers used the memoir form to explore himself and has ultimately horrified by what he has found....