Portrait of an invisible man, by Paul Auster is a very complex, yet interesting piece of writing. This is a piece in which the author looks back at the past and reflects on the experiences in which he has seen and dealt with concerning his father, Sam. In a sense he is examining the life and death of Sam Auster. Auster describes his father as, “a tourist of his own life.” He was a man that had no emotion and an overall nonchalant attitude towards the world. At first Auster is writing this piece to put closure on the life of his father. Or in fact to settle something that their relationship had not. It was unfortunate, but this was not possible and Auster narrates, “There has been a wound, and I realize now that it is very deep. Instead of healing me as I thought it would, the act of writing has kept this wound open” (p.71).
The sudden death of Sam helps him to return to the memories of his father and come to terms that he was a lonely, invisible man.
His father, did not smoke, he did not drink (59) and was desire less. He never felt the need to indulge or to feel. Auster explains this point by saying, you felt that nothing could ever intrude on him, he had no need of anything the world had to offer (59).
His father was a recluse and isolated himself from the outside world. By writing this piece Auster does not achieve closure, but realizes that his father was not only invisible to the world but he was, most likely invisible to himself (52).
The Essay on Pythagoras Report Died Father World
Pythagoras was born on the islands of Samos, in the Aegean sea. My sources are not sure but they think that he was born around 580 bc and died around 500 bc making him 80 years old. Pythagoras's father was Mnesarches and, his mother was Py thais. His father was a merchant who came from a place called Try, and his mother was native to the islands of Samos. As a child Pythagoras spent a lot of time ...
The memories of Austers father are not set in any specific chronological order. One reason for this is that memories are simply not always in order; they tend to come back to people in a haphazard manner. The detail skips around, but is set in a particular style.
Auster uses the literary device of stream of consciousness. This device is when a write will write his or her thoughts and they will flow and not stop. This is used through out the story. Auster tells the reader that the memories rush through his mind, spontaneously, in a trance like outpouring (94).
This is an example of this literary device. Auster also skips from childhood to death and back again.
He further explains that his memories and account of the story are not in order. Auster elaborates, I have watched my thoughts trail off from the thing in front of me. No sooner have I thought one thing that it evokes another thing, and then another thing, until there is an accumulation of detail so dense that I feel I an going to suffocate (70).
He does not follow a time sequence and jumps from the death of his father and then starts to talk about his fathers secluded old age. Auster then begins to talk about his childhood and how his father was null to any feeling towards him. He then begins to talk about the murder of his grandfather. He concludes the story with thoughts about his fathers funeral.
He had so many mixed feelings that it was, impossible to say anything without reservation: he was good, or was bad; he was this, or he was that. All of them are true. At times I have the feeling that I am writing about three or four different men, each one distinct, each one a contradiction of the others (94).
Auster writes this story using many literary devices. The complex structure of this story has the reader wanting to know what happens next. Auster writes this story to come to terms with the relationship he and his father did not have through out his fathers invisible existence.
