I read Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada. This story is about a Polar Bear who realizes that she’s been abused her whole life while writing her own autobiography. She is separated from her birth mother to be trained as a circus animal by Ivan. She thought that she was loved by Ivan and even considered him as a relative of hers. However, in reality, Ivan was an inhumane circus ringleader, who abused Polar Bear ever since she was young. For example, she was trained to stand up with a device that would shock if she didn’t stand on two feet. While writing her story, she encountered conflicting emotions where she did not know if she was frustrated about her past, or just melancholy about it.
As this is a story that revolves around her, readers can only conceive information about other characters through her point of view. Her relationship map is shown above, but this map does not include her emotions and perceptions about the other characters. It can only illuminate her interactions and not the contexts between each relationships. For example, the relationship between Sea Lion, who is a human male, is sexual love that goes beyond their special differences. Sea Lion also symbolizes Polar Bear’s last hope for finding meaning in her life. Polar Bear experiences losses of people close to her as she outlives them. She also feels emptiness in her life ever since she retired from her circus-stardom. Although she is active through her political activities, she still feels that she is not as bright as her past. That is why Sea Lion is her last hope, the last relationship she rekindles from her past. This complicated context and emotions do not carry over to the relationship map.
You can interact with the map here.
You put this together really well! it looks great the web that you made and your supporting information was very helpful. Good job!
I really like how you understood that this chart didn’t need to be more complicated. The story is just connected to the Polar Bear, and she is the one who takes on all the love and burden in the story. This chart helps reinforce the concept of the story and get readers to go looking for the additional details hidden in the story.
Thank you for sharing your take on this short story! I found your analysis to be quite interesting and even went on to read it myself. I think you captured Polar Bear’s character, emotions, and relationships very well! I agree, looking at the chart alone one would only be able to see the interactions the main character has with other characters but not context within each relationship which makes the story interesting.
I like how you used a very simplistic relationship chart. The story is definitely centered around the polar bear except I also wish relationships between members were shown. In addition, I agree that one flaw to this chart is that it does not show the nature of the relationship between characters.
Hi! I totally agree with the above commenter in that the chart doesn’t really show the nature of the relationship between characters. However, I think you did a great analysis of this piece as a whole as you really captured important aspects of him as a character. Overall, great post!