While it had its moments, I had a difficult time getting drawn into Mad Toy. However, while I didn't enjoy the book last week because of the writing, I really enjoyed Arlt's writing style this week. My main issue with the book was that I just couldn't sympathize or enjoy the main character, Silvio. However, my lack of enjoyment for the book as a whole due to the main character did get me thinking about what makes a main character likeable, whether or not they need to be likeable to enjoy a book, and what the role of a main character is in a novel in general.
From the beginning, I didn't really know what to expect from Silvio. His life in poverty made me want to sympathize with him, however, his perspective and opinions made it hard for me to do so. Silvio rode an interesting line for me where he didn't go into an extreme villainous role which would have made him interesting, but he also didn't really challenge his environment positively in a way that was very engaging to me as the reader. Particularly, I had difficulty concerning his laziness and just general disrespect/annoyance to those around him. For example, at the beginning of chapter 2, he is painted as a very lazy person who doesn't want to seek out work to help his mother. This to me is a very trivial/boring character arch that gave me difficulty sympathizing with Silvio's situation. While he did change for the better as the novel went on, he still just didn't read to me as very likeable. At the beginning of the novel when he said that "joy widens our souls when we break the law and enter smiling into sin" (40), I was getting ready for a dark, psychologically challenging main character, but as the novel went on I found myself disappointed in how he developed.
By the time I got to chapter 3, my opinion of Silvio changed a bit for the better as he placed more importance on his intelligence and seemed to grow more as a person, I became a little more invested. However, considering this was nearly at the end of the novel, it brings me to question the role that main characters play in literature either in enhancing the novel or inhibiting it. Do main characters need to be super engaging and/or likeable in order for the novel to be good? I don't necessarily think so, but for me to enjoy the novel I need to at least be made to care about what they are doing. I didn't really feel much of a connection to Silvio, hence I had a hard time getting into this book.
Question to the class: What did you think of Silvio as the main character? Do you think you would change your perspective about him if he didn't come from a background of poverty?
Also...does anyone know where the name Mad Toy comes from in this book? Hahaha
"thinking about what makes a main character likeable, whether or not they need to be likeable to enjoy a book, and what the role of a main character is in a novel in general."
ReplyDeleteYes, these are good questions. Do we have to sympathize with a character? Is this because we try to identify characters, to write ourselves into a book? Does Arlt try to persuade us to sympathize with Silvio?
Personally, I find that Silvio is a compelling main character in his journey to find himself as a person. He continuously tries to pursue his dream based on his fictional heroes from childhood and is ultimately faced with a dilemma between that or his morals. I'd say that a character's temperament is heavily influenced by their surroundings - so Silvio's perspective would certainly be very different if he didn't come from a background of poverty (which in turn, would change our perspectives on him as well).
ReplyDeleteHi Julia, Thanks for your sharing. To be honest, when I first read the initial part of the novel, Silvio's and his friends' acts of theft made me quite repulsed. However, as I continued reading, my perception of him changed. He began making efforts to improve his life, striving for better employment opportunities, and he didn't drift further down a negative path. I even find myself admiring him a bit, as despite growing up in such a harsh environment, he still holds onto his dreams.
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