How does Eggers
present the relationship between him and Toph in Chapters 1-5 of ‘A
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius’
Eggers presents the relationship between his younger self
Dave and Toph as being problematic in
the terms of Dave taking on his brother’s care at a relatively young age, but
the warmth of the brotherly love Dave also has for Toph perhaps lightens the
dysfunctional aspects of their relationship. By using imagery, metaphors and
some amount of foreshadowing in the beginning of the memoir, Eggers
communicates with the various audiences/readers both the positive, redemptive
parts of Dave and Toph’s relationship as well as the more dysfunctional
elements.
In Chapter 1, Toph is only briefly referred to as his shows
are ‘in the washing machine’. It could be interpreted that this is Eggers using
foreshadowing to suggest that Toph will soon be following in Dave’s footsteps,
as well as suggesting that Toph is not yet a large focal point in Dave’s life.
As his shows are being washed, it could suggest that Toph has been outside,
playing around and generally just behaving like a child, whereas in contrast to
this, the various audiences will also see Toph grow up very quickly as a result
of having to live with his older brother after they are orphaned. Further on in
the memoir, the readers can also see the impact of their mother’s illness and
Dave’s lack of responsibility as Toph refers to himself as being the same age as
Dave and his friends by using the collective pronoun ‘our’ (‘Oh, I thought he
was our age’). This is hugely effective on the reader as they have essentially
seen Toph grow up throughout the memoir, and this jolting realisation that Toph
has grown up too much too quickly could make certain audiences, such as
parents, understand more deeply just how Dave and Toph’s situation has affected
them.
Following on from this and Dave’s responsibility of Toph,
Dave is presented by the writer as being in control of many aspects of Toph’s
education, both formally and informally. Dave attends an ‘Open House’ at a
prospective school which shows that he does have some interest in Toph’s
education, however some audiences could argue that as Dave sees this as
opportunity to meet an ‘attractive, single mother’ and ‘score’, Dave is more
concerned about his lack of romantic relationships than the responsible
relationship he should be displaying towards Toph. As Dave teases Toph about
asking one of the mothers out, Eggers uses the repetition of ‘Please, please
don’t’ which expresses Toph pleading tone and how desperately he does not want
Dave to ask her out. But the quotation ‘Of course I won’t’ could communicate to
the reader that Dave is taking advantage of Toph’s innocence and naivety,
specifically the amount of control and influence he has over Toph’s feelings.
As Dave is both Toph’s older brother and parental guardian,
this boundary is frequently overstepped in certain parts of the memoir. However
as a memoir is in itself incredibly personal and reflective of the writer, this
shows the rawness and honesty of Eggers’ writing style although we do know from
the preface that some of the memoir has been ‘entirely reconstructed’ and many
aspects of it has been changed. During the episode where Dave playfully
pretends to fight Toph with a knife, Toph is immediately afraid and tells him
to stop, which could be a representation of the blurred lines between Dave’s
older brother role and his parental role.
From previously in the memoir, Dave is presented as a
protector of Toph, such as in the symbolism of the superhero painting on the
wall and Dave’s fear that something bad will happen to Toph. However the
audiences do see Dave behave in more of a child-like manner such as when Dave
and Toph are playing Frisbee in the park and when Dave introduces Toph to the
band ‘Journey’, saying that ‘in our new world, we will be rocking.’
By using the pronoun ‘our’ and ‘we’, Eggers reinforces the
idea that it is Dave and Toph versus the rest of the world, and that in
contrast to the beginning of the memoir, Toph is now undeniably a huge part of
Dave’s life, a part that Dave couldn’t live without. One of the themes
throughout the memoir has been Dave’s constant paranoia and anxiety that
‘people are watching him’ and that Toph will be taken away by social services.
These pronouns could highlight how isolated Dave feels, particularly as he has
very little help and support when it comes to looking after Toph: their older
sister Beth goes to college a very long way away.
The reference to a ‘new world’ emphasises to the readers how
much their lives have changed, as their whole worlds have been tipped upside
down since they were orphaned. However, the quotation ‘we will be rocking’ is
significant as it communicates Dave’s determination that despite everything,
Dave still wants both him and Toph to have a good life, one that is not
continuously overshadowed by the deaths of their parents.
Despite this, Dave is still very concerned with Toph’s
safety and wellbeing, as he appears to be very anxious over leaving Toph alone
with the new babysitter, Stephen. This could be interpreted as a contradiction
because some audiences may see Dave’s parenting skills as inadequate, so Toph
may be even safer with the babysitter than with Dave. Eggers uses the oxymoron
‘red/black worry’ in regards to his anxiety that Stephen will hurt Toph as the
colour red often has connotations of blood and violence whereas the lexical
term ‘worry’ is much less intimidating compared to, for example, ‘panic’ or
‘fear’. This could communicate to the readers how fixated Dave is on Toph being
killed and Dave’s fear of loss, possibly stemming from the loss of his parents.
This is typical of Eggers’ style as he tends to keep an underlying theme
throughout his texts, and in ‘A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius’, this
theme is most notably death, loss and illness.
