Uncle Dan's Death In Imagine Only Wanting This By Kristen Radtke

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Once we have deceased, will we ever know what life is like? Will we ever know how we affected or influenced someone? Throughout the graphic novel, Imagine Only Wanting This by Kristen Radtke, Kristen uses her Uncle Dan’s death to experience her own. She goes to extreme circumstances to be able to accept her genetic heart condition and her death, as it may be coming soon. Her ability to accept her own death is her ability to see what life would be like after. In the philosophical text, Plato on Love Phaedrus and Diotima examine the ideas of love. This relates to Radtke because she has a deep love for her uncle. She strives for his virtue and wisdom. Her Uncle Dan’s death influence’s her obsession for immortality which relates to what Diotima …show more content…

The ruins are places that are lifeless and in shambles. The ruins represent loss. If the ruins are a town, then the state in which the ruins are located in experiences loss. This idea of loss is very surfaced here. From reading the text once, it seems that the ruins only represent the loss of a place. The people living in that town before the destruction experience the loss of their home. Kristen visits a place called Gary. Gary is completely lifeless and is described as, “it’s like someone pulled a fire alarm and no one ever came back” by Andrew on page 25. When Kristen and Andrew are searching around, Kristen picks up pictures and does not know why they are there but takes them anyway. She did some researching and came to the conclusion that the pictures were of a man named Seth Thomas. Seth had passed away in 2006 by being hit on the Norfolk Southern Railroad Line in Gary. The ruins they visited were Seth’s memorial. This represents not only the state losing the town of Gary, but Seth’s family losing him. When a family loses a member, they may experience loss and grief. This family is now grieving over the loss of a son, brother, and friend. Kristen eventually loses the pictures while on her …show more content…

For Kristen Radtke the person that influences her the most is her Uncle Dan. She strives to make her Uncle Dan happy and also proud. He has influenced her with his wisdom and his ability to achieve greatness. On page 47 Kristen is on the phone with her uncle. On the page there are many speech bubbles with different things she is telling him. She is explaining events and things that have happened to her recently. She tells him about passing her driver test. “I got my driver’s license!” (page 47). This is an example of how Kristen is desiring for his approval. Kristen Radtke admires her uncle and strives to be the best for him. This idea relates to Phaedrus’ Speech in Plato on Love. Phaedrus examines that love is the ability to gain virtue. The ability to be excellent when someone you know is watching you. Kristen desires to be excellent for her uncle. She wants to be able to be the best for him through his ability to guide her. Phaedrus explains “There is a certain guidance each person needs for his whole life, if he is to live well; and nothing imparts this guidance – not high kinship, not public honor, not wealth – nothing imparts this guidance as well as Love” (Plato on Love 178c). Kristen Radtke needs her uncle there to guide her through life. Without her uncle, she has lost virtue and wisdom. She has lost a part of herself that does not want to achieve greatness. She becomes obsessed with

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