Childhood In Fences And Lotus

A person’s brain develops during their childhood. The environment in which one is raised and the events that take place allow a person to form a perspective in which they perceive the world. Both August Wilson’s play Fences, and Hege’s graphic novel The Adventures of Tintin, The Blue Lotus, are clearly influenced by their author’s childhood experiences. These authors use people who have influenced their life greatly as a basis for supporting characters, while also reflecting parts of themselves into a singular character.

Born and raised by two parents in Brussels, Belgium in 1907, Georges Prosper Remi, commonly known as Herge, characterized his childhood as being “dominated by a monochrome gray. ” Remi went with his family to a Roman Catholic Church every Sunday and was also educated by Roman Catholic Priests. He was a particularly academically talented young child who was always engrossed in adventure novels and fascinated by comedic cinema. While Remi was in his first years of school, Brussels was occupied by the German Empire during the First World War. In this time, he became fascinated with other countries and cultures to such a degree that he began doodling soldiers onto his school notebooks. Thus, beginning his comic book career.

When he entered his teenage years, Remi participated in boy scouts where he became a leader of his group partly because his fellow scouts admired him for his artistic talents. Remi went on to craft short graphic stories which he shared with other Christian cartoonists. The adventuresome stories he wrote began to morph into political propaganda with not so subtle racial prejudices.

In The Adventures of Tintin, The Blue Lotus, Remi (Herge) expresses his own prejudices about the Japanese whi...

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...if” scenario.

Fences allows us to see the “coming of age” portion of Cory’s life. A phase that I believe Wilson sees as a very crucial phase of life and holds very close to his heart. Wilson, as a child, took matters into his own hands to succeed in life. His determination allowed him to educate himself just like Cory’s determination got him recognized by college scouts.

Remi and August Wilson are writers with extremely different styles, yet both of their work carries a great deal of material from their childhood. What happens to a person during their youth is crucial for the development of their personality. Every person is shaped by various events or situations that make he or she consider certain values more important or relevant. These values, when expressed, are what captivate readers and allow one to experience a story through someone else’s perspective.