The title quote is the oft recognized and oft repeated phrase from television icon Homer Simpson.
While reading Hauptmann's The Beaver Coat, my focus was not so much on Mother Wolff or Kruger or Judge Von Wehrhahn, but on Julius Wolff. There was something about this big oafish man that struck me. Why should I be thinking about him? Who does he remind me of?
Julius is a large framed, grumpy, simple minded kind of guy. He is quick to anger and he attempts to maintain order in his house with threats of violence. Also, it would appear, at least to me, that he is not in as much control of his family as he may like to believe. The authority of the home belongs to the more intelligent and level-headed mother. I perceive Julius Wolff as a slightly more grim version of Homer Simpson.
They definitely share a few similarities. Homer is also a large man of lower intelligence with a penchant for violence to attempt to solve familial problems (though those are pretty much only centered around Bart). Homer likes to believe that he is the head of the house and what he says goes, but he is often subverted by his wife Marge and is set off in a better direction.
I understand that this is not a perfect comparison. Homer has his darker moments (those moments seem to be alike to Julius' personality), but overall he is much more jovial and expresses his love for the family more often than Julius. There are more differences between these two characters that one could dig up. I believe that this would be because Homer Simpson and clan have been around for 25 years. Homer has had plenty of time (and plenty of writers) to change and develop as a character. Julius Wolff was written about once. We only get this one snapshot of him.
It seemed to me during the play that Julius was in control of everyone in his family except his wife. Homer Simpson never really had control of the Bartman and I do not think he ever needed to hit Lisa in order to keep her under control. In the Beaver Coat, the daughters really seemed to fear Julius because he would whip them and they only seemed to talk to there mother because they were afraid of Julius. I agree that there are certainly more differences than similarities when comparing Julius Wolff to Homer Simpson.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting observation, Zach! It's always really cool when you're reading a class assignment and you're able to connect a character or a theme to something more modern. It immediately makes the subject a lot more interesting... and it makes me want to try to find more connections within the text :)
ReplyDeleteAs for there being more differences than similarities, especially on the point of Julius' actual abuse of his family, that's quite obvious. For one, these two characters are set in completely different times. The Beaver Coat is set in a time and place where it was much more acceptable for a man to smack his family around.
Great observation and comments! I would add that we must consider how the domestic violence is portrayed--does it seem like it would be laughable on stage or might it cross the line and come across as abuse? It's all in the theatrical staging (as we discussed before Spring Break), but it seems, Mr. Arnold, that you would favor a more comic performance, right?
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