2.1.1 James’ s Effort to Building a New Personality
In Heir to the Glimmering World, James’s search for a new personality goes against the imitation of the fixed life normalcy. James is the prototype of the Bear Boy. The Bear Boy is a famous figure in the best-selling picture books Bear Boy books which are drawn and written by James’s father based on an iconic appearance of little James dressed up by his mother. From an early age, James’s life is filled with the Bear Boy, his every move should be acted like the Bear Boy. After the death of his parents, James finally has his chance to choose his own life, so he tries to break with his past to build a new personality away from the imprisoned one. James changes his appearance associated with the Bear Boy, flees from the United States where the Bear Boy is a popularly known figure, and gets rid of everything related to the Bear Boy in his life.
2.2 Falling into the Trap of Imitation
Just as postmodernistic view criticizes modernism that it seemingly opposes imitation but actually practices it, as well as Jewish literature rejects idolatry but asserts “literature as idol”, the attempt to reject imitation in the end falls into the trap of imitation. Ozick depicts how James and Puttermesser both fail to escape the trap of imitation because of the influential inertia of the fixed life normalcy.
2.2.1 The Imprisonment from the Iconized Book Character
In Heir to the Glimmering World, what James is imprisoned is an iconized book character the Bear Boy. The Bear Boy is shaped by James’s parents based on the child James. After the Bear Boy becomes a popular figure in public readership, James’s parents nurture him by copying the features of the Bear Boy. After losing his parents’ control, although James tries to live against the frame of the Bear Boy, he finds himself unable to remove the habits from the Bear Boy.
When his parents are alive, James is forced to imitate the Bear Boy. This command of imitation comes from the huge benefits brought by the Bear Boy. The Bear Boy books make the Bear Boy an idol with a specific appearance. This iconic appearance makes the Bear Boy impressive and famous. In order to gain fame and wealth, James “would have to be the Bear Boy” with the command of his parents (Ozick 2005: 118). When James was “six years old, he had the most recognizable tiny chin and round ears and furry hair and scalloped collar of any child on earth” (Ozick 2005: 49). When readers visit him for checking the true appearance of the famous Bear Boy, James is forced “to stand still and pose” like the Bear Boy (Ozick 2005: 116). At that time, James is the Bear Boy, a boy who is “indistinguishable from folklore” (Ozick 2005: 49). It is only when James imitates the Bear Boy willingly or unwillingly that he realizes that “he would never be Jimmy again, he would have to be the Bear Boy in bucked shoes and long bangs and flounced collars all the rest of his life” (Ozick 2005: 118). It is the first time James realizes that he lives in the shadow of the Bear Boy.
Chapter Three The Imitation Lured by Commercial Profit ................. 36
3.1 Artistic Aspirations to Innovate ............................ 36
3.1.1 Rupert’s Painting Representation for Innovation ..................... 37
3.1.2 Leo’s Music Pursuit for Idiosyncrasy ........................... 39
Conclusion ...................... 51
Chapter Three The Imitation Lured by Commercial Profit
3.1 Artistic Aspirations to Innova
