FREEWRITE:

ASHER IN THE REAL WORLD

As I read Asher Lev, I often thought about real world experiences of myself or others. The connections to real life were endless, which in a way I guess shows that even though Asher and I come from very different cultures, that really in doesn’t mean that we can’t be similar people, or people that understand each other. And the relationship to real life were not simply in Asher’s art, and the life of artists. Quite the contrary, in Asher I saw in myself the same everyday type ideas and occurrences, that helped me connect with the story. The following are ways in which I saw the real world in Asher….

THE WAY I PERCIEVE ART:

The most obvious thing for one to connect to is Asher’s art, and this I did. Perhaps it was because I like to draw, and occasionally paint something myself. Perhaps it was because I am also a rather creative person. (In my mind at least.) But whatever the case is, I see art much the same way as Asher. Often I will have a feeling or idea that I would very much like to put down on paper because the feelings are strong, or vivid in my mind. The problem is, that once you actually try a "feeling" is incredibly hard to put down on paper, or canvas, or whatever. Often I will have some sort of idea, and I’ll be like "Oh, I have to draw that!" or "Oh, I have to write that down!" (Literature, being a form of art also fits in here I guess.) But then when I try to draw it, or write it etc. I realize I have absolutely no clue how to actually do that, so I just kind-of let that idea drop. For I can’t be quite that abstract, my ideas need more form for me to put them down. Often however, I will put that idea down later on, on accident, in a story that I write etc. I never really plan my stories out before hand, I just kindoff write them as I go along, but often I will look at something after I wrote it, and find something rather cool I hadn’t even intended to be there.

THE WAY I THINK:

I also saw often in Asher, similarities to the way that I think. By this I mean the way I think in general. I found this the strongest in the part where Asher keeps finding himself thinking about very small little things while people are taking to him. For example he would notice the crack on his wall when people were yelling at him. Similarly, while someone is talking to me etc. I will (not purposefully) start to notice interesting little things about their clothes, or the way their face moves, or perhaps some little thing behind them etc. It doesn’t happen to me near as much as it happens with Asher, but it happens nonetheless. Also, the things I notice aren’t always physical. Like I might be listening to what they are saying, but then something rather unimportant that they say sets off a large chain of thoughts in my mind, and I start thinking on that, before I inevitably realize that I’m not paying attention to what the person is saying. This must make me sound like a very bad listener, but really it doesn’t seem to hamper my listening very much. One recent example I can think of is when I was listening to my teacher tell another student about how to write a story. For some reason I was listening intently, but then the teacher said “"and every story has a narrator"” and all of a sudden my mind was like "Wait! What if a story had two narrators?" and that pretty much set off a huge thinking chain inside my head, and ended up being the basis for my story, The Understanding. That example is not quite the same thing that I was describing, but it is very similar. I guess in the end what I am saying, which is similar to Asher; is that most "interesting" things (ideas, topics etc.) that I come across, I come across by accident.

STEVEN SPIELBERG:

One Person, who’s life came to mind several times while reading Asher Lev was that of Steven Spielberg. His life, and his work (Movies, which are very much a form of art.) bears many resemblance’s. Similar to Asher, early on Steven didn’t really like being Jewish much, and viewed it as a bit of a curse. He saw how much easier life would’ve been for him if he hadn’t been Jewish. Like Asher, he had many disagreements with his father, and they really didn’t understand each others ways. Similarly, his mother was the one that guided him, that he could connect with, much like Asher’s mother. Asher came a bit earlier, but both grew up in the years shortly after World War II, and the holocaust, which shaped their lives. Even their "art" bears it’s similarities. For just as Asher did the Brooklyn Crucifixion, Steven Spielberg has done some films that focus on Christian topics, even glorify to some extent some Christian items etc. The best example of this is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which apart from the name itself, focuses on the Holy Grail. Yet also similarly, in both of these cases neither Asher nor Spielberg was trying to destroy their culture, quite the contrary. The Story of My Name is Asher Lev seems like it could almost be turned into a biography of Steven Spielberg with a few changes. However, fortunately, Steven Speilberg’s story has a happier ending, as he now accepts his culture as a "blessing" and as far as I know nobody turned against him for the Indiana Jones movies.

So, in the end My Name is Asher Lev can be seen in real life all over the place, not just in the topics already discussed but in other places as well. Such an example would be the "Father vs. Son" theme which is not only in very, very many works of art, but is true to real life as well. There are many other such examples, in Asher Lev, but they cannot all be written on here. In the end, My Name is Asher Lev seems not to be only the story of Asher Lev, but in many ways, all people.