If anyone ever asked me which book made me wish to be a writer, I would pick Tracy's Tiger. It opened my eyes. I have read it many times, since I was a kid, but I still remember the first time I read the first three sentences. I instantly fell in love, the kind that lasts for life.It is insanely simple and pure.
Every sentence in this book counts. Every time I read it, I have the feeling, that Saroyan stripped the words naked. Simple can be powerful.
The book has similar mojo as the Little If anyone ever asked me which book made me wish to be a writer, I would pick Tracy's Tiger. It opened my eyes. I have read it many times, since I was a kid, but I still remember the first time I read the first three sentences. I instantly fell in love, the kind that lasts for life.It is insanely simple and pure. Every sentence in this book counts. Every time I read it, I have the feeling, that Saroyan stripped the words naked.
Simple can be powerful. The book has similar mojo as the Little Prince, but I have to admit, that I read the Prince much later in my life.In a nutshell, this book introduced me to the independent clause. It made my life easier.Also, there is a tiger, litres of coffee and New York. So it can't get much better.
My literature teacher stated that the tiger meant love. While it probably was true in this case (and mostly it is), I don't think it equals. In my opinion, the tiger stands for the passion, the energy, the soul, the thrill, the will - to live, to matter, to do anything „above the usual”. From the psychological point of view – the motivation. Love is probably the strongest and the most intense source – especially for the target group of this book.
Still, I hold, not the only.Most of the crazy My literature teacher stated that the tiger meant love. While it probably was true in this case (and mostly it is), I don't think it equals. In my opinion, the tiger stands for the passion, the energy, the soul, the thrill, the will - to live, to matter, to do anything „above the usual”. From the psychological point of view – the motivation.
Love is probably the strongest and the most intense source – especially for the target group of this book. Still, I hold, not the only.Most of the crazy stuff I do for women, but there are some, infrequent, exceptions, I like to believe.:-D And Friedrich Nietzsche would probably have something to add, too. A parable, with some clever philosophy and a heavy author voice.I enjoyed this very much, but then I am very fond of Saroyan and very forgiving of author voices and parables.There are a number of moments with the psychiatrist character that are superb. Some genuine wisdom.There's a point at which the main character and another man are confronted together by a stream of journalists and rubber-necking folk.
Many of them want to shake their hands. The other character does not shake their hands A parable, with some clever philosophy and a heavy author voice.I enjoyed this very much, but then I am very fond of Saroyan and very forgiving of author voices and parables.There are a number of moments with the psychiatrist character that are superb. Some genuine wisdom.There's a point at which the main character and another man are confronted together by a stream of journalists and rubber-necking folk. Many of them want to shake their hands. The other character does not shake their hands because he fears he is being mocked.
Tracy shakes every hand offered to him, for he decides that he may as well, for some of them may be sincere, and the ones who are not are hopeless.This struck a chord with me. Those who are not are hopeless. This answer is a way to handle the voice of insecurity, the thought that everyone around you may be judging or misjudging, accusing, or mocking, speaking behind your back when you leave the room, or anything of that variety that you have every feared at any time in your life. He says he approves of you, but does he really? The answer is that you may as well shake their hands, for some of them are sincere, and the ones who are not are hopeless anyway.Someone who is not sincere is lost. They might be able to find themselves later, or in other circumstances, but in that moment they are lost, alone in their heads, and worthy of pity.
When I encounter someone who is clearly not sincere, a part of me wants to spit upon them, and another part of me wants to hug them. Because being lost is worse than being mocked. Tracy's Tiger was a love, isn't it amazing?
What I've learnt is that people have a part of themselves which give them a strength to dare to do crazy things, with they can see the beauty of the ordinary things left unheeded mostly and feel the realest feelings in a real way (with strong roar and sense and soul). I found William Saroyan was interesting person and I want to read more form him. I wonder about what was he thinking while he was writing this book, what inspired him, how his life was, Tracy's Tiger was a love, isn't it amazing? What I've learnt is that people have a part of themselves which give them a strength to dare to do crazy things, with they can see the beauty of the ordinary things left unheeded mostly and feel the realest feelings in a real way (with strong roar and sense and soul).
I found William Saroyan was interesting person and I want to read more form him. I wonder about what was he thinking while he was writing this book, what inspired him, how his life was, what kind of person he was. I think I want to talk to lot of dead people.
Saroyan is one of my favorite people. I'll read anything by him.
Turns out that this is one of his very best stories. It's got all the goods: strangeness, sincerity, love, madness, excitement, hope, sweetness. I'd love to read the version with illustrations (I read this out of the William Saroyan Reader).One of my favorite parts is when the 'psychiatrist' from Vienna sits down to talk with Thomas Tracy about his tiger. Lovely:'Ah ha.
Work,' said Dr. 'I hate work. I hate psychiatry. I Saroyan is one of my favorite people. I'll read anything by him. Turns out that this is one of his very best stories. It's got all the goods: strangeness, sincerity, love, madness, excitement, hope, sweetness.
I'd love to read the version with illustrations (I read this out of the William Saroyan Reader).One of my favorite parts is when the 'psychiatrist' from Vienna sits down to talk with Thomas Tracy about his tiger. Lovely:'Ah ha.
Work,' said Dr. 'I hate work. I hate psychiatry. I.always. hate work. I like fun, play, imagination, magic.'
'Why do you work, then?' 'You understand psychiatry?' Psychiatry, no,' Dr. Pingitzer said. 'People - little bit.
Little, little, little bit. Every year, every day - less, less, less. People is difficult. People is pain, people is sick, people is mad, people is hurt, people is hurt.people., is kill, is kill self. Where is fun, where is play, where is imagination, where is magic? Psychiatry I hate.
People I love. Mad people, beautiful people, hurt people, sick people, broke people, in pieces people, I love, I love. Why is lost from people fun, play, imagination, magic?
Is love, this money. Is beauty, this money. Is fun, this money. Where is money? I do not know. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,Whimsical and fun.
But I am lost. I think that I might have understood in high school English class. I don't understand it now and it makes me feel a bit like an adult who has grown up and cannot see fairies, leprechauns and Santa Clause.Tracy is a young man who recognizes a need for a tiger. In his teen years he encounters a black panther at the zoo and recognizes it as his tiger.
Never mind that it is a black panther. The rest of the book is about his early employment, meeting a Whimsical and fun. But I am lost.
I think that I might have understood in high school English class. I don't understand it now and it makes me feel a bit like an adult who has grown up and cannot see fairies, leprechauns and Santa Clause.Tracy is a young man who recognizes a need for a tiger. In his teen years he encounters a black panther at the zoo and recognizes it as his tiger.
Never mind that it is a black panther. The rest of the book is about his early employment, meeting a girl, losing the girl, moving away, coming home. All with his tiger. He is self confident and this appears to have something to do with the tiger. What does the tiger represent?
Halfway through the book we encounter a second tiger. The girl has a tiger and their two tigers play during their brief romance. Later, when he is sent to a psychiatric facility, all the patients have tigers who are in various states of decline. Very depressing.
What are the tigers? - Throughout the book the tiger(s) are unseen by everyone but Tracy. Then one day he is in the city and his tiger is seen. The police shoot it and it flees, wounded in a forepaw. The tiger is missing for days. This is when Tracy is committed to the psychiatric center.
The city is in turmoil because they know a wounded tiger is on the loose. They release Tracy to help find the tiger. He recreates the work situation he enjoyed in his youth, becoming more robust as the day goes on. He finds his tiger. He finds the girl.
As he goes off with the girl, the tiger is gone. The final line is 'That is the story of Thomas Tracy, Laura Luthy, and the tiger, which is love.' In some reviews I've seen that people identify the tiger as representing love. I don't think that is correct. The final sentence defines the whole story as love. If the tigers represented love, why did he find his tiger at an unromantic moment in his teens? Why was the tiger integral to his self-confidence at work?
Why was it called a tiger but is really a black panther? Why didn't other people have tigers before his discovered the tiger of his girlfriend?
Why did the patients at the psychiatric ward have decrepit tigers? Why were people suddenly able to see his tiger and drive it off?Here is a try. The tiger represents the facade that we erect to go through life. He does not recognize the facade of others because. Effective facades are invisible. As he falls in love with Laura, he sees her for who she is and recognizes her facade. When he returns to town, his facade crumbles, represented but the image of people attacking the tiger.
He is committed to the psych ward. There he sees people with crumbling, decrepit facades. He is released.
He seeks to reconstruct his facade and succeeds. But in the process he connects with Laura. With true love, he no longer needs his facade.There! That interpretation might earn me a grade of B in high school English. But this interpretation definitely stands between me and restoring my ability to see fairies and leprechauns. I really liked this book. In my eyes, it's one of those books that makes you go like 'oh wow, my point of view is a bit different than it was before!'
The language is simple yet nice, which is the essence of making this book light and pleasurable to read even when the process isn't the happiest. I know people out there, who have tigers full of life such as people whose tigers are probably sick and hidding somewhere. This book kept me wondering how my tiger looks like, in case I have some. And I really liked this book. In my eyes, it's one of those books that makes you go like 'oh wow, my point of view is a bit different than it was before!'
The language is simple yet nice, which is the essence of making this book light and pleasurable to read even when the process isn't the happiest. I know people out there, who have tigers full of life such as people whose tigers are probably sick and hidding somewhere. This book kept me wondering how my tiger looks like, in case I have some. And I definitely hope that I do:). Im still not completly sure if I understood the point of this book but I guess i liked it. Beautiful and stunning illustrations.
One star down only because of the lenght and complexity of the plot. Anyway a great book for relaxing and taking a break from long and complicated books.:) I´m still not completly sure if I understood the point of this book but I guess i liked it.
Beautiful and stunning illustrations. One star down only because of the lenght and complexity of the plot. Anyway a great book for relaxing and taking a break from long and complicated books.:). William Saroyan was an American - Armenian author. The setting of many of his stories and plays was Fresno, California (sometimes under a fictional name), the center of Armenian-American life in California and where he grew up.Saroyan was born in Fresno, California to Armenian immigrants from Bitlis, Turkey. At the age of three, after his father's death, Saroyan was placed in the orphanage in William Saroyan was an American - Armenian author.
The setting of many of his stories and plays was Fresno, California (sometimes under a fictional name), the center of Armenian-American life in California and where he grew up.Saroyan was born in Fresno, California to Armenian immigrants from Bitlis, Turkey. At the age of three, after his father's death, Saroyan was placed in the orphanage in Oakland, California, together with his brother and sister, an experience he later described in his writing. Five years later, the family reunited in Fresno, where his mother, Takoohi, secured work at a cannery. He continued his education on his own, supporting himself by taking odd jobs, such as working as an office manager for the San Francisco Telegraph Company.Saroyan decided to become a writer after his mother showed him some of his father's writings.
A few of his early short articles were published in Overland Monthly. His first stories appeared in the 1930s. Among these was 'The Broken Wheel', written under the name Sirak Goryan and published in the Armenian journal Hairenik in 1933. Many of Saroyan's stories were based on his childhood experiences among the Armenian-American fruit growers of the San Joaquin Valley, or dealt with the rootlessness of the immigrant. The short story collection My Name is Aram (1940), an international bestseller, was about a young boy and the colorful characters of his immigrant family. It has been translated into many languages.For more info see.