Choosing a single food item and writing an essay about it that holds the reader's attention throughout is not an easy task to accomplish. However, "Potato Spirit" from the novel "Maps to Anywhere" by Bernard Cooper did just that. As a reader you would go into this reading a bit skeptical because there isn't much to say about just an ordinary potato right? Well that is where Cooper outdid himself. The narrator begins with their almost insane obsession with potatoes and tells the reader about the different views of the potato throughout history and how the potato can represent the worst of times but also the best of times.
"If I were to paint a portrait of my friends each would be posed before a fresh hot potato." To me this goes along with the narrators insane obsession or craving for a potato. All the narrator can think about is potatoes and can't even imagine painting their friends without the presence of a potato.The strange and obsessive passion for a potato caught my attention from the beginning and got me hooked for the rest of the essay. I found myself extremely curious as to my the narrator had such a great liking for potatoes and I needed to find out why.
The essay then goes into the dark essence of the potato and depicts Van Gogh's painting "The Potato Eaters" to give a better image to the reader. The painting shows peasants eating from a bowl with potatoes in a dark area and the narrators claims that the potato "could never appease the growl of human hunger." However, despite going into such dark imagery, the narrator switches to an uplifting mood that claims the potato to be a almost a hero. This is because the potato has been through so much and still finds a way to fill the belly's of the hungry and always thrives on. There is a Potato Spirit in all of us and we must keep moving forward even when times are dark.
really excellent responses here the past few weeks... well done!
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