Tibet Through The Red Box: Story of the Father

In Tibet Through the Red Box, we get the biography of the father from two similar, yet very different point of views. There is the diary, which represents the father's real experiences in Tibet and his own personal feelings during that time. Then, there is the son's memories of his father and the stories that he would tell him from Tibet. The son's stories are magical interpretations of what really happens. Though the story is disjointed because it jumps back and forth from the son's stories to the father's diaries, if you only read the son's childhood stories, it sounds like a fairytale adventure. However, the father's diary always brings you back to reality. Both sides are even pictured differently in the book. When we get the father's diary, the beige color of the pages, the writings on the side, the little drawings, and the handwriting font looks as if it is the father's actual diary. In contrast, the son's stories are on a stark white page, with typed-looking font, always has a picture in a perfectly neat box in the center and the writing is structured the same way with the large title and italicized introduction. The father's story is presented in a very rich, colorful, realistic and inviting way. Whereas, the son's stories sound as if they are coming straight from a story book, rather than being a great experience of his father's time in Tibet. The childhood stories were appropriate for the son's youth but I think in order for him to truly understood the magnitude of what his father experienced, he needed to read the diary. The childhood stories merely sheltered him away from reality, when the diary exposes his father's true emotions and allows him to truly connect with his father's experience in Tibet. For example, when he is writing about his wife Alenka about her birthday, when he is sad that he has not heard from his family or even minor details like having problems with chopsticks.
Kayonnoh Cooper