Romulus, My Father

Introductory activities

It’s not enough to show us what a man does, you need to show us who he is… 

(Citizen Kane)

…we tell a story that can provide an answer when someone asks, ‘Who was this person?’

(After Romulus, Gaita, p. 111)

Understanding the form

The text Romulus, My Father is categorised as a memoir in this website and in the attached essay.

What do we expect of a life story?

Autobiography, biography, memoir, life story – all the genres are linked and yet they are distinctive. Write what you think each term means.

Consider these statements and what each is saying about the purpose of life writing:

• The self comprehends its own life. (Wilhelm Dilthy)
• Our past is evoked to make sense of a new relationship between the present, past and future. (Wilhelm Dilthy)
• The self comprehends its own life in such a way that it becomes conscious of the basis of human life, namely the historical relations in which it is interwoven. (Wilhelm Dilthy)
• The unification of different stages of life… is the task set for human beings. (Soren Kirkegaard)

There are countless reasons for the writing of autobiographies and biographies. Many autobiographies are a reaction to a moment of crisis such as disability or a death. Some are written for a political purpose and seek to examine national identity or race through an exploration of personal identity. Others are composed in an attempt to try to understand the past and different times. Some are written in an attempt to make sense of a life and to show growth. Autobiographies may be written to share a culture or experiences different from ‘the normal’. They may be written to give another side to a story or as a reaction to a previous autobiography which it was felt created a ‘false’ truth. It may be because new evidence has been discovered or released. In ancient times biographies were about the lives of famous people, those with a public profile. There was an attempt to find out what it was that made that person famous, but nowadays we are just as interested in what it is that makes the everyday person live a good life. Modern life writing is an acknowledgement that everybody is a part of their context and everyone’s story is important.

Task

Students can:

• Find definitions of biography, autobiography and memoir.
• Read the essay by Klari Gislason that is on this website. They can consider how memoir is defined by Gislason and what he believes is the impact of the form on meaning in the text.
• As students read Romulus, My Father they should consider what is the purpose of this text.

Pre-reading activity

1. Working in groups students could use the images of of childhood letters (provided below with permission from Raimond Gaita) to speculate about the boy, Raimond.

• What might be the child’s interests?
• Why would he be writing to his mother?
• Why would they be separated?
• Who might this person Mitru be?
• Why do you think he changes from writing in German to writing in English?
• What information can we glean about the child’s life from the pictures?

2. The ideas generated by the group could form the basis for an individual writing task where students imagine the boy, an incident and characters in his life, embedding the letters in some way in the created text.

1953: to Mitru

1953: to his mother

1953: to his mother

1954: to his mother

NB: All of the above letters, reproduced with permission from Raimond Gaita are available for classroom use in this attached document (PDF, 922KB).

The writer’s craft

Plot

Even life stories follow a plot – often this is chronological as we see in this book, but given that the book is written after the events have occurred, it is from a perspective of experience and of reflection where events are seen in a new way with the benefit of hindsight.

Task

Find comments and references that show that the author is looking back and reassessing events with new insights.

Parallel plots

This book may be called Romulus, My Father and may start and end with the father but it is also a story of the son, the author. It is an attempt to make sense of a life through a highly significant father-son relationship.

Task

In many ways the plot operates as two parallel plots; we hear two stories – the story of the father and the story of the son. Construct two columns and map out the specific events of the two plots. A brief overview is offered below:

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Genre: a tragic plot  

The author makes clear that he was attracted by tragedies as a child and in many ways the story of Romulus can be seen as a tragedy. Raimond Gaita writes:

[T]ragedy, with its calm pity for the affliction it depicts, was the genre that first attracted my allegiance: I recognised in it the concepts that had illuminated events of my childhood. They enabled me to see Mitru, my mother, my father and Vacek, living among his boulders, as the victims of misfortune, in their different ways broken by it, but never thereby diminished. That is why my heart broke when I saw my father in the ward… shrunken and bewildered. (pp. 124–125)

He sees his personal setting as part of the tragedy when he comments that:

Religion, metaphysics or the notions of fate and character as they inform tragedy are suited to that light and landscape [in Frogmore]. (p. 124)

Another essential element of the classical Aristotelian model of tragedy is Fate and if we read the book closely we see this is clearly part of the life story. In Chapter 1 (which can act as an epilogue to the story) the grandmother sees a vision of Christina’s future in that, ‘This child I am carrying will suffer.’ (p. 8). Later, in his moments of mental instability, Romulus becomes obsessed with what the omens tell him to do (p. 142). Whether Romulus has a flaw (hamartia) or not is open for discussion. Is he too proud? Perhaps his flaw is his lack of self-knowledge (anagnorisis). Self-knowledge is an understanding that typically tragic heroes need to reach, but in this case the author questions the ‘lack of self-knowledge’ in a man who was otherwise so ‘scrupulously honest’:

Despite the paradoxical nature of the fact that the same man can simultaneously be deceiver and deceived, the concept of self-deception goes so deep in our culture that it never occurred to me that someone might simply not possess it. … In a man for whom truthfulness mattered so much this was a pathetic state of affairs. (p. 147)

That Romulus, My Father can be read as tragedy is made even clearer by reading Arthur Miller’s essay on ‘The Tragedy of the Common Man’. Miller explains the connections between the traditional and the modern views of tragedy and extends the idea of the classical tragic hero, from a ruler or high ranking aristocrat, to a tragic hero befitting our modern age, the common man. What Miller sees as the defining feature of the tragic hero is that he ‘demonstrates the indestructible will of man to achieve his humanity’. If we accept Miller’s definition that tragedy is ‘the consequence of a man’s total compulsion to evaluate himself justly’, then we see clearly that Romulus’ life as drawn by his son Raimond is a tragedy. Romulus’ insistence on character as the measurement of a man’s worth, especially as this is applied to himself, fits in with Miller’s description of the tragic hero.

Miller also insists that, unlike the modern definition of tragedy as an event ‘of necessity allied to pessimism’, or as ‘a story with a sad or unhappy ending’, that ‘in truth tragedy implies more optimism’. Tragedy, he argues is ‘the belief-optimistic, if you will, in the perfectibility of man.’ To see this story as a ‘sad’ story ignores the very positive ‘optimism’ that is clear at all stages of the book. The tragedy becomes a celebration of humanity, because it shows the strength of the individual to maintain integrity in difficult circumstances.

Tasks for students

The Classical Greek tragedy appears more rigid in its structure and dramatic conventions than Romulus my Father. It is worth, however, mapping the plot of the memoir against the classic tragic plot. Use these definitions of tragedy and the graph of Aristotle’s understanding of tragedy to answer the questions below.

1. Find out what the terms on the tragic plot mean and then map out the events of Romulus’ life against the Aristotelian tragic structure graph. Do you agree that this book can be seen as a Greek tragedy?
2. Now consider the stories of Raimond and Christina – map out their lives against the graph. To what extent can their stories be regarded as part of the tragedy?
3. Do you think the book offers us, as Miller says ‘the belief-optimistic, if you will, in the perfectibility of man.’
4. Go to the notes from Richard Roxburgh who directed the film of Romulus, My Father. He writes ‘We follow the boy’s journey through seemingly insuperable tragedy’. Why does he think this is a tragedy? Does this fit in with Miller’s or Aristotle’s definition of tragedy?

NB: Gaita discusses the idea of tragedy and Roxburgh’s interpretation of the book as such in his essay ‘From Book to Film’ in After Romulus. He states, ‘Seen from the perspective of a tragic sensibility, the film invites us to sorrow for Christina in considerable part because of the nature of her morally-toned sufferings, just as the classical Greek tragedy invites us to sorrow over Oedipus, the blameless wrongdoer.’ (p. 162)
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Characters and characterisation

Characters in novels imitate real life – they are created through characterisation, the attribution of human qualities as responses to events and other characters, to explore an aspect of humanity.

As a memoir, the characters are based on real people; but even life writing borrows from the creativity of fiction. People are seen as representing values, so events and relationships are selected to illustrate those values that the author wants us to see in the person being depicted. In After Romulus, Gaita acknowledges the importance of values in Romulus, My Father, which he says ‘is written in a narrative genre that is shaped by the perspective determined by my father’s values’. For example, most of the people close to the Gaita family are described as ‘educated’ which clearly becomes a value that Gaita is conveying in his book. His father loved learning but ‘missed out on a scholarship because of a poor postal service’ (p. 3), his mother was ‘well-educated’ and studying chemistry (p. 6), the two Hora brothers were also ‘well-educated’ (p. 14) – even Vacek is well-educated ‘for the times’ (p. 67).

In this book, an even more important measurement of the worth of a person is their moral values. Raimond Gaita’s account of his father is very much about a man of integrity who maintained his self-respect by abiding by an unwritten set of rules about good and honest behaviour.

Tasks

1. Students complete the diagram below to build up a picture of Romulus Gaita.
2. Students can work in groups and focus on two chapters per group and then share their findings so the table is comprehensive.

3. When the table is completed students write a paragraph about the way Romulus has been represented in the text.

4. Students form groups. Using the same table, each group focuses closely on another character, choosing from Christina, Mitru, Hora, Vacek, Raimond, and shares their findings. They synthesise their information to answer the question: What aspects of character does each of the characters represent?

5. The growth of Raimond from a boy is very much at the heart of the book. As the book progresses he says, ‘my relationship with my father had changed because I had asserted my independence’ (p. 155). Students should trace Raimond’s growth and the impact of other people on him.

Ways of reading the text

The different world view of the mid-twentieth century is often used as a justification in this book. Many events and attitudes are seen against a backdrop of their times with the people as victims of their times. In many sections, Australia is set against Europe to show the significance of Australian beliefs and ideas against those of the wider world.

Context

The author’s context

Raimond Gaita is a distinguished philosopher who was Foundation Professor of Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University, Professor of Moral Philosophy at King’s College London and is now Professorial Fellow at Melbourne University. His work has had an impact worldwide as it reflects on all humanity. His father’s life story is as much an illustration of the growth of Gaita’s belief system as it is of the life of Romulus. Through the life of Romulus we gain insight into the formation of the identity of the philosopher. Gaita acknowledges the impact of his father on his own life story, saying:

The philosopher Plato said that those who love and seek wisdom are clinging in recollection to things they once saw. On many occasions in my life I have had need to say, and thankfully have been able to say: I know what a good workman is; I know what an honest man is; I know what friendship is; I know because I remember these things in the person of my father, in the person of his friend Hora, and in the example of their friendship. (p. 74)

Like all philosophers Raimond Gaita is interested in what it means to be human, what we value, what is moral and good and how we live our lives. The titles of his books show that he has a wide range of beliefs on: how we think about right and wrong, how we treat animals, how morality fares in war and politics and what we believe about emotions such as love and truth, justice and multiculturalism.

Task 

Students should:

1. Find out what a philosopher does. What comments in the book sound like a philosopher’s comments?
2. List the titles of Gaita’s books. Next to each, write an idea of what the subject sounds like – they might want to read reviews to get more ideas. When they have read Romulus, My Father they then add any references to these ideas that they find in the memoir.

3. Read the interview with ‘Raimond Gaita on Romulus, My Father and Belonging’ (PDF, 2MB) (Metaphor, Issue 1, 2009) for more information about the author’s life.
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The migrant context

The author has made it clear that this is not a migrant story. The context of immigration is merely a backdrop against which the events of a life take place. There are, however, comments about the changing face of Australia due to immigration. There are also comparisons with life as an Eastern European. The migrant story therefore offers a social and historical understanding of Australia from the 1950s, as New Australians came with different values and understandings of the physical world.

Stages of the immigrant journey:

Task

1. In order to understand the context students can google images of Bonegilla migrant camp or go to:

Objects through time 1945–1965, Migration heritage centre

2. Students can find examples of each of the above stages of immigration in the book.

3. Tracing the migrant journey in the book.

Students can use the following table (which they can also add to) and then answer the questions that appear below:

Romulus, My Father: Not one book but a suite of texts

The book Romulus, My Father cannot be considered alone – it is part of a suite of books that become self-referencing and reinforce the legacy of the father, Romulus, and his friend, Hora.

Timeline of texts around Romulus

1. Books of philosophy written by the philosopher Raimond Gaita, influenced by the teaching of Romulus and Hora.
2. The eulogy (edited in Quadrant) that acted as the impetus for the book, Romulus, My Father, following the urgings of friends: ‘The response to its publication persuaded me to write a book about my father.’ (see ‘Acknowledgements’ in Romulus, My Father).
3. The autobiography/memoir Romulus, My Father (1998), which acts as a panegyric (a song of praise) for Romulus, while also tracing the foundations of the philosopher Raimond in his upbringing.
4. The Philosopher’s Dog (2002) – popular philosophy around the idea of animals responding to issues and referencing anecdotes around animals that arise in the book. Gaita writes: ‘I hope that readers of Romulus will not mind reading again and more about Jack the cockatoo and Orloff the dog.’ (p. 3).
5. The film Romulus, My Father (2007)  – offering a slightly different perspective in a script and film sanctioned by the author.
6. The book After Romulus (2011) which is a postscript to the autobiography/memoir and the film, referencing both, as well as letters and meetings with people affected by the film and book. Gaita explains that: ‘The book and film created discussions and raised questions that affected me in ways I could not have anticipated. The essays in this book are partly a response to those questions …’ (p. 6).

Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle and Romulus

To understand the dialogue that takes place between the texts around Romulus we can use Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle of ethos, logos and pathos. Written originally to explain the requirements of a speech, it has been adapted to modern media and visual texts. At the most basic level the triangle involves Ethos (trust in the speaker/author), Pathos (feelings in the audience) and Logos (the structure of the text). The way each of these elements is mediated depends on the purpose of the text.

What we see from exploring this relationship of author, audience and purpose is that the author, Gaita, is conscious of his changing role between philosopher and auto/biographer:

• In his academic texts he is a philosopher with a belief system that comes from his father, a fact he admits in After Romulus saying, ‘my first philosophical book, often described as radical and controversial, was profoundly influenced by my father’s example, but I did not appreciate the extent or depth of it until some years after I had written Romulus, My Father.
• In Romulus, My Father, he is a respectful son who uses the words of another philosopher, Plato, to explain the impact of his own father on his engagement with philosophy (‘those who love and seek wisdom are clinging in recollection to things they once saw’ p. 74), ‘in a book of ‘philosophising by a son – a philosopher to the core.’ (in After Romulus, p. 8, about Romulus, My Father).
• In The Philosopher’s Dog he wanders between the two selves warning the reader that this book which brings storytelling and philosophy together has a ‘mildly didactic purpose’ (p. 2). So his advice to readers ‘who find some of the philosophical sections difficult, is to read on…remembering that all philosophy benefits from, and most philosophy requires, more than one reading.’ (p. 2) Gaita is conscious of an audience who have read Romulus, My Father and will read again about Jack the cockatoo and Orloff the dog. (p. 3).
• After Romulus directly references the earlier text (biography) in its title and engages with many of the people, relationships and issues from the book as well as the making of the film. Again he anticipates the audience of Romulus, My Father, hoping that readers will find in the essays ‘the voice they heard in Romulus, My Father’. (p. 10).

Rich assessment task (Creating)

Students will design a website for the author. They can use Weebly or just present a series of visual representations. Note that using the weebly site means that students are restrained by the templates, but it has the advantage of being an authentic engagement with a digital text which they learn to use.

Instructions

Most authors or their publishers develop websites to promote their work and to interact with their readers.

Two examples of Australian authors who do this are Shaun Tan and Marcus Zusak.

Students can list all the pages on each website and note how they navigate between pages. They should note:

• What aspects of the author’s life and work does each website promote?
• What else is included? (links to videos, interviews, photos, reviews, extracts, contact details, quotations, author’s work etc.)
• The kind of person being portrayed.
• The kind of relationship drawn with the audience.

Students also should describe or graphically represent the navigation and the structure of the website’s home page, noting how one moves between the pages (links – drop down boxes, navigation bars, side bars, top ribbon, etc.).

They may find it useful to first list some terms that are used for websites, so that they have the right language to engage with this topic.

Students’ brief

Imagine that Raimond Gaita’s publisher wants a website devised for his author. The film has generated additional interest and readers expect to be able to go to an author website where they can find out more. In this case, however, the website has to be true to the author and his standing as a philosopher.

Your task is to submit a design for the website and to write an accompanying description that will convince the author to use your design. You need to design four pages:

• the home page showing all the links,
• two pages on different aspects of Romulus, My Father and,
• one page on anything else you think is needed (another book or film or other information). It isn’t just about giving information but conveying who the author is and representing him respectfully as a philosopher.

To do this you also need to understand web design and language.

Visit a few sites by authors and take note of what they do and how they are structured (see Shaun Tan and Markus Zusak as previously referenced).

You can use Weebly to construct the website.

Make sure you convey the author’s beliefs and reflect on who he is.

You can locate images from Google or use the images that have been provided with Raimond Gaita’s permission (PDF, 922KB).
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