JOURNAL CHAPTER 10

In chapter Jacob Kahn and his wife bring Ten Asher to Provincetown. The surreal setting of beaches with the strong sun on the water truly inspires Asher for the first time. Asher had to soak up his surroundings in order to have new experiences to put in his work. The combinations of painting in the afternoons and observing and praying the rest of the time soothe Asher's tormented mind. It had been a long time since he had really felt at home and comfortable. Living and painting at his uncleÕs was good for living but it was not home to him. He could never feel at home there. He lacked substance because there was a hole left when his mother and father left for Vienna. He fills a small amount of that whole with his surrogate family of Jacob and Tanya Kahn. This calmness went away sometimes as Jacob fell into an illness. It was not a physical ailment but one of his mind. He became deeply depressed because we would remember all that he had left and lost in Europe when he fled from the Nazi regime. This disease passed after a while, but it always came back. Asher's time in Provincetown taught him a lot about being an artist. The first major lesson was that to understand an artist's work you must see what the artist saw. Another lesson is to not lose your heritage. If an artist loses himself he can not produce emotions. The meeting of the "whore" who is only interested in money shows Asher how he himself has started to forget what he holds so dear, his heritage.