Blog 7 – Houdini’s Respectability
February 12, 2009
Harry Houdini’s character always brings about crazy yet interesting stories that always intrigue me as a reader. My question about Houdini, however, is why does he continue to perform (especially in America) even though he has come to realize that the audience sees him as a sort of “freak”?
Doctorow writes how Houdini feels as though he lacks connection with his fellow citizens and constantly sees himself as an outsider. Though Houdini is widely successful in his business and travels the world on bookings for awed audience, other “high citizens” in America still see themselves as being superior to him. Most likely they see Houdini’s career as more of a hobby turned into a laughable career and see that their hard work in things such as the banking industry to be more respectable.
Houdini is fully aware of his classification yet chooses to keep performing. The reason I find this so peculiar is because he seems like a man who holds respect for himself and is an intellect. Not only does he teach himself how to fly a plane, he even pulls together a team and self-educates himself on mechanical physics. Neither of these subjects are easy to comprehend yet Houdini perseveres to become somewhat of an expert. Houdini takes his acquired knowledge and uses it to make his performances even more intense and unbelievable. He pushes it so far as to upsetting his audiences. This not only leaves him little respect as a citizen but also as a performer.
For such a smart man to be upset by his place in the hierarchy of society, why does Houdini keep pushing his performance in a way that only causes him to loose more respect?
