Essay Questions

What is the significance of the protagonist’s name?

Virtually all the names of the characters within the graphic novel are puns or allusions for something: the character’s profession, heritage, or as is in many cases a tongue-in-cheek jab at some character or physical deficiency that the character’s name represents or alludes to. The eponymous hero is no exception to this. His name is a combination of two Greek words that mean “Star” or “Starry” and “Tumorous Growth” or an abbreviation of “Polyphemus,” a nod to the cyclops in The Odyssey. His first name is a reference to his constant diatribe to religion and fatalism, and his last name, a reference to his character flaw—his “blindness” to his own arrogance and self-importance—which later on becomes another nod to his mythological namesake when he is reduced to seeing out of one eye turning him into a literal cyclops.

What is the significance of Ignazio’s narrations?

Ignazio, Asterios’ twin brother, despite never having been born, plays a significant role in the story. He narrates the story from his point of view, as if he had truly survived and lived to adulthood. In his narrations he did not just survive but truly live a full, rich life filled with events that people consider as life milestones: a successful career as an architect—actually building structures and not just designing plans unlike his brother—and a family complete with children, again, unlike his brother. He is significant to the story because he plays up to the theme of duality and possibility—which Ignazio embodies—as his narrations is Asterios’ tale as it could have been had he made certain life decisions differently.

What is the significance of phallic references in the novel?

The phallic references in the novel usually come in the form of irreverent or downright tongue-in-cheek play of words to add both humor and/or irony to a situation and the character possessing the name. Two of the characters possessing such names are an excellent example of the author’s dry wit and sardonic sense of humor: Stiff Major and Willy Ilium. Both characters are named after street slang for an erection—a large one at that—and large male genitalia, respectively. Both characters however are far from the alpha males that they ought to be because of their names. Stiff is horribly henpecked and has to tread softly around his formidable wife, and Willy is a pint-sized genius, according to himself, at least.