Escape: Houdini Research Paper
ESCAPE
When you think of magic, images of grand spectacle and illusions come to mind. However when you think of magicians only one name comes up and he stands alone. His death almost a century ago has done nothing to stop the legend of Harry Houdini. He said, “ No prison can hold me; no hand or leg Irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom.” This quote surprisingly enough isn’t found on the footsteps of the Statue of Liberty or at Angel Island. He was a man who represented the people of the era; his hair rising mind-blowing escapes all helped immigrants and the oppressed connect with him. Immigrants had to undergo massive obstacles everyday. They had to leave their homes to go in search of a dream in new lands and found nothing but prejudice and factory work. To really understand who Harry Houdini was we need to look past his rags to riches story and his escape from poverty, to find the reality of his identity. Why did this man identify so much with the people of his era? Were Houdini’s escapes just a metaphor for himself and immigrants? He was a son, husband, and a source of awe and entertainment to others. His tricks still, today, stretch the human imagination to its limits so much so that some magicians cannot till this day fully replicate his feats. Even though Harry Houdini came to this country as a poor immigrant, his relentless drive and devotion transformed him and his spectacle into something that surpassed the imagination and the realm of magic and vaudeville. Earlier generations had a better connection to Houdini, for them he clearly stood for the American dream. He was one of the many astonishing immigrants who arrived in the masses from Europe. He arrived with nothing and out of nothing built himself up. Houdini fell under the same category as the many entertainers of his period like Charlie Chaplin. However Houdini was much more than a performer he was part magician part illusionist and part unknown. As
When you think of magic, images of grand spectacle and illusions come to mind. However when you think of magicians only one name comes up and he stands alone. His death almost a century ago has done nothing to stop the legend of Harry Houdini. He said, “ No prison can hold me; no hand or leg Irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom.” This quote surprisingly enough isn’t found on the footsteps of the Statue of Liberty or at Angel Island. He was a man who represented the people of the era; his hair rising mind-blowing escapes all helped immigrants and the oppressed connect with him. Immigrants had to undergo massive obstacles everyday. They had to leave their homes to go in search of a dream in new lands and found nothing but prejudice and factory work. To really understand who Harry Houdini was we need to look past his rags to riches story and his escape from poverty, to find the reality of his identity. Why did this man identify so much with the people of his era? Were Houdini’s escapes just a metaphor for himself and immigrants? He was a son, husband, and a source of awe and entertainment to others. His tricks still, today, stretch the human imagination to its limits so much so that some magicians cannot till this day fully replicate his feats. Even though Harry Houdini came to this country as a poor immigrant, his relentless drive and devotion transformed him and his spectacle into something that surpassed the imagination and the realm of magic and vaudeville. Earlier generations had a better connection to Houdini, for them he clearly stood for the American dream. He was one of the many astonishing immigrants who arrived in the masses from Europe. He arrived with nothing and out of nothing built himself up. Houdini fell under the same category as the many entertainers of his period like Charlie Chaplin. However Houdini was much more than a performer he was part magician part illusionist and part unknown. As
Cited: Cary, Alice. “Harry Houdini: Best of a Vanishing Breed.” Biography 2.10 (Oct 1998) EBSCOhost <http://infohio.org>. Hopkinson, Deborah. “THE AMAZING LIFE OF HARRY HOUDINI.” Scholastic Scope 59.2 (Apr 2010) <ehis.ebscost.com> Laliki, Tom. Spellbinder: The Life of Harry Houdini. New York: Holiday House, 2000 Phillips, Adam Rapaport, Brooke. Houdini: Art and Magic. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2010 Silverman, Kenneth. Houdini!. New York: Perennial, 1997.