Bruce Wayne

Let’s pretend for a moment that we don’t know who Bruce Wayne or Batman is and read Bucky Sinister’s “The Other Universe of Bruce Wayne.” We could deduce from the context of the poem that the lives of these two characters are backwards in this alternate universe and we would suspect that Bruce Wayne in real life must be a very successful and well put-together individual.

Now we read it with all the knowledge we have about this popular culture figure, Bruce Wayne, and the meaning of the poem to us is immediately altered. We know have a great deal of information about the character outside the context of the poem. Automatically an image of Bruce Wayne or Batman comes to mind, as well as his success, wealth, and heroic abilities. The reader now becomes more engaged and the poem seems more inviting. The reader is also more tuned into what is changed in this alternate universe that Sinister has created. The haves are now the have-nots and the heroes are now those who need to be saved. Sinister becomes the hero, saving Wayne from his loneliness and from his nightmare.Wayne is now poor, without the money to even sustain his drinking habit and Sinister has enough wealth to afford ’63 Lincoln. Since Batman is such a loved character and Sinister has destroyed him, Sinister becomes the villain.

The poem becomes more literary because there is more context provided to the reader and because words and sentences in the poem take on more meaning due to the popular culture knowledge about Batman. For example, in this universe his debilitating back problem in psychosomatic, while in the real world his mentality allows him to quickly recover from his injuries. “Psychosomatic” takes on new meaning and demonstrates the deeper meaning in the text.