The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "Jimmy Corrigan or The Smartest Kid on Earth" by Chris Ware. Specifically it will explain the psychological effect the World's Columbian Exposition had on Jimmy's father when his grandfather had left him that day. Jimmy's father never forgot that his father abandoned him, and that he ended up in an orphanage. He became a bitter and grumpy old man, who did not understand his son, or stay in touch with him, either. He actually recreated the same situation that his father had created back in 1893, and it kept perpetuating itself through the family.
             The young Jimmy at the fair was determined not to trust his father, because he always disappointed him. Yet, he did keep his promise to take him to the fair, and it seemed as if he was going to finally accept the responsibility of fatherhood. Instead, after a long day, he takes him to the rooftop and disappears. In Jimmy's memory, it is as if he threw him off the roof, and that is because that is pretty much what he did, he threw him away and out of his life. Of course, it affected him throughout his life, and he in turn passed that on to his son and his son's son. The family all has abandonment issues, and that is quite clear in the adults they become. They are cruel and unsympathetic, but clearly that is because of their upbringing and their own issues with their parents.
             The characters are also powerless, probably because they felt they had no power over the actions of their parents, and they feel pushed around by the world, and not really a part of it. The current Jimmy has a quiet and meek personality that is not appealing at all, he has trouble expressing himself, and he has trouble seeing anything but dullness in the world around him. Much of this comes from his father, his grandfather, and his great grandfather, who were all abusive and unfriendly men, men that would abandon a child at the World's F...