Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Beloved Slaughterhouse

Procrastination usually doesn't payoff but today was an exception. I am actually glad I waited so long to write about Slaughterhouse-Five and Beloved because they both deal with something very vital to our lives. When asked what defines someone, I would have to say it is our experiences. (I’m sure I’m not the only one). Experiences are what displayed the difference between living and existing for character’s in both books. The suppression of memory Sethe and other character’s in Toni Morrison’s novel employed about their lives as slaves was detrimental to the way they lived. They were limited by what they refused to remember, giving them no room for growth. Instead, they sat there at 124 basically waiting for death with no goals or aspirations, basically being haunted by their brutal pasts steeped in abuse and murder. This confinement was self-inflicted because of a refusal to confront reality. When one refuses to accept (doesn’t mean they embrace it) what has happened to them it restricts a person from moving forward. Sure they can act like they’re through it but suppression still means they haven’t dealt with it and they’re not over it.
Billy Pilgrim relived a highlight tape of the moments he was living throughout his life. From Dresden to his death to the Tralfamadorians, his time travel placed him in moments that had the most impact on what made him a living human being and not just an existing one. This whole book got me thinking about what is the point in living. I came to the conclusion that there may be no point but that does not mean we should not take advantage of the opportunity. We’re here, we might as well make the best of it. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I think apples envy us as humans. Apples live and then die and rot, if not eaten first. An apple looks at the lazy person not doing anything in their life with anger because of the opportunities the person has. The person can travel, go to concerts, baseball games, and fall in love… An apple can’t do that, but given the chance, I bet the apple would take advantage of it. Though life is filled with tragedy, there are good things that come along too and we can’t be afraid to live because of the possibility of a bad experience because the reward is greater than the risk.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Stranger

“Every man alive was privileged; there was only one class of men, the privileged class.” -Camus

The Stranger is the short story portrayal of a man recognizing his absurdity. Meursault is the character Camus pours his effort into to make his reader realize the point he’s trying to convey. One must recognize their absurdity to make meaning of their life, if not, they are just exist, not live. Though the book ends with execution instead of a new shot at life, Meusault finds peace in this and is ready to die. His acceptance of the end without any remorse shows that he has found the meaning in his living and he will die without regret. Meursault reaches the conclusion that his life was something well spent and he did not have to seek or gain the approval of anyone else. Furthermore, Meursault does not look for solace in the concept of an afterlife. Not to say anyone who does that is not living, it’s just one of the things specific to his character that makes him alive. This nonconformist attitude towards a heaven or hell or whatever afterlife one might believe shows Meursault’s independence and how he is not willing to sacrifice his thoughts to appease another person. As his life comes to a close, Meursault realizes that we are all privileged to have the opportunity to live, what we do with that opportunity is up to us.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Metamorphosis

Kafka's novella gives the reader a sense of how Gregor sees life from two viewpoints. I feel that Gregor never truly "lived" but he "existed" obviously. He goes through life working and supporting his family with no chance for growth. This daily routine of Gregor's prevents him from ever being able to truly start his life and gain experiences that make life worth living. His transformation into a bug is the only highlight of a mundane existence. This event extremely alters his life such that he becomes even more trapped and taken for granted. He's stuck in the same room all day and his family says things like “But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have long ago realized that a communal life among human beings is not possible with such a creature and would have gone away voluntarily” (Kafka). Saying this shows how the family sees Gregor as a burden. This is the largest example of the miserable existence. This is my extreme example of existing versus living.