Saturday, September 2, 2017
The Cyclical Nature of our World
In 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez the town of Macondo goes through cycles the entire novel. The recurrence of similar names, gypsies and railroads, and incest are all examples of the book and the city repeating himself. While reading this novel these recurring motifs made me think of the cyclical nature of our own world. We constantly go through cycles on a daily basis and even a yearly basis. Everyday we go through cycles of our daily routine, wake up, get ready, go to school, go to practice, come home, do homework, go to bed repeat. Then we repeat this same routine on a weekly basis, having breaks on Saturday and Sunday. Then we repeat this whole process every year. Not only do we repeat ourselves but so does history and the world. Rebellions, war, and strikes all repeat themselves. One main example that we have surely all heard before was the example of Hitler invading Russia during the winter, even though Napoleon did the same thing and failed earlier in history. The Earth and nature also repeat itself. Hurricanes and eclipses are two recent examples that come to mind. Marquez uses Macondo to show how the world and we repeat ourselves all the time.
From Death to Kitsch to Oblivion
In class we spent a good deal of time discussing “paradise” in the The Unbearable Lightness of Being. One quote we didn’t bring up is:
“The inscription he chose to go under his father’s [Tomas’s] name on the gravestone read: HE WANTED THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH. […T]he kingdom of God means justice. Tomas had longed for a world in which justice would reign” (Kundera 276).
And this quote relates back to what we were also saying about kitsch. Here’s a quote we DID get to bring up in class:
“Before we are forgotten, we will be turned in kitsch. Kitsch is the stopover between being and oblivion” (Kundera 278).
Can we honestly say that what Tomas desired, above all, was justice? No, not in my opinion. He didn’t even execute justice in his personal life with Tereza. Otherwise he would have maybe been a nice, decent human being and not had affairs with other women, when he knew how deeply it wounded her. So basically, the second quote accurately relates to Tomas. It also relates to Robespierre:
“If the French Revolution were to recur eternally, French historians would be less proud of Robespierre” (4).
While death seems heavy (and it is a heavy subject to talk about), Kundera really describes it as introducing lightness into our lives. After death, people forget about who we really are. Even the executions of hundreds and hundreds of people can be overlooked when we’re talking about history.
“The inscription he chose to go under his father’s [Tomas’s] name on the gravestone read: HE WANTED THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH. […T]he kingdom of God means justice. Tomas had longed for a world in which justice would reign” (Kundera 276).
And this quote relates back to what we were also saying about kitsch. Here’s a quote we DID get to bring up in class:
“Before we are forgotten, we will be turned in kitsch. Kitsch is the stopover between being and oblivion” (Kundera 278).
Can we honestly say that what Tomas desired, above all, was justice? No, not in my opinion. He didn’t even execute justice in his personal life with Tereza. Otherwise he would have maybe been a nice, decent human being and not had affairs with other women, when he knew how deeply it wounded her. So basically, the second quote accurately relates to Tomas. It also relates to Robespierre:
“If the French Revolution were to recur eternally, French historians would be less proud of Robespierre” (4).
While death seems heavy (and it is a heavy subject to talk about), Kundera really describes it as introducing lightness into our lives. After death, people forget about who we really are. Even the executions of hundreds and hundreds of people can be overlooked when we’re talking about history.
Mulan vs. Franz
So in class we talked about how Franz idealizes what it means to be a “woman” and how he goes on and on about “respecting the woman” in Marie-Claude (totally ignoring the fact that Marie-Claude is a real human being). Here are a couple quotes about what being a woman means to Franz:
In Franz’s mind, “Not every woman was worthy of being called woman” (Kundera 89).
“His mother and the Platonic ideal of womanhood were one and the same” (90).
Franz seems to set pretty high standards for what it means to be a woman (I’m sure all the women out there really appreciate his input). So much of his ideal is based on his mom: “His mother, sad and wounded, his mother, wearing unmatched shoes” (114). And here: “For twenty years he had seen his mother—A POOR, WEAK CREATURE WHO NEEDED HIS PROTECTION—in his wife” (117). So he’s got this image of a “true woman” in his head, and that image seems to be mostly based around weakness.
And I really feel like Mulan (I hope you all have watched the Disney movie Mulan) would not agree at all. There’s this pretty awesome song called “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64
“Be a man
We must be swift as the coursing river
Be a man
With all the force of a great typhoon
Be a man
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon”
It’s all greatly ironic because the song lists the qualities a man should have, when Mulan’s actually a woman. So what it’s saying is that women can be just as strong as men. In fact, for a really long time, nobody even finds out that Mulan’s a woman because she exhibits all the qualities that people expect only men to have (basically, she’s super strong and beats all the guys in everything she does).
So…I wonder what Mulan would have to have to say to Franz’s idea of what a “woman” is/should be.
In Franz’s mind, “Not every woman was worthy of being called woman” (Kundera 89).
“His mother and the Platonic ideal of womanhood were one and the same” (90).
Franz seems to set pretty high standards for what it means to be a woman (I’m sure all the women out there really appreciate his input). So much of his ideal is based on his mom: “His mother, sad and wounded, his mother, wearing unmatched shoes” (114). And here: “For twenty years he had seen his mother—A POOR, WEAK CREATURE WHO NEEDED HIS PROTECTION—in his wife” (117). So he’s got this image of a “true woman” in his head, and that image seems to be mostly based around weakness.
And I really feel like Mulan (I hope you all have watched the Disney movie Mulan) would not agree at all. There’s this pretty awesome song called “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64
“Be a man
We must be swift as the coursing river
Be a man
With all the force of a great typhoon
Be a man
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon”
It’s all greatly ironic because the song lists the qualities a man should have, when Mulan’s actually a woman. So what it’s saying is that women can be just as strong as men. In fact, for a really long time, nobody even finds out that Mulan’s a woman because she exhibits all the qualities that people expect only men to have (basically, she’s super strong and beats all the guys in everything she does).
So…I wonder what Mulan would have to have to say to Franz’s idea of what a “woman” is/should be.
Descartes and Dumbledore
In honor of September 1st (the day Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry begins again!) being the other day, I wanted to post about this quote that Ally brought up the other day in class:
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” -Sirius Black (from “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling)
In this quote, Sirius is referring to the exploitation of house elves (creatures who, by and large, exist to serve wizarding families). When he say “inferiors,” what he means is not that house elves are emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually incapable; he is talking about their place in society. So the quote is also applicable to animals, as we discussed previously.
Kundera, page 288: “Man is master and proprietor, says Descartes, whereas the beast is merely an automaton, an animated machina, a machine animata. When an animal laments, it is not a lament; it is merely the rasp of a poorly functioning mechanism. […T]hus, we have no reason to grieve for a dog being carved up alive in the laboratory.”
Descartes totally denies that animals have any soul at all—he speaks of them as though they are inanimate objects that exist for the use of humans. Has Descartes never looked into the eyes of a puppy?!? How could he deny the soul of such a cute little animal?!? Of course society views animals as “inferior” to humans, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve to be treated with at least a little bit of humanity. When we deny the spiritual value of animals, I think we lose our own humanity.
And then Descartes has the nerve to say that we shouldn’t “grieve for a dog being carved up alive in the laboratory.” Carved up…alive? ALIVE? Really, Descartes, really? The fact that he would even suggest that idea is revolting! If someone can think about dogs being carved up alive without at least a wince, then at that point, the dog becomes more humane than the human. We don’t have to grieve for just the dog; we should also be grieving for Descartes, because clearly he’s the one missing a bit of his soul…so, to wrap up, I’d like to end this post with another quote from the Harry Potter series, spoken by Dumbledore:
“Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.”
And yes, Descartes, that’s aimed at you.
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” -Sirius Black (from “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling)
In this quote, Sirius is referring to the exploitation of house elves (creatures who, by and large, exist to serve wizarding families). When he say “inferiors,” what he means is not that house elves are emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually incapable; he is talking about their place in society. So the quote is also applicable to animals, as we discussed previously.
Kundera, page 288: “Man is master and proprietor, says Descartes, whereas the beast is merely an automaton, an animated machina, a machine animata. When an animal laments, it is not a lament; it is merely the rasp of a poorly functioning mechanism. […T]hus, we have no reason to grieve for a dog being carved up alive in the laboratory.”
Descartes totally denies that animals have any soul at all—he speaks of them as though they are inanimate objects that exist for the use of humans. Has Descartes never looked into the eyes of a puppy?!? How could he deny the soul of such a cute little animal?!? Of course society views animals as “inferior” to humans, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve to be treated with at least a little bit of humanity. When we deny the spiritual value of animals, I think we lose our own humanity.
And then Descartes has the nerve to say that we shouldn’t “grieve for a dog being carved up alive in the laboratory.” Carved up…alive? ALIVE? Really, Descartes, really? The fact that he would even suggest that idea is revolting! If someone can think about dogs being carved up alive without at least a wince, then at that point, the dog becomes more humane than the human. We don’t have to grieve for just the dog; we should also be grieving for Descartes, because clearly he’s the one missing a bit of his soul…so, to wrap up, I’d like to end this post with another quote from the Harry Potter series, spoken by Dumbledore:
“Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.”
And yes, Descartes, that’s aimed at you.
Final Thoughts on Unbearable Lightness of Being
As we move on from The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I just wanted to say that I greatly enjoyed reading the novel and our discussion of it afterwards. It was probably one of my favorite novels out of any we have read in school. I think it was interesting reading and analyzing a more modern novel in school especially with the interesting form of the novel (such as the metafiction aspects of the work). I also appreciated the great historical depth we went into on the historical context of the work. I think the novel really appealed to me because it told an interesting story in a compelling way but was also very much a novel of philosophical themes and ideas. This led to some interesting discussions in class, especially on issues that seem important and even relevant to everyone's life, like the discussion of kitsch and of living a meaningful life. The ability to examine such themes deeply while also telling an entertaining story really made me enjoy the novel.
So what about you guys, what did you enjoy or not enjoy about the novel?
So what about you guys, what did you enjoy or not enjoy about the novel?
Lightness vs. Heaviness: Email vs. Text Message
One of the main themes of the novel is the constant conflict between lightness and heaviness. Some characters such as Teresa and Franz are very heavy. They put lots of meaning into everything in their life. Teresa wants a safe marriage in a rural town, and Franz adores Kitsch. Other characters in the novel such as Tomas and Sabina try to live as light as a life as possible. Keeping this in mind and reading the blog posts of others earlier this week, I began to think to myself what are some of the heavy and light parts of my life. One of the first things that come to mind is email vs. text messages. When you send an email it is usually to a teacher or a member of the faculty. Thought goes into every word and detail of the email. Text messages however are often sent to friends or other students. Language is often much more casual and not as much thought is usually put in. But sometimes text messages can be hold a lot of importance. If you are sending a text to a lover a lot more thought will be put into the text than usual. There is a certain heaviness to these texts. Similarly some of the lighter characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being can have heavier aspects to them as well. An example of this can be Tomas settling down with Teresa towards the end of the novel and moving to a rural town in Czechoslovakia. Heaviness vs. Lightness is not only a big part of the novel, but it is also a common conflict in the real world as many of the posts this week have shown.
Uber lightness
I had the pleasure today have been ubered by a great man named Issac. It was me and my friend Grayson and, as per usual, we started a conversation with the man. The interaction quickly evolved from small talk to an in depth conversation about driving for Uber. Issac, the man driving us, put driving for Uber in very simple terms: "you drive people around and den you get paid". I thought to myself, this man is living a light life, and he's loving it. Issac made his driving job sound like this life changing experience, he lived a flexible life that took evewhere. To me, having a job that takes you everywhere is a light life. You get to explore everywhere and you dont attach much meaning to anywhere; you just enjoy the experience, remember it, and move in to you next great experience.
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