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WW2
Jun 23, 2024 4:53:15 GMT
Post by shelbygraham on Jun 23, 2024 4:53:15 GMT
I read pages 112-13 multiple times trying to fully grasp what Fred is thinking/pondering. After listening to a radio host discuss the war and visualizing warships and the planes and battling he contemplates "the reasonless of human life." He thinks about each day as "a day of dying," not just in the war, but in life in general. He further contemplates a god and what purpose humans have for "inventing" one. Overall, he begins to really dive deep into thought about life, death, and all things existential. I guess this is a good example of American Existentialism and how WW2 contributed to it. What do you guys think? And what other thought do y'all have about this passage? I found it very interesting and thought provoking. For the most part Fred has completely shut out the outside world however Wright includes this aspect of the setting of the novel (WW2) and how it causes Fred to view life.
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WW2
Jun 23, 2024 18:46:55 GMT
Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jun 23, 2024 18:46:55 GMT
I marked that passage too, Shelby!
You're right that it's important to remember this entire episode it taking place in the background of World War 2. How much did the American public really know about what was happening over in Europe? Were they figuratively "in the dark?"
The quote I thought was most striking:
When the spell left him he found that the was standing on his feet, staring in horror. His hovering in midair and looking down upon the reasonlessness of human life made him understand that no compassion of which the human heart was capable could ever respond adequately to that awful sight. Outside of time and space, he looked down upon the earth and aw that each fleeting day was a day of dying, that men died slowly with each passing moment as much as they did in war, that human grief and sorrow were utterly insufficient to this vast, dreary spectacle." (113)
Man, if that isn't an encapsulation of existentialist sentiment, I don't know what is. Tying this to Mitchell's post, this is the "Scream" of the modern man, who realizes the horror of life, how "reasonless" everything is, and how "utterly insufficient" that human grief and sorrow are in response.
But the question to me is how you move past this. I suppose one response would be suicide, but Fred doesn't do that. What do you do after you've let out your scream of horror?
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WW2
Jun 24, 2024 18:45:36 GMT
Post by reluedders on Jun 24, 2024 18:45:36 GMT
I don't know about others, but I would find meaning in other things. There's always something in your life that you can focus on that brings you joy, or even just a tiny bit of happiness. I think that if you get to this point, then you are only focusing on things that are bringing you down. I'm not saying that I'm perfect- I find myself doing the same a lot, but I don't think I've ever completely given up hope, even in moments when my faith was shaken.
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WW2
Jun 24, 2024 19:59:03 GMT
Post by shelbygraham on Jun 24, 2024 19:59:03 GMT
I think Fred moved past the horror and reasonless life by simply not trying to do anything. I think most of his choices were made by impulse and instinct, not necessarily putting any thought into a plan; he didn't seem to have a decision making process, at least that's how I interpreted it. Instead of trying to find hope or faith or anything he just meandered through the underground. Maybe he just accepted his life for what it was and didn't attempt to make anything else out of it.
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