One of the first things that I
notice when I compare Hannah Coulter and
The Memory of Old Jack from the presentations given is that death seems
to be a very apparent part of life in both of these books. Since the author of
both of the books is Berry, I wonder what the correlation is. How does Berry
want to portray death to his audience? Maybe I could answer this on my own by
looking at the two books that I have read of his (i.e. Andy Catlett: Early Travels and Remembering).
However, as I try to shuffle through those two storylines, I feel that death is
not portrayed in a similar manner. Andy never directly contacted death in his
“early travels,” and when he is remembering, his thoughts do not seem to give
death the same weight that Hannah and Jack do (from what I got in the
presentations).
I
wish a certain character in The Memory of
Old Jack had been extrapolated upon. I was, and am, very curious as to how
Glad, the banker, ended up living. I wonder whether or not he was happy and
content or stressed and tired. If he really represented the new way of life and
a lot of what Jack was repulsed by, how did he feel at the end of his life? To
be honest, part of this inquisition of mine comes from my own book. In A Thousand Acres, the banker Marv is
never fully discussed. I really thought he was going to become an integral part
of the plot, and when he never did I became a little disappointed, maybe let
down. Anyways, I am still curious as to the route Berry had for the conclusion
of the character Glad. Did Berry give him closure and fulfillment (or at least
a content mind) or was Glad’s life full of turmoil and dissatisfaction? Well,
that probably is too simple for it to be one or the other. Hopefully, it was a
bit more complex and dynamic than that, but however it ended, I am curious to
the way it happened.
The
Hannah Coulter group stated (forgive me if this is a
misquote), “Looking for a ‘better place’ usually leads you to a worse one.”
This quote violently struck me in class on Thursday. It seems like myself and
most of my generation is looking for somewhere else, someone else to satisfy our desires. I know that in times past I longed
to move away from Michigan and the Midwest, maybe even hoping for a life international.
And I see this desire in so many of my fellow friends and peers. How many
people just want to get away or view anywhere else as better than here? What
are we running from? What are we hoping for? I know there is a priceless value
to learning from other people of another culture, but it often seems that we
are looking for an escape. That phrase just really resounded with me since it
verbalized the issue with some of my past (and maybe even present) thoughts. It
is, however, a general (which means not always necessarily true) truth, I might
venture to say. Also, my generation, including myself, has come to be in great denial
of the fact that where we have been planted is probably best for us.
Micah,
ReplyDeleteI think you are correct in your discussion of our generation's desire to find a new, more exciting place to plant ourselves. We talked about this idea in my Intro to Christian Ministry last year, and Professor Robertson presented the idea that perhaps, for our generation, it is more radical to remain in one place our whole life. This is quite a contrast from what we view as radical - constantly moving and traveling and experiencing new places and things.
I struggle with this idea as well. Is my (and our generation in general) desire to leave my 'place' from God, or is it a vain and selfish desire to do exciting things? Perhaps that is harsh, but I definitely think that the things you discussed here are particularly relevant to us at college students as we think about and plan for our life after graduation.
Thanks for your post,
Autumn
In Early Travels, Andy has these two beautiful paragraphs about how wrapped up life and death were. When one life ended, another began. Berry that the thing that makes the time in between worth it is being grateful for the love we have received during that short span of time we live. I feel like that is what we can see with Berry's fascination with the past; he wants to look at the love that was shown.
ReplyDeleteRachel
You've hit on an important point about leaving home. Personally, I had never considered the prospect of going to the people and place that raised me until I was in my late 20's. I don't think I was entirely to blame. I thought that following God meant going far for Him. Eventually, this notion morphed into seeing the people and places around me as discard-able, exploitable resources that would contribute to my awesomeness (for Jesus) and then comprise the first and more boring chapter of my otherwise riveting autobiography. Lord have mercy.
ReplyDelete