I have set up a bunch of Google alerts to help give me blog post ideas for my work on the Cheshire Library blog. But, since I only need to post there once or twice a week, I have much more interesting fodder for writing than I need. So begins my weekly post of new bits and like around the web that relate to book news.
For instance, The Guardian reports that Jim Carrey is self-publishing a children's book. Not just any children's book, but one about a wave's metaphysical understanding of his existence and his part of the world at large. My biggest question on this article was not about the book, by why they ran a goofy picture of Carrey rather than a normal one.
The New York Times ran an article about how authors are starting to tackle bullying in a more determined manner. While bullying and the struggle to fit in has always been a part of literature of all genres, it has gotten much more attention and become the focus of many more titles lately. One I am eager to get my hands on is an collection of essays “Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories,” (HarperTeen 2011). It includes true stories from writers such as R. L. Stine, about how they faced bullying and how it honestly does get better. The best part is that a portion of the proceeds go to charity.
On a similar note, the Mercury News published an article about how books are tackling a variety of very tough ideas. Crisis and struggles such as school shootings, rape, sex, war, terrorism, post-traumatic stress disorder, homelessness, discrimination, substance abuse, death, and grieving might have always been found in books, but they are becoming easier to find and can hopefully help young readers (and their support systems) deal with how this things affect them both directly and indirectly.
BuzzSugar published an article about popular young adult books that you should read now, before they hit the big screen. The picks run a wide gamut of styles, from John Green's The Fault in our Stars to The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney and the eagerly awaited The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.
And then there is Amazon buying Goodreads, which could change a great many things, but we wont see the fall out of this decision for a while.
Have you read any interesting book news you want to share?
Showing posts with label essay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essay. Show all posts
Character Summary: Bishop M. Bienvenu
The Bishop was a simple man who gave anything and everything that he could away to the poor. He gave most of his income and his time to those who needed it. The only time he kept for himself was to tend his garden; the rest was for prayer and reaching out to those who needed him. He spent much of his time at sickbeds and deathbeds, giving solace and comfort wherever he could. He only kept enough from his income to feed and cloth himself and his two housemates; the rest went to others. He was extremely kind, but not because he was simple-minded or gullible. The Bishop was realistic about the motives and intentions of people. However, he had a quality of dwelling in goodness that was permanent, which actively formed everything he did.
This quality is virtue - in Latin this word denotes a power or ability which a man has that enables him to stand upright. The Bishop showed this power many times in the novel, but there is one incident that is shared with the movie, it is the famous scene where the Bishop ransoms Jean Valjean's life with his precious silver. This is a pivotal moment in all versions of this story; it is the moment that starts Valjean on the voyage of redemption. The Bishop lies to the police, telling them that he had given Valjean the silver, which Valjean had stolen the night before, and that Valjean had forgotten the candlesticks. In this act he gives up his prized possessions to save a life, and hopefully a soul.
This was not just a deed of simple kindness, an attempt to save a man's life. This was a perfect example of the Bishop's total selflessness. It takes a giving and loving individual to so quickly forgive someone that repays kindness as Valjean did, to forgive a convict that you gave shelter, food and trust only to have them steal your only prized possessions. The silver was the only luxury that the Bishop allowed himself. It was not just decoration - the silver was used as the regular dinnerware, the candlesticks were the only show he put on for visitors. The silver was the household's sole vanity, in giving of this so freely to Valjean he also gave away those things that he put on display. Now he would have to use plates as simple, pure and unassuming as his lifestyle.
His act of selflessness towards a convict let Valjean grasp that the Bishop is an actual human being that embodied goodness, showing that it is possible. This knowledge hits Valjean like a thunderbolt, both disorientating him for a time, and empowering him to change his life and attempt to do good.
Character Quotes:
Bishop M. Bienvenu
"To commit the least possible sin is the law for man. To live without sin is the dream of an angel. Everything terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation" (P.13)
"Have no fear of robbers or murders. Such dangers are without, and are petty. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices the real murders. The great dangers are within us. What matters it what threatens our heads or our purses? Let us think only of what threatens our souls." (P. 24-25)
"He did not attempt to make his robe assume the folds of Elijah's mantle; he cast no ray of the future upon the dark scroll of events; he sought not to condense into a flame the glimmer of things; he had nothing of the prophet and nothing of the magician. His humble soul loved; that was all. That he raised his prayer to superhuman aspiration, is probable; but one can no more pray too much than love too much." (P.49)
"You belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition; and I give it to God." (P.90)
This quality is virtue - in Latin this word denotes a power or ability which a man has that enables him to stand upright. The Bishop showed this power many times in the novel, but there is one incident that is shared with the movie, it is the famous scene where the Bishop ransoms Jean Valjean's life with his precious silver. This is a pivotal moment in all versions of this story; it is the moment that starts Valjean on the voyage of redemption. The Bishop lies to the police, telling them that he had given Valjean the silver, which Valjean had stolen the night before, and that Valjean had forgotten the candlesticks. In this act he gives up his prized possessions to save a life, and hopefully a soul.
This was not just a deed of simple kindness, an attempt to save a man's life. This was a perfect example of the Bishop's total selflessness. It takes a giving and loving individual to so quickly forgive someone that repays kindness as Valjean did, to forgive a convict that you gave shelter, food and trust only to have them steal your only prized possessions. The silver was the only luxury that the Bishop allowed himself. It was not just decoration - the silver was used as the regular dinnerware, the candlesticks were the only show he put on for visitors. The silver was the household's sole vanity, in giving of this so freely to Valjean he also gave away those things that he put on display. Now he would have to use plates as simple, pure and unassuming as his lifestyle.
His act of selflessness towards a convict let Valjean grasp that the Bishop is an actual human being that embodied goodness, showing that it is possible. This knowledge hits Valjean like a thunderbolt, both disorientating him for a time, and empowering him to change his life and attempt to do good.
Character Quotes:
Bishop M. Bienvenu
"To commit the least possible sin is the law for man. To live without sin is the dream of an angel. Everything terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation" (P.13)
"Have no fear of robbers or murders. Such dangers are without, and are petty. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices the real murders. The great dangers are within us. What matters it what threatens our heads or our purses? Let us think only of what threatens our souls." (P. 24-25)
"He did not attempt to make his robe assume the folds of Elijah's mantle; he cast no ray of the future upon the dark scroll of events; he sought not to condense into a flame the glimmer of things; he had nothing of the prophet and nothing of the magician. His humble soul loved; that was all. That he raised his prayer to superhuman aspiration, is probable; but one can no more pray too much than love too much." (P.49)
"You belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition; and I give it to God." (P.90)
Character Summary:Fantine
Fantine was an innocent, lead astray and seduced by a man she truly loved. Betrayed and abandoned she found herself pregnant, and despite attempts to reach the baby's father, alone. In her love for the illegitimate child, Cosette, she leaves her behind to be cared for by an innkeeper and his wife. She believed, that this family, with two young girls of their own, could nurture and care for Cosette better than she could herself. Fantine did everything she could to make sure that Cosette was well provided for and cared for. She gave the Innkeepers family whatever they asked for, denying necessities for herself to send all she could for Cosette, believing that they really would use what she sent for the care or Cosette.
When Fantine's supervisor in Valjean's factory discovers Cosette's existence Fantine is fired. The supervisor assumed that Fantine must be an immoral woman because she has a child out of wedlock, and told Fantine that she can not have such a woman among the others as she might lead them astray. Although Valjean knows nothing of this exchange, Fantine silently blamed him for this turn of events, and began to resent him for making her life harder.
Fantine did everything she can to continue to pay Cosette's way, and to survive herself. She sold her hair, her eyeteeth, and her body. She had tried everything possible before resorting to prostitution, but no one would hire someone with an illegitimate child, especially if they were sick, as Fantine became. Even providing for herself became hard through prostitution due to her growing illness. The only things she kept were a locket that she wanted Cosette to have, and the love she felt for her daughter.
After a scuffle on the streets, in which Fantine attempted to defend her self against to prominent citizens who were harassing her, Fantine is arrested by Javert. As Javert attempted to through Fantine in prison for six months, which would be a death sentence in her state of ill-health, Valjean came along and refused to let he be jailed. After an argument between Javert and Valjean, Fantine finds herself saved by the very man she blamed for her ill fortune. Valjean offered Fantine a chance at a second life, a safe place to recover and support so that she would never have to worry about providing for herself or Cosette again. Valjean assures her that 'God has never thought of you as anything but an innocent and beautiful woman'.
However, her body is so weak that she is only sustained by her love for Cosette and the hope of seeing her again. Before she dies, Fantine makes sure that Valjean, her savior, would come to the rescue of her child and raise her in the light. She only gives into death when Javert confronts Valjean in her sickroom, and she believes that he is there for her.
Character Quotes:
Fantine
“I say nothing of Fantine, she is visionary, dreamy, pensive, sensitive; she is a phantom with the form of a nymph, and the modesty of the a nun, who has strayed into the life of a grisette, but who takes refuge in illusions, and who sings, and prays, and gazes at the sky without knowing clearly what she sees nor what she does, and who, with eyes fixed on heaven, wanders in a garden among more birds than exist there. Oh, Fantine, know this: I, Tholomyes, am an illusion – but she does not even hear me – the fair daughter of chimeras! Nevertheless, everything on her is freshness, gentleness, youth, soft, maternal clearness.”(P.115)
“She had a confused glimpse of the possible necessity of a separation still more painful than the first. Her heart ached, but she took her resolution. It will be seen that Fantine possessed the stern courage of life. She had already valiantly renounced her finery, was draped in calico, and had put all her silks, her gew-gaws, her ribbons, and laces on her daughter – the only vanity that remained, and that a holy one.” (P.125)
“The lower she sank, the more all became gloomy around her, the more the sweet little angel shone out from the bottom of her heart. She would say; ‘When I am rich, I shall have my Cosette with me;’ and she laughed. The cough did not leave her, and she had night sweats.”(P.154)
“It was not without some repugnance, at first, that the sisters received and cared for ‘this girl’…But in a few days Fantine had disarmed them. The motherly tenderness within her, with her soft and touching words, moved them. One day the sisters heard her say in her delirium: ‘I have been a sinner, but when I shall have my child with me, that will mean that Gad has pardoned me. While I was bad I would not have my Cosette with me; I could not have borne her sad and surprised looks. It was for her I sinned, and that is why God forgives me. I shall feel this benediction when Cosette comes. I shall gaze upon her; the sight of her innocence will do me good.’”(P.169)
When Fantine's supervisor in Valjean's factory discovers Cosette's existence Fantine is fired. The supervisor assumed that Fantine must be an immoral woman because she has a child out of wedlock, and told Fantine that she can not have such a woman among the others as she might lead them astray. Although Valjean knows nothing of this exchange, Fantine silently blamed him for this turn of events, and began to resent him for making her life harder.
Fantine did everything she can to continue to pay Cosette's way, and to survive herself. She sold her hair, her eyeteeth, and her body. She had tried everything possible before resorting to prostitution, but no one would hire someone with an illegitimate child, especially if they were sick, as Fantine became. Even providing for herself became hard through prostitution due to her growing illness. The only things she kept were a locket that she wanted Cosette to have, and the love she felt for her daughter.
After a scuffle on the streets, in which Fantine attempted to defend her self against to prominent citizens who were harassing her, Fantine is arrested by Javert. As Javert attempted to through Fantine in prison for six months, which would be a death sentence in her state of ill-health, Valjean came along and refused to let he be jailed. After an argument between Javert and Valjean, Fantine finds herself saved by the very man she blamed for her ill fortune. Valjean offered Fantine a chance at a second life, a safe place to recover and support so that she would never have to worry about providing for herself or Cosette again. Valjean assures her that 'God has never thought of you as anything but an innocent and beautiful woman'.
However, her body is so weak that she is only sustained by her love for Cosette and the hope of seeing her again. Before she dies, Fantine makes sure that Valjean, her savior, would come to the rescue of her child and raise her in the light. She only gives into death when Javert confronts Valjean in her sickroom, and she believes that he is there for her.
Character Quotes:
Fantine
“I say nothing of Fantine, she is visionary, dreamy, pensive, sensitive; she is a phantom with the form of a nymph, and the modesty of the a nun, who has strayed into the life of a grisette, but who takes refuge in illusions, and who sings, and prays, and gazes at the sky without knowing clearly what she sees nor what she does, and who, with eyes fixed on heaven, wanders in a garden among more birds than exist there. Oh, Fantine, know this: I, Tholomyes, am an illusion – but she does not even hear me – the fair daughter of chimeras! Nevertheless, everything on her is freshness, gentleness, youth, soft, maternal clearness.”(P.115)
“She had a confused glimpse of the possible necessity of a separation still more painful than the first. Her heart ached, but she took her resolution. It will be seen that Fantine possessed the stern courage of life. She had already valiantly renounced her finery, was draped in calico, and had put all her silks, her gew-gaws, her ribbons, and laces on her daughter – the only vanity that remained, and that a holy one.” (P.125)
“The lower she sank, the more all became gloomy around her, the more the sweet little angel shone out from the bottom of her heart. She would say; ‘When I am rich, I shall have my Cosette with me;’ and she laughed. The cough did not leave her, and she had night sweats.”(P.154)
“It was not without some repugnance, at first, that the sisters received and cared for ‘this girl’…But in a few days Fantine had disarmed them. The motherly tenderness within her, with her soft and touching words, moved them. One day the sisters heard her say in her delirium: ‘I have been a sinner, but when I shall have my child with me, that will mean that Gad has pardoned me. While I was bad I would not have my Cosette with me; I could not have borne her sad and surprised looks. It was for her I sinned, and that is why God forgives me. I shall feel this benediction when Cosette comes. I shall gaze upon her; the sight of her innocence will do me good.’”(P.169)
Character Summary- Valjean
Jean Valjean is a man that made a mistake at a young age; he resorted to stealing a loaf of bread to feed him and his sister’s family. This mistake led Valjean to nineteen years of prison and hard labor. The prison time turned Valjean into an animal, struggling to be the strongest, struggling for survival. His resentment and anger towards authority, mankind, and God fueled him. When he was finally released from prison, he found himself still trapped by the stigma of being a convict, his yellow passport warned all that he met to stay away and not to help him. After giving up hope on finding anyone to share their food or shelter with him, Valjean was directed to knock at the Bishop’s door.
As we talked about last week, the Bishop greets him with unconditional kindness. He is greeted as a “brother”, given a meal and a warm bed for the night. Not quite believing that this type of kindness can be real, Valjean repays all that the Bishop has done by stealing the silver. When the Bishop lies for him, telling the police that have caught Valjean that he had actually given away the silver and adds the silver candlesticks to his sack, Valjean is dumbfounded. He had not imagined that the Bishop would vouch for him, or that this kindness could exist. The Bishop astounded him further by telling Valjean that he had promised to “use this money in becoming an honest man.” Valjean, of course, had no recollection of making this promise. The Bishop continued by stating that he had ransomed Valjean’s soul from evil with the silver. As God ransomed mankind with the life of his only son, his most valuable work, so the Bishop ransomed Valjean with his most valued processions.
Valjean was rather dumbstruck by all this, and is dazed for quite some time. He had trouble believing that the Bishop was as good and kind as he had seemed. When he does finally come out of the daze Valjean did just as he had been told to. He started a new life, in a new town, with the money from the Bishop’s silver. However, he kept the silver candlesticks as a reminder of the Bishop. It was not always easy for him to live as he should he battled often with his anger, pride, and bitterness. He worked hard to lead a good and honest life. He gave all that he could to those that needed it; he helped out others when he could. He came to own his own factory, and tried to endure that everyone was treated fairly. He became so well known in the town for his fairness and good deeds that, even though he resisted, he was elected mayor of his new town.
Everything was going well, until Javert gets involved. Inspector Javert had worked in the galleys that Valjean had been forced to work as a prisoner. Slowly Javert becomes suspicious of Valjean and makes life much more uncertain for Valjean, who comes to recognize Javert as well. While the game of cat and mouse ensues between Javert and Valjean more complications arise. Fantine, a woman who had worked in Valjean’s factory but had been fired, is forced into prostitution and becomes very ill. Valjean uses his authority as mayor to keep he from being put in jail, and attempts to nurse her back to health. In her final days, Fantine has Valjean promise to take care of her daughter, Cosette, who was staying with an innkeeper and his wife in a different town.
As Valjean was preparing to get Cosette Javert pays him a visit, apologizing for thinking that a mayor could be a convict. He tells Valjean that another man had been captured and is on trial, with the assumption that the man in custody is Valjean. Instead of taking the easy way out, and letting another man go to prison for his crimes, Valjean goes to the court and announces whom he is, saving the other man’s life. He then retreats to Fantine’s bedside where Javert confronts him; the shock is the last for frail Fantine who then dies. Here the book, musical and movies differ. In the book Valjean is captured and goes to jail one more time, and escapes after a daring rescue of a sailor, then goes for Cosette. In the musical and the movie he goes directly to get Cosette.
Valjean takes Cosette and brings her to Paris. They scale the city wall and take refuge in a convent, where Valjean becomes a gardener and Cosette receives her education. When Cosette is grown they leave the convent and move to a secluded home in the city. In all this Valjean has put Cosette and her safety above all else. As Cosette’s romance with Marius grows, and Valjean discovers it, he is terrified that he will lose her. Once again he puts Cosette before himself, and saves Marius’s life at the battle at the barricades, and when Marius is well, does everything he can to make everything easy and perfect for Cosette. This includes giving as a dowry the remaining money from the Bishop’s silver, and bequeathing her the silver candlesticks on his deathbed. He was even willing to remove himself from Cosette’s life, if that would give her a better future.
Valjean had been given an opportunity to change his life. We have all been given the same chance, it is not an easy ride, but it is an opportunity. Like Valjean, we can struggle along working towards virtue with both success and failure. As Valjean was strengthened by the love her shared with Cosette, our love for others, and the love that others feel towards us can strengthen us.
Character Quotes: Jean Valjean
“Can man, created by God, be made wicked by man? Can the soul be changed to keep pace with its destiny, and become evil when its destiny is evil? Can the heart become distorted and contract deformities and infirmities that are incurable, under the pressure of disproportionate woe, like the vertebral column under a too heavy brain? Is there not in every human soul; was there not in the particular soul of Jean Valjean, a primitive spark, a divine element, incorruptible in this world, immortal in the next, which can be developed by good, kindled, lit up, and made resplendently radiant, and which evil can never entirely extinguish.” (P.76-77)
“Love came and he again grew strong. Alas, he was no less feeble than Cosette. He protected her, and she gave strength to him. Thanks to him, she could walk upright in life; thanks to her he could persist in virtuous deeds. He was the support of the child, and this child was his prop and staff.” (P.372)
“Jean Valjean shuddered with the continual tremor of the outcast. To them everything is hostile and suspicious. They distrust the day because it helps to discover them, and the night because it helps to surprise them. Just now he was shuddering because the garden was empty, now he shuddered because there was some one in it.” (P.393)
“The book…from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever may be the intermissions, the exceptions, or the defaults, the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God. Starting point: matter; goal: the soul. Hydra at the beginning, angel at the end.” (P.1042)
“To Cosette…I bequeath the two candlesticks which are on the mantel. They are silver; but to me they are gold, they are diamond; they change the candles which are put into them, into consecrated tapers. I do not know whether he who gave them to me is satisfied with me in heaven. I have done what I could.” (P.1220)
As we talked about last week, the Bishop greets him with unconditional kindness. He is greeted as a “brother”, given a meal and a warm bed for the night. Not quite believing that this type of kindness can be real, Valjean repays all that the Bishop has done by stealing the silver. When the Bishop lies for him, telling the police that have caught Valjean that he had actually given away the silver and adds the silver candlesticks to his sack, Valjean is dumbfounded. He had not imagined that the Bishop would vouch for him, or that this kindness could exist. The Bishop astounded him further by telling Valjean that he had promised to “use this money in becoming an honest man.” Valjean, of course, had no recollection of making this promise. The Bishop continued by stating that he had ransomed Valjean’s soul from evil with the silver. As God ransomed mankind with the life of his only son, his most valuable work, so the Bishop ransomed Valjean with his most valued processions.
Valjean was rather dumbstruck by all this, and is dazed for quite some time. He had trouble believing that the Bishop was as good and kind as he had seemed. When he does finally come out of the daze Valjean did just as he had been told to. He started a new life, in a new town, with the money from the Bishop’s silver. However, he kept the silver candlesticks as a reminder of the Bishop. It was not always easy for him to live as he should he battled often with his anger, pride, and bitterness. He worked hard to lead a good and honest life. He gave all that he could to those that needed it; he helped out others when he could. He came to own his own factory, and tried to endure that everyone was treated fairly. He became so well known in the town for his fairness and good deeds that, even though he resisted, he was elected mayor of his new town.
Everything was going well, until Javert gets involved. Inspector Javert had worked in the galleys that Valjean had been forced to work as a prisoner. Slowly Javert becomes suspicious of Valjean and makes life much more uncertain for Valjean, who comes to recognize Javert as well. While the game of cat and mouse ensues between Javert and Valjean more complications arise. Fantine, a woman who had worked in Valjean’s factory but had been fired, is forced into prostitution and becomes very ill. Valjean uses his authority as mayor to keep he from being put in jail, and attempts to nurse her back to health. In her final days, Fantine has Valjean promise to take care of her daughter, Cosette, who was staying with an innkeeper and his wife in a different town.
As Valjean was preparing to get Cosette Javert pays him a visit, apologizing for thinking that a mayor could be a convict. He tells Valjean that another man had been captured and is on trial, with the assumption that the man in custody is Valjean. Instead of taking the easy way out, and letting another man go to prison for his crimes, Valjean goes to the court and announces whom he is, saving the other man’s life. He then retreats to Fantine’s bedside where Javert confronts him; the shock is the last for frail Fantine who then dies. Here the book, musical and movies differ. In the book Valjean is captured and goes to jail one more time, and escapes after a daring rescue of a sailor, then goes for Cosette. In the musical and the movie he goes directly to get Cosette.
Valjean takes Cosette and brings her to Paris. They scale the city wall and take refuge in a convent, where Valjean becomes a gardener and Cosette receives her education. When Cosette is grown they leave the convent and move to a secluded home in the city. In all this Valjean has put Cosette and her safety above all else. As Cosette’s romance with Marius grows, and Valjean discovers it, he is terrified that he will lose her. Once again he puts Cosette before himself, and saves Marius’s life at the battle at the barricades, and when Marius is well, does everything he can to make everything easy and perfect for Cosette. This includes giving as a dowry the remaining money from the Bishop’s silver, and bequeathing her the silver candlesticks on his deathbed. He was even willing to remove himself from Cosette’s life, if that would give her a better future.
Valjean had been given an opportunity to change his life. We have all been given the same chance, it is not an easy ride, but it is an opportunity. Like Valjean, we can struggle along working towards virtue with both success and failure. As Valjean was strengthened by the love her shared with Cosette, our love for others, and the love that others feel towards us can strengthen us.
Character Quotes: Jean Valjean
“Can man, created by God, be made wicked by man? Can the soul be changed to keep pace with its destiny, and become evil when its destiny is evil? Can the heart become distorted and contract deformities and infirmities that are incurable, under the pressure of disproportionate woe, like the vertebral column under a too heavy brain? Is there not in every human soul; was there not in the particular soul of Jean Valjean, a primitive spark, a divine element, incorruptible in this world, immortal in the next, which can be developed by good, kindled, lit up, and made resplendently radiant, and which evil can never entirely extinguish.” (P.76-77)
“Love came and he again grew strong. Alas, he was no less feeble than Cosette. He protected her, and she gave strength to him. Thanks to him, she could walk upright in life; thanks to her he could persist in virtuous deeds. He was the support of the child, and this child was his prop and staff.” (P.372)
“Jean Valjean shuddered with the continual tremor of the outcast. To them everything is hostile and suspicious. They distrust the day because it helps to discover them, and the night because it helps to surprise them. Just now he was shuddering because the garden was empty, now he shuddered because there was some one in it.” (P.393)
“The book…from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever may be the intermissions, the exceptions, or the defaults, the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God. Starting point: matter; goal: the soul. Hydra at the beginning, angel at the end.” (P.1042)
“To Cosette…I bequeath the two candlesticks which are on the mantel. They are silver; but to me they are gold, they are diamond; they change the candles which are put into them, into consecrated tapers. I do not know whether he who gave them to me is satisfied with me in heaven. I have done what I could.” (P.1220)
Immortality/Perfect Memory
Immortality and perfect memory are two frightening abilities that we believe no one has. To be able to live forever, or to remember everything, could be considered both a blessing and a curse. Which would you rather be? Immortal, yet forgetting both unimportant and important things as you go, or mortal and never being able to forget any moments of you life. Is one any easier to bear than the other?
Immortality means that you live forever. Being able to witness the infinity of time first hand. The day an immortal is conceived the infinity of their life begins. An immortal would forget some of their ordeals, because how can anyone without perfect memory remember an infinite number of experiences and names. They would see trends and knowledge lost and found repeatedly. Everything from world power to clothing styles changing, but only going around in circles. Things like treatment of women and minorities improving, then going down hill again. To see people making the same mistakes generation after generation must make an immortal, who's seen it all before, want to pull out all their own hair. They would either have to try to help the world change, or go mad.
Having perfect memory is not all that different from being immortal. The people with perfect memory are able to die, unlike immortals, but that doesn't make their torment any easier to bear. The people with perfect memories remember everything from their first breath to their most embarrassing moment with perfect clarity. These people could read every book they could find and remember it all. They could help the world by observing the patterns in our history, through books, that the immortals would perceive through experience. The memories and knowledge would clog up the mind of anyone with perfect memory. That crowding of memories could push them over the edge just as easily as being immortal could drive someone insane.
Compare the mind of someone with perfect memory, or an immortals numerous experience, with MC Escher's print Cubic Space Division. The print could be compared to the storage of memories in the brain of a person with perfect memory, or with the vast experiences of someone that lives forever. The print shows infinite number of large cubes and the long cubes that connect them. Those cubes are much like the neurons in the brain, and the cause and effect of events. Neurons depend on each other to carry on important messages, events are affected by experiences, and the cubes in Escher's print depend on each other to hold each other up. They are all dependent on each other for survival and for doing what they are supposed to do to get the job done. However there is also an unending repetitiveness in all of these things. The long cubes in Escher's print could keep you going in circles, as could memories and experiences.
The choice between being immortal and having perfect memory is one I'm glad I will never deal with (at least I hope not!). The bad points to both are extreme deterrents. The good points, like helping the world, are definitely outweighed by the down-sides of these qualities. What good would I be if I was immortal, or had a perfect memory, but my brain was too clogged with useless memories to do anything worth while? Neither of these two options really appeal to me. I do not want to remember all of the stupid things that I've done. Nor do I wish to live forever so I can do more incredibly stupid things than I'm already going to do. Finally, I know that if I were immortal or had perfect memory I would lose my mind, and I'm always being told that I have none to spare.
Immortality means that you live forever. Being able to witness the infinity of time first hand. The day an immortal is conceived the infinity of their life begins. An immortal would forget some of their ordeals, because how can anyone without perfect memory remember an infinite number of experiences and names. They would see trends and knowledge lost and found repeatedly. Everything from world power to clothing styles changing, but only going around in circles. Things like treatment of women and minorities improving, then going down hill again. To see people making the same mistakes generation after generation must make an immortal, who's seen it all before, want to pull out all their own hair. They would either have to try to help the world change, or go mad.
Having perfect memory is not all that different from being immortal. The people with perfect memory are able to die, unlike immortals, but that doesn't make their torment any easier to bear. The people with perfect memories remember everything from their first breath to their most embarrassing moment with perfect clarity. These people could read every book they could find and remember it all. They could help the world by observing the patterns in our history, through books, that the immortals would perceive through experience. The memories and knowledge would clog up the mind of anyone with perfect memory. That crowding of memories could push them over the edge just as easily as being immortal could drive someone insane.
Compare the mind of someone with perfect memory, or an immortals numerous experience, with MC Escher's print Cubic Space Division. The print could be compared to the storage of memories in the brain of a person with perfect memory, or with the vast experiences of someone that lives forever. The print shows infinite number of large cubes and the long cubes that connect them. Those cubes are much like the neurons in the brain, and the cause and effect of events. Neurons depend on each other to carry on important messages, events are affected by experiences, and the cubes in Escher's print depend on each other to hold each other up. They are all dependent on each other for survival and for doing what they are supposed to do to get the job done. However there is also an unending repetitiveness in all of these things. The long cubes in Escher's print could keep you going in circles, as could memories and experiences.
The choice between being immortal and having perfect memory is one I'm glad I will never deal with (at least I hope not!). The bad points to both are extreme deterrents. The good points, like helping the world, are definitely outweighed by the down-sides of these qualities. What good would I be if I was immortal, or had a perfect memory, but my brain was too clogged with useless memories to do anything worth while? Neither of these two options really appeal to me. I do not want to remember all of the stupid things that I've done. Nor do I wish to live forever so I can do more incredibly stupid things than I'm already going to do. Finally, I know that if I were immortal or had perfect memory I would lose my mind, and I'm always being told that I have none to spare.
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