Prodigal Son

My notes from class last week read, verbatim...

"Good Stories violate you
attack on your structure of explanation
Parabole

BE INSPIRED

Prodigal Son"


I have recently had some time to reflect on this notion of being violated from a story, yesterday I posted up in my room for an hour and a half just to finish "The Slave." In certain respects I felt violated and asked myself why did Sarah and Jacob have to die at such times in their lives. Sarah during after child birth, Jacob on his return to Pilitz. I felt violated because so much could have happened differently to make it a happy story. But in some respects it was a happy story, the love Jacob and Wanda had for each other was nothing short of inspirational. The fact the Jacob was able to raise his son to become a prosperous man, was simply fantastic. But why the suffering? That might be cause for some inspiration too, the fact that they had to endure so much yet were able to come back from it stirred something in my being. I in a sense reflected on my life thinking. If I could have loved and been devoted to something as much as Jacob was, to Wanda and his religion, then I can do the same in my life and receive a kind of unmatched satisfaction.

I'll now switch gears to talk about the last line of my notes from class I have posted. "Prodigal Son" is a song by the Rolling Stones, which appears on their 1968 album Beggar's Banquet. I listened to it again and pulled up the lyrics, and sure enough it was about chapter 15 in Luke. Each part of the song's verses end with either the line, "And that'll be the way to get along" or "Cause that is no way to get along" This kind of commentary gets at the notion of being violated. It almost seems to ask which is right and which is wrong, in the case of the story it is what is wrong that occurs, and that's what make it a good story, because it attacks us and complicates things, making us question the world, like we should.

Here is the complete lyrics for those who are not familiar.

Well a poor boy took his father's bread and started down the road
Started down the road
Took all he had and started down the road
Going out in this world, where God only knows
And that'll be the way to get along

Well poor boy spent all he had, famine come in the land
Famine come in the land
Spent all he had and famine come in the land
Said, "I believe I'll go and hire me to some man"
And that'll be the way I'll get along

Well, man said, "I'll give you a job for to feed my swine
For to feed my swine
I'll give you a job for to feed my swine"
Boy stood there and hung his head and cried
`Cause that is no way to get along

Said, "I believe I'll ride, believe I'll go back home
Believe I'll go back home
Believe I'll ride, believe I'll go back home
Or down the road as far as I can go"
And that'll be the way to get along


Well, father said, "See my son coming home to me
Coming home to me"
Father ran and fell down on his knees
Said, "Sing and praise, Lord have mercy on me"
Mercy

Oh poor boy stood there, hung his head and cried
Hung his head and cried
Poor boy stood and hung his head and cried
Said, "Father will you look on me as a child?"
Yeah

Well father said, "Eldest son, kill the fatted calf,
Call the family round
Kill that calf and call the family round
My son was lost but now he is found
'Cause that's the way for us to get along"
Hey

Jacob, The Slave?

Having just got through the first section of the book, entitled "Wanda", I'm contemplating this notion of Jacob and his existence as a slave. Obviously he was a literal slave in the beginning of the book until the Jews ransomed him back and took him to Josefov. But I question his underlying feelings and actions as he farms and herds for the village. He loved what he did he even loved his lust for Wanda, waiting to see her come over the hill. He admired her in a way only unconditional love could accurately describe. I think an important aspect to notice is how Jacob is a slave to himself in the light of his worship. There are many instances when I was getting mad at Jacob for being to helpless. He seemed to attribute all occurrences and feelings in his life to the creator not his own humility. In these ways he became a slave on his own accord, the village had nothing to do with his mental enslavement. He comes across to me as a very intelligent and thoughtful man, but not when it comes to Wanda. He seems to put too much faith in his religion and not love. When it is clear to anyone reading this Wanda has nothing but love and admiration for Jacob. The fact that he did not wait to hear if his family had been killed before lying with Wanda illustrates, I think, his recognition of the love they share for each other. And going back to his place in Josefov showed him what an empty existence he had before he loved Wanda. He literally could not function right without her. At times he felt repulsed by his previous actions regarding her, but through it all she never left his mind. I think one line can sum up how Jacob should think of Wanda and all other characters in the book alike. "The evil ones destroyed, the Jews created." This thought comes to Jacob as he sits waiting to meet the woman who many become his new wife and he looks around the new house that has rebuilt. He should see that Wanda is not evil but like a Jew, in that she helped create so much when she was with Jacob, she helped him learn more about his religion and its values. She made him a better Jew and he made her a better person. Now that they have just run off together I'm curios to see what this relationship will develop into.

Turn to Ecclesiastes

Today in class after Prof. read the end of Ecclesiastes and I noticed how short the book was I decided I would read it. Initially I was confused about who was talking and checking back to the end of Proverbs did not help but, on I read. One common theme, among, others I noticed right away was the mention at the beginning, end, and middle of almost every book was the phrase, "under the sun" I wonder still why this particular group of words was selected to preface many of the prophetic statements that filled the book. Perhaps it was used to communicate a kind of oneness and objectivity with which the views of this book should be applied. In any case I found the tone and phrasing of the words in this book to be enjoyable. I was interested to see how these views either conflicted or melded with some of my own values. Overall the one theme I liked to see discussed was the labor of men and how we should feel about it and what others after us will do with the fruits of our labor. In the second chapter the speaker says, "Yea, I hated my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me." This I found puzzling for two reasons, one- that the man hates his labor because he does not like the fact that he has to leave it for someone after him, I wonder why this hatred for hard work in the light of the inevitable mortality of men. And two- that he does not want this labor to go to the man after him, I think that if anything one who works hard today should be glad others can benefit and the generation after them can do the same. Another interesting theme I saw in this book was the mention of science in relation to the human existence. "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all." I find this equation of the lack of knowledge regarding God's plan and science to be perplexing. It seems to throw the complexities of something that we know well today, science, and something we still have no concrete grasp on, religion, under the bus, to be left alone without inquiry. But why? Is there some kind of element of deception going on, do they not want us to discover more about nature and evolution. I can see that when one embraces science they distance themselves from God. But do the two have to be mutually exclusive, I do not think so, for if we are to look at this Bible as a book of stories and morals them they can, and maybe it's just me but that makes great sense.

Folklore for Thought

Today I decided it would be a good day to read some of Frazer's book about the Old Testament. I was not quite sure what to expect as I opened it and began reading. I assumed it would be a dense work filled with big words and very hard to follow one thought from sentence to sentence. However, my reaction to the book was quite the opposite. I found it to be very easy to follow and reflect upon as I read. I chose to read the first part about the fall of man, I related it to the way Plotz talks about his reading of the Bible, in that it followed the story along chronologically and analyzed it as it went. Frazer, although, has a different approach to Plotz in what he relates his reading to, where Plotz looks at his life, Frazer looks at history and human existence in general. It is a great way to get more out of the Biblical readings in an understandable and concise way. In this chapter I learned more about the fall of man than I had known before, even considering my own readings of Genesis. Perhaps I missed it in class and other places but Frazer talked much about the existence of two trees in Eden. One was the tree of knowledge and the other the tree of life. Frazer looks at this book with an etiological lens, claiming, "The gist of the whole story of the fall appears to be an attempt to explain man's mortality, to set forth how death came into the world." He goes on to assert that man was given a choice to either die or live forever. He picks up on the notion that God gave man encouragement to eat from any other tree, suggesting that when the tree of knowledge was picked death was assigned and immortality was missed. Another interesting topic Frazer touched on was the idea that only one tree could have been picked, otherwise if both trees were eaten from man would be comparable to God, in that he would be all knowing and immortal. The other interesting lacuna Frazer discusses is the purpose of the serpent in the Garden and his deceit of Eve and Adam. He questions the serpents motive for deceiving Adam and Eve, saying he had nothing to gain from it and as a result of his actions he came out losing, by being doomed to crawl on his belly. He goes on to argue that the serpent actually is immortal because he can cast his skin and renew his life. All of these ideas I found to be very compelling and gave me a new way to look at reading the Bible. Frazer's sense of witty playfulness and knowledgeable insight showed me the light that is the Bible, and I hope to use it as I read on.

Music in Peter Quince

Wallace Stevens' poem offers an intriguing account of the story of Susanna besides it's vivid imagery and cringe inducing word choice, what I liked most about it was it's discussion of music and respectively its notions on beauty in this world. "Music is feeling, then, not sound" is a perfect characterization of what music should mean to us. Yes it is at its base sound but what would it be if there were no feelings provoked by it. Personally I listen to music because it makes me feel a certain way, a way that reflects the feelings I have inside me, life is music. This idea is furthered later in the poem when Stevens writes, "A breath upon her hand Muted the night.She turned--A cymbal crashed,And roaring horns." There is no sound at this point in the story, only the feelings the emotional reflection of how these sounds make us feel. A symbol crash communicates a kind of shock, and instantaneous fear that dissipates slowly. Stevens goes on to use more musical allusions in the poem writing, "Soon, with a noise like tambourines,Came her attendant Byzantines." Again this a perfect characterization of human action being illustrated by music. I can hear and see the maid dashing over with a kind of hurried and worried like rhythm in her step, the personification of music is profound in this poem. Stevens finishes of the poem by bringing music, beauty, and rememberance into one idea, Now, in its immortality, it plays On the clear viol of her memory, And makes a constant sacrament of praise." This idea that beauty exists not only in the moment it is witness but with a sense of eternity, like music, is a insightful notion about the human experience, even though those elders were just being dirty old men, Susanna's beauty can exist in a time beyond her own so that twenty two year old English majors can pick up on this description of true beauty without missing a beat.

Oh, Susanna

I found the story of Susanna to be quite compelling, I found my self glued to the pages as I read this intriguing little tale. The first element of this book that struck me was the word choice in describing the events surrounding the plot. Susanna is obviously a beauty to look upon I gathered this from two sentences in particular. One goes, "And albeit they both were wounded with her love" and the other, "that they may be filled with her beauty." The key word in these sentences are wounded and filled respectively. As I was reading I stopped, circled the word, and read them again. I was in awe how these two seemingly simple words conveyed so much to me about the story. The word wounded reminds me of a Shakespearean sonnet, I can't remember which, or maybe it was an Edmund Spencer poem, in any case the speaker of the poem is wounded by his lover's eyes, because, as the poem tells us, there is a little army of cupids sitting on her eyelashes that shot their arrows at his heart. Haven't you ever felt like this when gazing upon something of beauty, I know this feeling all to well, when it happens it feels as if you have lost something like you will always have this pain that hurts you like there is an overwhelming desire to honor it but you feel like you are unworthy of its beauty. The word filled also gets at this idea in that when something fills you, you have nothing else inside that takes dominance, you are what you see, you swim in it as it covers you with its beauty, and its a trap almost one that has you transfixed and numb. Maybe its just me but I'm fascinated with the Bible in how it uses these words to communicate its meaning, in any case it takes the reader to put it all into context. Another aspect of this story that in a way puzzled me was the two different ways in which Susanna's faith is described. In the beginning of the story we are told she is "one that feared the Lord" and later that "her heart trusted in the Lord" To me fear and trust cannot exist in unison. They have so many conflicting attributes, fear implies a kind of weakness felt in its presence, were as trust communicates a feeling of honor and faith. Is this how we are to feel about God, be fearing and trusting, maybe its his powers that we can feel this ways about, but how could we fear and trust the personification of God. I'm reminded of the film "A Bronx Tale" were a mob boss is asked if it is better to be feared or loved. To which he responds, "It's great to be both, but fear lasts longer than love" I think this has some merit in the case of the Suzanna story because there is this static sense of fear when we talk of God, and the love we have for him weavers depending on various factors, so the question is does God want to be feared is it part of this masculinity that we speak of in class that characterizes him. I think it would be better to be loved because there is an element of exchange and compassion in it that fear will never be able to capture.

Epiphany

The professor's requests that we go out and have an epiphany, have been ironic to say the least. Knowing the nature of epiphanies they come at you in a uncanny manner, one that is very profound and usually life changing. Upon this subject I can at least tell you of one epiphany that I had that changed my life in a way.

It happened when I was in the sixth grade at the approximate age of ten or eleven years old, maybe I was tweleve. In any case I was at home listening to the AC/DC that was being projected from the Bose radio that sat in the kitchen. I think I was playing the album "High Voltage" which I had recently purchased from a cd outlet that week. If I remember right the song that was playing at the time was "It's a long way to the top" I remember I had the radio at a high level of volume, as is necessary when listening to AC/DC, and I was playing my air guitar. As I reached my hand above my head to strike the strings with the air pick, I waited for the chorus to begin. One cue as Angus Young's guitar roared so did mine I hit the strings and felt strange. A chill went up my spine and I felt slightly numb all over my body, and I remember thinking one thought. One thought in particular. "I've got to learn how to play guitar"

The following weeks I began to play on my father's neglected acoustic regularly, and eventually convinced him to pay for guitar lessons. Looking back I can't help but think about how different things would be now if I hadn't been playing air guitar that night. I've no doubt I would have made different friends, brought different things, and been a different person.