Monday, June 26, 2006
Chapters 1-4: Evil and Love
First a small question: Are we now stopping to discuss? I wanna keep reading but also want to make sure we all stay on the same page (literally, haha).
So what do you all think so far?
I am seeing themes of Love and Evil. The love (which i thought at first was gonna make me sick, along with JT) seems like it could be (but the jury is still out) diving into more interesting territory by etching out some different shades of love (with the whole Delphine and Cyprian thing).
The evil is the more interesting of the two to me right now. There is a lot of forboding, very dark, grim references to the War, the brokeness of Delphine's family, and of course a few dead bodies. There is that one interesting passage where the author, through Delphine, briefly raises the question of God, whether he is good, and if he is why is there evil?
"Not that she ever railed at God. From the time she'd understood God wouldn't giver her her mother back, she knewthat was a waste of time. Because it offended her to swallow as many as twenty or thirty lies per day, she quit school in her final year. God was all good. Lie! God was all powerful. All right, maybe. But if so, then clearly not all good, since he let her mother die. All merciful? Lie. Just? Lie. All seeing? Had he really the time to watch what her hands did beneath the covers at night? Did God really invade her brain and weepp at her impure thoughts? And if so, why had he concentrated oon such trivia rather than curing her mother of her illness? What sort of choice was that?" Chapter 3
Also this from Fidelis' chapter (2), which seemed so shockingly out of nowhere after the humorous war between the butchers that the contrast with absurdity put it in greater and more sinister relief:
"For of course, every so often the town recieved a great shock. It seemed that just as people grew into a false assurance, believed for instance that their prayers worked and that evil was kept at bay, or thoughtlessly celebrated the quiet of their community with a street dance, a parade, or any kind of energetic complacence, something happened. Someone turned up dead. A child mother in a load of grain. There was a pregnant woman, then one day she wasn't pregnant anymore. People know s he killed her baby but there was no proof. A yound m an walked the streets. Then the man disappeared. A bank robbery. Car wreck. A boy chopped to pieces in a threshing accident. The children's favorite schoolteacher blew his head off. Once again the town would be reminded that even though it was populated by an army of decent people, even though a majority counted themselves pious churchgoers, even though Argus prided itself on civic participation, it was not immune. Strub's funerary stood flourishing, a testament of the fact that death liked Argus just as much as anywhere else. And evil, though it was not condoned by the city council, flourished nonetheless, here and there, in surprising and secret pockets."
Great forshadowing, and if carried off well a great theme for discussion, this evil business.
So what do you all think so far?
I am seeing themes of Love and Evil. The love (which i thought at first was gonna make me sick, along with JT) seems like it could be (but the jury is still out) diving into more interesting territory by etching out some different shades of love (with the whole Delphine and Cyprian thing).
The evil is the more interesting of the two to me right now. There is a lot of forboding, very dark, grim references to the War, the brokeness of Delphine's family, and of course a few dead bodies. There is that one interesting passage where the author, through Delphine, briefly raises the question of God, whether he is good, and if he is why is there evil?
"Not that she ever railed at God. From the time she'd understood God wouldn't giver her her mother back, she knewthat was a waste of time. Because it offended her to swallow as many as twenty or thirty lies per day, she quit school in her final year. God was all good. Lie! God was all powerful. All right, maybe. But if so, then clearly not all good, since he let her mother die. All merciful? Lie. Just? Lie. All seeing? Had he really the time to watch what her hands did beneath the covers at night? Did God really invade her brain and weepp at her impure thoughts? And if so, why had he concentrated oon such trivia rather than curing her mother of her illness? What sort of choice was that?" Chapter 3
Also this from Fidelis' chapter (2), which seemed so shockingly out of nowhere after the humorous war between the butchers that the contrast with absurdity put it in greater and more sinister relief:
"For of course, every so often the town recieved a great shock. It seemed that just as people grew into a false assurance, believed for instance that their prayers worked and that evil was kept at bay, or thoughtlessly celebrated the quiet of their community with a street dance, a parade, or any kind of energetic complacence, something happened. Someone turned up dead. A child mother in a load of grain. There was a pregnant woman, then one day she wasn't pregnant anymore. People know s he killed her baby but there was no proof. A yound m an walked the streets. Then the man disappeared. A bank robbery. Car wreck. A boy chopped to pieces in a threshing accident. The children's favorite schoolteacher blew his head off. Once again the town would be reminded that even though it was populated by an army of decent people, even though a majority counted themselves pious churchgoers, even though Argus prided itself on civic participation, it was not immune. Strub's funerary stood flourishing, a testament of the fact that death liked Argus just as much as anywhere else. And evil, though it was not condoned by the city council, flourished nonetheless, here and there, in surprising and secret pockets."
Great forshadowing, and if carried off well a great theme for discussion, this evil business.
