We've talked a lot in class about the character of Dana, as well as those of Rufus, Tom, and the other members of their time period. The one character that we've mostly ignored, though, is Kevin. This is a shame - he's an interesting person, and his situation, although very different than Dana's, is still worth exploring.
Kevin's treatment of Dana when she starts traveling back in time is very admirable. When she returns for the second time after the fire incident and explains what's going on, he clearly has his doubts, but he immediately shelves them and comforts Dana as if he completely believed her story. His love for Dana really shines through, however, when he accompanies her on her third journey to the nineteenth century. In a way, Kevin is in more danger than Dana is in 1819. Yes, Dana has to live as a social inferior in constant fear of abuse, but only for a limited amount of time. Kevin, meanwhile, runs the risk of being trapped in 1819 for years if Dana returns to 1976 without him. If I were in Kevin's position, I would be terrified to travel more than a meter away from Dana. Kevin, however, does whatever he can to make Dana's life as comfortable as possible given the situation, at enormous risk to himself. That is true love and devotion.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
War in Reverse
For all of the Tralfamadorian time travel that he experiences, Billy Pilgrim is always moving forward in time. Directly after living one instant of his life, he lives the next, even though he occasionally skips a bunch of instants by traveling either forward or backward in time. Never, however, does he go through a period where he lives one instant and then immediately lives the instant directly before it - with one exception. On his daughter's wedding night, Billy can't sleep, knowing from experience that he is about to be kidnapped by the Tralfamadorians. He gets out of bed, goes downstairs into his living room, and turns on the television - and he suddenly begins living in reverse. He isn't skipping through time, his usual method of time travel; he is moving through time at a normal speed, only backwards.
He spends this period of time reversal by watching the late movie that happens to be on television - backwards. It's about World War II, so he sees German soldiers sucking bullets and shell fragments away from U.S. airplanes, and U.S airplanes removing the destruction from a ravaged German city. When the planes get to England, they ship the weapons back to the United States, where factory workers, mostly women, dismantle them and send the materials away to be buried in the Earth. The soldiers then turn into high-schoolers, and Billy extrapolates that Hitler, along with everyone else, turns into a baby, and "all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve" (75).
When I first read this, I thought that it was a wonderful way of looking at things. This movie depicting the horrors of war and destruction could, simply by being watched in reverse, be transformed into a heartwarming story about soldiers miraculously healing each other, destroying weapons, and working together to create two perfect humans.
"But wait," I then realised. "This is the opposite of what really happened." Indeed, this wonderful story, by virtue of the fact that it is reality played in reverse, literally depicts the polar opposite of what actually happened. What actually happened, then, must therefore be entropy in action, a perfect situation getting worse and worse and worse. That's the true takeaway from this scene, and, in a way, the novel as a whole. The war was not glorious. The war was the very opposite of the perfect story told by the movie in reverse. The war consisted of mindless destruction, of people who could be using their energy to make the world a better place instead using it to destroy each other. That's what this war, and all other wars, really meant.
He spends this period of time reversal by watching the late movie that happens to be on television - backwards. It's about World War II, so he sees German soldiers sucking bullets and shell fragments away from U.S. airplanes, and U.S airplanes removing the destruction from a ravaged German city. When the planes get to England, they ship the weapons back to the United States, where factory workers, mostly women, dismantle them and send the materials away to be buried in the Earth. The soldiers then turn into high-schoolers, and Billy extrapolates that Hitler, along with everyone else, turns into a baby, and "all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve" (75).
When I first read this, I thought that it was a wonderful way of looking at things. This movie depicting the horrors of war and destruction could, simply by being watched in reverse, be transformed into a heartwarming story about soldiers miraculously healing each other, destroying weapons, and working together to create two perfect humans.
"But wait," I then realised. "This is the opposite of what really happened." Indeed, this wonderful story, by virtue of the fact that it is reality played in reverse, literally depicts the polar opposite of what actually happened. What actually happened, then, must therefore be entropy in action, a perfect situation getting worse and worse and worse. That's the true takeaway from this scene, and, in a way, the novel as a whole. The war was not glorious. The war was the very opposite of the perfect story told by the movie in reverse. The war consisted of mindless destruction, of people who could be using their energy to make the world a better place instead using it to destroy each other. That's what this war, and all other wars, really meant.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Religion in Mumbo Jumbo
It's clear from early on in Mumbo Jumbo that Ishmael Reed is not attempting to portray Christianity in a positive light. Christianity is at the heart of the Atonist movement, with the Knights Templar utilising Christian dogma to justify what they do. All of this goes without saying, but what's interesting is Reed's depiction of other religions, as it turns out that they're also portrayed negatively.
The two primary religions to use as examples are Egyptian mythology and Judaism, which appear and intertwine with each other during PaPa LaBaz's narrative at Villa Lewaro. Reed's telling of Egyptian mythology is firmly grounded in the actual mythological stories. One of the most famous stories in Egyptian mythology is that of Set's triumph over Osiris, in which Set tricks Osiris into trapping himself in a coffin, which Set's minions then destroy, fragmenting Osiris's body into countless pieces. Isis and Horus subsequently vow to avenge Osiris, working to rebuild his body while dodging several attempts by Set to kill them. This all happens in Mumbo Jumbo mostly by the letter, albeit with the added element of the struggle between Jes Grew and Atonism. But from there, things get a bit odd. Isis, Horus, and Thoth sort of disappear, and Set goes insane. What the original mythology depicts as an ongoing struggle between order and chaos that oscillates back and forth but never swings too heavily toward either side, Mumbo Jumbo depicts as a rapidly deteriorating situation that doesn't really turn out well for anyone.
And then there's Judaism. Now, I'm not Jewish, so I could be completely wrong here, but I'm under the impression that Moses is sort of the central figure of Judaism. He didn't found it, so he's not quite the Jewish equivalent of Jesus or Mohammed or Siddhartha, but I still get the sense that he's the most important. Ishmael Reed takes this sacred image and turns him into a corrupt, power-hungry man whose entire life is a strange kind of disaster that almost hurts to watch. He goes to so much trouble and takes advantage of so many people to acquire the Book, only to fail miserably when he tries to use it.
There are a couple of other religions that are given brief mention, such as Islam, which features in one scene: the conversation between PaPa LaBas, Black Herman, and Abdul Hamid. It too is portrayed negatively, being called restrictive and close-minded in much the same way that Christianity is.
The two primary religions to use as examples are Egyptian mythology and Judaism, which appear and intertwine with each other during PaPa LaBaz's narrative at Villa Lewaro. Reed's telling of Egyptian mythology is firmly grounded in the actual mythological stories. One of the most famous stories in Egyptian mythology is that of Set's triumph over Osiris, in which Set tricks Osiris into trapping himself in a coffin, which Set's minions then destroy, fragmenting Osiris's body into countless pieces. Isis and Horus subsequently vow to avenge Osiris, working to rebuild his body while dodging several attempts by Set to kill them. This all happens in Mumbo Jumbo mostly by the letter, albeit with the added element of the struggle between Jes Grew and Atonism. But from there, things get a bit odd. Isis, Horus, and Thoth sort of disappear, and Set goes insane. What the original mythology depicts as an ongoing struggle between order and chaos that oscillates back and forth but never swings too heavily toward either side, Mumbo Jumbo depicts as a rapidly deteriorating situation that doesn't really turn out well for anyone.
And then there's Judaism. Now, I'm not Jewish, so I could be completely wrong here, but I'm under the impression that Moses is sort of the central figure of Judaism. He didn't found it, so he's not quite the Jewish equivalent of Jesus or Mohammed or Siddhartha, but I still get the sense that he's the most important. Ishmael Reed takes this sacred image and turns him into a corrupt, power-hungry man whose entire life is a strange kind of disaster that almost hurts to watch. He goes to so much trouble and takes advantage of so many people to acquire the Book, only to fail miserably when he tries to use it.
There are a couple of other religions that are given brief mention, such as Islam, which features in one scene: the conversation between PaPa LaBas, Black Herman, and Abdul Hamid. It too is portrayed negatively, being called restrictive and close-minded in much the same way that Christianity is.
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