Yehuda Amichai: Stages of Life

           Yehuda Amichai’s work is filled with sentiments and ideas that appeal to a wide range of people. His work, “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children,” is no exception. Within the multilayered work he references the stages of life, their relative ease/difficulty, as well as the religious and secular tones that go along with those stages of life. He also cleverly uses punctuation to help further convey the point of his utterances.

            The stages of life referenced in the work are childhood, the adolescent period, and adulthood. Each of these stages has its own level of pity from God. In childhood God has the most pity. This can be taken literally, for those of a religious disposition, or metaphorically. If taken as the latter childhood represent a naïve time of existence. Everything under the sun is new, exciting, and stimulating. The body grows stronger every day and one’s capacity to learn appears to be limitless. Children have a chance to craft their own destiny and only an act of God can stop them. It’s important to note that the line corresponding with this sentiment ends in a hard stop. Using such punctuation makes it appear as a cold hard fact. As we will see later this is not the case for all stages. It also depicts that Childhood has a defined beginning and endpoint. This endpoint leads into the next stage, adolescence.

            The second stage is adolescence. This too ends in a hard stop signifying a fact and a determined period of time. But, it is also a bit less optimistic about the chance of pity from God. The text states, “He has less pity on schoolchildren” (Amichai ln. 2). This is in part due to the nature of humankind. As we grow older we advance in thought and in body. The world isn’t as fresh as it once was and our fascination with God’s creation begins to take on a jaded hue. The hearts and minds of people are introduced to some of the cold truths of existence and the world no longer seems the perfect place it did when one was a child. The end of this line leads into the brutal realities of adulthood.

            Finally the subject of adulthood it broached. The lines here become longer, adding more information and insight into God having no pity on adults. The hard stop gives way to commas allowing the journey to continue on with only brief respites from the difficulty to be faced in the adult world. Although there is much horror in the world there still remains a glimmer of hope. When referencing this brief times of relief (primarily through love or by reaching old age) there is a lack of stops signifying the fleeting nature of such experience. It also shows how time will continue on like a stone rolling down a steep hill.

            Finally, Amichai’s speaker notes that the power for compassion resides in all of us. He uses only one soft stop in the final stanza giving the reader a moment to pause before the grand message of the poem is laid out. That message is that even if God shows no pity we still harbor the ability to show compassion toward one another through all stages of life.

Works Cited

Amichai, Yehuda. “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children”. The Norton Anthology of World        Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1620-1621. Print.

Existence's Bandages in Lispector's "The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman"

        Clarice Lispector’s work “The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman” is fraught with strings of thoughts relating to the meaning of various states of existence. One of the most prominent themes of these questions relate to what it means to be a woman unable to fully delve into, or fully understand, their problems.  The questions that arise from this dilemma are partially answered by other questions. Which in turn spawns other questions leading both the narrator and the reader further into an existential rabbit hole. The most interesting facet of these questions is that they are never directly addressed. Rather, they are stated matter-of-factly giving the impression that the narrator isn’t overly concerned with solving their dilemma. To put it into a metaphor the narrator prefers to place bandages on top of other previous bandages instead of trying to sew the wound shut so it can heal. In the end nothing is ever answered and all that remains is a large pile of bandages over an open scab of bleeding, pus ridden thought.

                Throughout the work the narrator is continuously trying to understand herself, her actions, and what the combination of the two creates. One of her usual methods of attempting to understand herself this is through self-dialogue. Early in the work, laying stomach down on the bed, she states, “‘Whosoever found, searched,’ she said to herself in the form of a rhymed refrain, which always ended up by sounding like some maxim” (Lispector 1556).  The inclusion of “which always” allows the reader to know this isn’t a onetime occurrence. Rather than continuing to ponder this line of thinking she decides sleep is a better option. She puts off this exploration of self, places the bandage of sleep over it and drifts off into unconsciousness.

                Later in the work we see her remove the bandages with alcohol. After imbibing some alcoholic beverages she explores the surrounding restaurant with a drunkard’s keen gaze. During her exploring she imagines herself more full of something. What that is isn’t directly relayed but her thoughts speak of being somewhat superior to everyone else in the establishment. The text writes, “she peered around the room, and how she despised the barren people in that restaurant, while she was plump and heavy and generous to the full” (1558). Among all of them it is only her that has some fantastic insight into the inner workings of the world.  

Through the medium of intoxication she is capable of digging deeper into her self-exploration and the exploration of the human experience. The alcohol works as a tool to escape, if ever so briefly, from the limited realm of experience in which she usually lives. The texts writes, “And everything in the restaurant seemed so remote, the one thing distant from the other, as if the one might never be able to converse with the other. Each existing for itself, and God existing there for everyone” (1558). In this moment she seems to nearly find an answer to all of her questions. Then the tentacles of human life wrap themselves around the narrator once more, pulling her back into her box of reality. It’s through viewing another woman that she returns back into the normal mode of thought.

She becomes jealous and angry toward woman with her boyfriend, not realizing that it is her own self that she is angry with. It has nothing to do with the “pious ninny so pleased with herself in that hat and so modest about her slim waistline” (1559). The narrator finds strength in her ability to have given birth to a child, and that her apparent curvy figure is indicative of pleasure. Nonetheless the narrator wanders through the rest of the text unable to rip off all the bandages and sew the wound shut.

Works Cited

Lispector, Clarice. “The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1555-1560. Print.

An Essay on Man: Evil for Good? Good for Evil?

All partial evil, Universal Good

-Alexander Pope

(An Essay on Man ln. 292)

The existence of “evil” has always been at odds with the concept of an omnipotent divine force. Such a dichotomy has spawned a rich literary tradition addressing the battle of “good” versus “evil”. Ancient thinkers such as Plato attributed the disorder and “evil” within the world to something Other than God. Other philosophers, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, believe that concepts such as “good” and “evil” are nothing more than ideas conjured by humans to disassociate the nothingness that is the reality of being.  A differing opinion lies with Alexander Pope and his contemporaries. They espoused a divinely ordered system in which humankind is not able to see beyond their given station in a great chain of order (ranging from the lowest of lifeforms up to God). As Pope writes in An Essay on Man, “All are but parts of one stupendous whole, / Whose body Nature is; and God the soul” (Pope, lns. 267-268). Being limited by their own position within the chain humankind cannot understand the purpose which the concept of “evil” plays in the grander scheme of things. Pope postulates that mankind’s understanding of “evil” is essentially a teleological argument. Meaning that the outcome or goal of evil is not comprehensible by humankind but nonetheless serves some greater unknown purpose. By allocating evil into this category Pope is able to justify the existence of an anthropomorphic deity harboring supreme “goodness” and their subsequent allowance of “evil”.

First turning an eye to the ancient world we will take a look at how the ancient Greeks answered the question of why “evil” exists. Plato addressed this issue in Book II of the Republic attributing the existence of “evil” to something outside of God. Plato states, “Since [God] is good he cannot be responsible for everything, as is commonly said,” furthermore, “He and he alone must be held responsible for the good things, but responsibility for bad things must be looked for elsewhere and not attributed to God” (Plato 48). The locus of this “other” place isn’t directly addressed by Plato, nonetheless he was decidedly satisfied with such an answer.

Other, more contemporary thinkers, decided that concepts such as “good,” “evil” and even God are hollow and only come into being due to the thoughts and dispositions of man. Such thinkers believe that it was humankind which first created a dichotomy between “good” and “evil”. Furthermore, humankind has quite often created anthropomorphic figures embodying one or the other (for instance God and Satan). The infamous 19th century thinker Friedrich Nietzsche noted this phenomenon in many of his works including in On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense. In the work he posits that, “[people] are deeply immersed in illusions and dream-images; their eyes merely glide across the surface of things and see ‘forms’; nowhere does their perception lead to truth” (Nietzsche pg. 765). An argument can be made that the concepts of “good” and “evil” are illusions helping people to justify the various emotional states associated with happenings of their lives. People believe that certain actions are “good” or “evil” for a myriad of reasons but such thoughts are shattered when a wide array of cultures and time periods are exposed by the work of anthropologists. Both “good” and “bad” are subjective terms created by various societies throughout time.

            In Nietzsche’s work Human, All Too Human A Book For Free Spirits he flips the notions of “good” and “evil” on their head showing how they can be framed in a subjective way. He writes, “Is good perhaps evil? And God only an invention and subtlety of the devil? Is everything, in the last resort, false? And if we are dupes are we not on that very account dupers also? Must we not be dupers also?” (Nietzsche ch. 3). Perhaps it is humankind who has created the distinction between “good” and “evil”, order and disorder, right and wrong, etc.. If “good” and “evil” can be framed in opposing ways who is to say what exactly is “evil”?

With these two options in mind we can now think about Alexander Popes’ idea as a differing point between these two theories. Instead of Plato’s ambiguous “evil Other” and Nietzsche’s human-made mirage Pope offers a third option for the existence of “evil”.

Pope espouses that within the scope of our link we cannot begin to fathom the other links of the great chain. It is with this in mind that the notion of “evil” is transformed into something that appears to be “evil” when viewed through a human lens—but may be serving some larger purpose when viewed macroscopically. Pope, in his work An Essay on Man, alludes to this in the following lines:

So Man, who here seems principle alone,

Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown,

Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal;

‘Tis but part we see, and not a whole. (Alexander Pope, lns. 57-60)

The labors of humankind are only a small piece of the grand scheme and what we do here on earth may only be a small cog in the universal machine. By doing so he releases humankind from the burden of “evil” and allocates this idea to one of many forces at work within universe. It is a cog which helps propel the universal machine ever-forward into the future; for the greater good of all.

            Pope’s argument can appear rather similar to that of Plato’s in its final form. Both place the existence of “evil” outside the concept of God. Though Pope’s allows for “evil” to serve a purpose that can’t be understood from the position of humankind. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between these three thinkers. Maybe the notion of “evil” is just an idea conjured by a young species desperately attempting to make sense of the reality in which they find themselves; and the things which they deem to be “evil” are actually the stumbling blocks leading to a greater good further down the road.

Works Cited

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Human, All Too Human A Book For Free Spirits. Trans. Alexander Harvey.             Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1908. N. Pag. EPUB File.

---. On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense.  The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism.                          Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010. 765. Print.

Plato. Republic. The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al. 2nd ed.                   New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010. 45-76. Print.

Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Man. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third                        Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 90-97. Print.

Montaigne

Cultural myths take center stage in the amphitheater of the social consciousness. These vital myths are the mediums through which the ideas and stories of any given culture conjure its self-image. They are a society’s cloudy mirror, reflecting a skewed vision of what any given society truly harbors. These myths build cultural cohesion between individuals and groups uniting them under one high-flying banner, paying homage to their uniqueness and distinct place in the well-fingered pages of history. They teach specific self-serving versions of history, vividly illustrate the glorious facets of their cultural identity, and quite often paint their culture as superior to those of others. Within these mythical ideas of superiority in which terms such as “savage” and “barbarian” are spawned; the notions of the less sophisticated, less intelligent, less technologically advanced “Others” are an essential facet in a given social consciousness’ adherence to their own myths of superiority. In short for superiority to exist there must be “Others” who are “inferior” to one degree or another. This occurs at both macroscopic (on a country to country basis) and microscopic (group to group; especially in the professional sports and political world). By creating this dichotomy varying levels of “barbarianism” exist within the minds of all those who adhere to the group dynamic.

            History is rife with examples of the “superior” defining the mysterious “Others” as barbarians due to misunderstanding their differences and societal evolution. The famous anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss touched on such notions in his works “The structural Study of Myth” and his longer work Tristes Tropiques among others. The Norton Anthology of Literary Theory summarizes one of the primary ideas Levi-Strauss theories stating, “Myths make order out of the simultaneity of conflicting theories: they narrate over, without resolving a cultural contradiction” (“Claude Levi-Strauss” 1275). In the instance of barbarism the “superior” culture conveniently forgets to canvas their own malevolent actions and amplify those of the “inferior” culture. By doing so their phantasmagoric superiority is dispersed to the populace at large and the mirage of barbarism marches onward into the future. In short, one group will tend to raise the flag or superiority over actions or ideas they don’t find suitable to their station or life experiences. From the American football fan demeaning his friend for supporting a “weaker” team to the bad-blood between various religions each side will be inclined to think their side is superior in some way, shape, or form.

Michel De Montaigne, highlights this phenomenon in his work Of Cannibals writing, “So [the “superior” culture] may call these people barbarians, in respect to their rules of reason, but not in respect to ourselves[those of the “superior” culture], who surpass them in every kind of barbarity” (De Montaigne 1657). In the specific context of the work he highlights the practices of the “savages” in the New World contrasted with the “superior” practices of the Old World. He primarily comments on the treatment, torture, and killing of war-prisoners among the indigenous peoples of the New World versus the horrors of European torture and execution (particularly being burned at the stake). Today, in a world growing more and more associated by the day, these archaic notions of “superiority” are still propagated through such mechanisms as mass media, historical texts, social-media, and old fashioned word of mouth.   

In the modern world much criticism has been cast toward the people who believe and follow various sects of Islamic belief. The rise of such groups as ISIS, Al Queda, and other terror-driven organizations have caused presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump, to make blanket statements alluding to the idea that all Muslims are a threat or that they are—to put it simply—barbarians. Mr. Trump, referring to himself in the third person, has stated things such as, “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States…” (Heilpern). In contrast to what could often be deemed as common sense many potential voters have joined him in sharing these sentiments of barbarity; quotes about Muslims taking over the United States are a common sight on social-media based websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Memes showing the atrocities committed by terrorists (such as beheadings) can be seen and are shared to help fan the flames of hatred on both sides of the issue. Unfortunately many people who have absolutely no affiliations to terrorism are being grouped together as the “Other” less superior group.

Things have gotten to a degree in which the dichotomy between “them” and “us” has solidified itself within the social sphere; as it always has. As long as groups of people find something to disagree about new dichotomies will continue to be birthed. The questions we should be asking are “How are they different? What do they have/think that is malign? What is good? Is it everyone or just a few people?” Without such rhetoric malformed notions of superiority/inferiority will continue to exist based on nothing more than smoke, mirrors, and the cyclical trends of the human species. 

Works Cited:

De Montaigne, Michel. Of Cannibals. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1657. Print.

Heilpern, Will. "Trump Campaign: 11 Outrageous Quotes." CNN. Cable News Network, 23 Feb. 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

Leitch, Vincent B. “Claude Levi-Strauss”. The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010. 1320-1321. Print.

Sunjata

        The Mande people, hailing from sub-Saharan West Africa, Guinea, and Mali, have a collective identity through the sharing of orally based tales; they all share a connection despite having varying languages and differing particulars within each subgroup. These tales are spread from one generation to the next by a special caste of individuals known as jeliw. As the Norton Anthology of World Literature points out, "jeliw are known to their people as guardians of 'The Word'"(Puchner 1514). Jeliw pass on the oral histories and legends of their ancestors and culture, applying their own individual styles and unique talents, in order for their collective identity to persevere. The epic tale of Sunjata highlights a unique function of such oral traditions; the ability to relate the conception of a tradition to its use in more contemporary times. The particular tradition being addressed is the development of the bride-escorting song into contemporary times.   

The bride escorting song takes place between 49 lines of prose and shows the inception of a cultural tradition. Within the work the mother of Sunjata, a great warrior/hunter and eventual king of the Mande people, lacks any modicum of physical beauty and suffers from physical handicaps. Although her name is Sogolon Wulen Conde she has been given other, more malevolent names. The Sunjata texts states, “some call her Humpbacked Sogolon. Some call her Ugly Sogolon. Everybody used to call her whatever they felt like” (Sunjata lines 356-358). The text also mentions “her bald head, A hump on her back” and that her “feet are twisted” and furthermore that “she is knock-kneed” (Sunjata lns. 328-329, 339, 340). All of this was caused by a powerful and magical character within the Mande community. And although Sogolon is physically deficient she does possess a massive amount of dalilu (magic).  

With the back knowledge established we can now begin to ascertain how the Mande tradition was established. Sogolon is taken to marry a Mande king (fulfilling a prophecy forecasting the birth of Sunjata). Upon arriving at the town she must first wait for the king to prepare to greet her (for he knows of her magic and must prepare to prove his value to her). When the moment arrives for her to begin her walk into town, “she could not walk without raising dust” causing her sister-in-laws to be covered in a fine coat of dust (Sunjata ln. 752). The sister-in-laws sang the following song in response: 

Walk well,
Bride of my brother,
Walk well.
Do not put us in the dust (Sunjata lns. 759-762)

Deciding the dust was bothersome the sister-in-laws decided that carrying her was a better option. The text then states, 

That is how carrying the bride originated.
 If you see that when the bride arrives at the outskirts of the town, 
The women pick her up and run with her,
That was done because of the condition of Sogolon Conde’s feet (Sunjata lns.767-771)

The inclusion of the beginnings of a cultural traditions are an important facet  of orally transmitted cultures. They allow members of the culture, who may not have tangible access to this knowledge otherwise, to know how and where the tradition began and why traditions are carried out in particular ways. It also helps the younger generations realize that they too are part of the cohesive element keeping a culture together; everything is connected, regardless of how much time has passed since the dawn of a given culture.

Such traditions exist in every corner of the map, many of which have ancient roots which branch into the modern world. Some traditions could be particularly peculiar when viewed from an American standpoint. For instance in Sweden both the bride and groom will be kissed by guests at their wedding. If the bride leaves a room, single females will line up to kiss the groom, the same goes for the bride if the groom leaves the room (Khan/Wikipedia). Another example can be found in the Massai Nation in Kenya. During these wedding ceremonies, “The father of the bride blesses his daughter by spitting on her head and breasts. Spitting is a symbol of disgrace usually but in Massai nation it is thought to bring good luck and fortune” (Khan). These traditions, if viewed from a singular American lens would at first appear to blatantly obtuse. Though if enough time has passed, or the origin of such traditions are explored, they will seem no more or less obtuse than wearing a white dress, kissing the bride/groom, or having rice thrown at the new couple. 

These traditions are all similar in their need to bring a community of people together to carry out the rituals. They are all a form of bonding and a sign of change in the lives of those being married, and those who watch their children be married off. 
They do all differ considerably in their methods of action. Spitting on anyone during their wedding day would be a grave offence in many countries, kissing in public could be offensive in other, but with the knowledge of the meaning behind such actions one can overlook the seemingly gross or bizarre nature of the rituals. Regardless the great human custom of marriage will continue to be declared and celebrated in wondrous, bizarre, and traditional ways.

Works Cited

Khan, Ejaz. "10 Bizarre Wedding Rituals in Various Cultures." WondersList. 2013. Web. 02 June 2016. 

Puchner, Martin. “Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition. Two-Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2013. 1514-1517. Print.

Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition. Two-Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2013. 1517-1576. Print.

"Wedding Customs by Country." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 04 June 2016.