Existentialism in Under the Net To understand this piece of literature we must first acknowledge that it is intrinsically bound to the ideals of existentialism. The genre of existentialism largely seeks to make us, the reader, question life and what it means to be human and does this by highlighting the absurd and inane about life. These questions in turn lead to the ultimate conclusion that “Existence precedes and commands Essence” and that there is no real meaning to be found in life. We can clearly see that Murdoch’s “Under the Net” not only accomplishes the espousing of existentialist ideals through traditional devices but also focuses on the falsehoods of life and language in order to further embrace the teachings of this philosophical …show more content…
Through the story we see that our protagonist continually lies and provides the reader with inaccurate statements. This is readily from the inception of the story and is a common motif through the entire novel. Even as early as the second chapter we are perpetually given false information in that he “had no intention of finding Anna”. However nothing is farther from the truth as he is seen actively pursuing Anna during the duration of the chapter and eventually does find her. This is seen again on a grander scale when he initially refuses to ever work in a hospital at the beginning of the novel when Dave suggests it and yet in the last chapter he decides that he “shall find part-time in a hospital”. These senseless declarations of misinformation lend themselves to absurd nature of the plot and pull us out of the story, making us question the meaning behind the work. Even during his introspective moments Jack always fails to discern the truth and continually makes poor interpretations about the people around him. Even so, these false statements and judgments are presented as unequivocal truth through the course of the story. However the reader can see that these declarations are erroneous which only adds to the overall vapidity of the …show more content…
The absurdity of the plot itself along with the emphasis on pulling the reader out of the work are keystones in many other novels focusing on similar themes. However Murdoch’s seminal work differentiates itself in the way that she acknowledges both the hysteria of the plot as well as the indifference to truth. In one of the defining discussions of the novel we are told that “The whole language is a machine for making falsehood”. In this we can see the true genius of Murdoch as she focuses in on the idea of truth and falsehood not only through the novel itself but also through the discourse in the novel as well. This device of characters reiterating the themes is helpful in two main ways. Firstly it accentuates the ideas apparent in the piece but it also serves to add to the overall silliness of the piece. Even though we can clearly see the characters trying to have philosophical talks about important matters we ultimately see that Donaghue fails to understand much of anything that is going on around
This essay will argue that the statement “Cordwainer Smith’s story, ‘Alpha Ralpha Boulevard’, is an existentialist text,” is incorrect because Alpha Ralpha Boulevard exhibits elements that do not correlate with existentialist philosophy.
Academic colleagues like, David Greenburg, would have been exasperated, part from envy of McCullough’s ability in not only story telling but to sell and he would object to the approach of this book. The colleagues would tear at the lack of compelling rationale for an overused topic, as well as the scene setting, and meager analysis.
By using the opposition he made to think about a real truth. Maybe not everything is so simple as it looks like? The narrator wants to warn the reader against false truth. It could have the advice to stop deceiving yourself or it may be a warning to pull lessons from the past, as shown by “flowing past windows”. It is important to learn from previous experiences, because we should not make the same mistakes. Also, sometimes, we do not see some things because we do not want to see them. It is more convention to skip some facts. The narrator would like encourage us to thing wider about all aspects of particular
... also come to the conclusion that complete understanding is not only impossible but also undesirable. As a result, Jack agrees with Ellis Burden who reasons that “Separateness [from God] is identity,” and since only God knows everything, ignorance is a quality all humans share (Warren 659). It is ironic that the world seems clearer to Jack when he realizes that men are naturally ignorant than when he sought to understand everything. Jack’s progress lies in his ability to “distinguish the pursuit of knowledge from Complete Knowledge itself” (Wolf). Jack realizes that it is only human have the freedom to pursue knowledge, while the possession of Complete Knowledge destroys the purpose of life. Jack’s epiphanies occur at the expense of others, namely Judge Irwin, Willie, and Adam, but it is necessary for Jack to learn that freedom comes from the realization of truth.
The search for knowledge and truth is a compelling theme woven throughout All the King's Men, and it is especially evident in the story of Jack Burden. When Jack embarks on a quest toward self- knowledge, he realizes that most of his problems in life have risen out of his lack of knowledge and understanding of people, events, and ideas. Jack's shortcoming in this area often leads him to think about the past and hinders his ability to grow emotionally, an aspect of Jack that has been in arrested development for twenty years. Another important aspect of this theme is how Jack's incomplete picture of the world around him affects his actions and decision. In the end Jack gains vital knowledge but it comes at a costly price through the deaths of his friends and father. Jack concludes that "all knowledge that is worth anything is maybe paid in blood" and it is this knowledge that allows Jack to finally move on with his life and to come to terms with many issues such as life, love, and responsibility.
Bledsoe and Jack matured the narrator and made him have a better understanding of himself and his surroundings. Through his harsh journey of self-realization, the narrator realized that Bledsoe and Jack, who he admired and respected, were really his enemies. They never saw, or thought of the narrator as the intelligent, gifted and dedicated person who he was. At the conclusion of the novel, the narrator finally realized that he was truly invisible all along.
White Noise gives us an inside look into the life of Jack Gladney, showing readers that there is a Jack in every family, and maybe a little bit in everyone. Jack is a professor at the College-on-the-hill in Blacksmith, he teaches Hitler studies-an area of education that he created, partly because of his disturbing obsession with the man himself. Adding to Jacks obsession “the chancellor at the school felt, that in order for his students to take him seriously he suggested, that Jack grow into Hitler-by changing parts of his identity, and changing his name from Jack Gladney, to J.A.K Gladney” (16-17). Of course, this was only when Jack is teaching, at home he is himself, a family man. Jack’s personal life is something, unfortunately, the majority of people can relate to in today‘s society. Jack was married three times before marrying Babette-who was married previously herself, has a daughter, Denise, from her pervious marriage, and Wilder is Jacks son. Unlike Jacks previous wives Tweedy Bonner- who is the mother of Jacks daughter Bee, and worked in intelligence, Dana Breedlove-who...
Jack, who has a high position in the college, often worries that he will be established as lacking or incompetent of how he teaches and lives and will die insignificant. He has this aura around him in which he feels like he is not good enough and when he dies there will be no reasons of his remembering. Therefore, he surrounds himself with things that make him look weighty and dignified by association. For example, around campus he wears black spectacles and dramatic robes by which he is recognizable. Jack was influenced by Adolf Hitler, the most recognizable man and who over Jack created the department in the college. The more distinguishable he becomes, as he believes, the more remembered he will be after death. As well as death, the media in the novel plays a big part in this aspect. The media bases itself around strong and popular people. The media tries to convert others into perfection by displaying the perfect people on the screens. This affects Jack, and triggers his tendency to become more than he is and dignified by
The novel, presented as a series of disjointed, possibly problematic, narrative frames, attempts to draw attention to this fact. "...no word exists alone, and the reason for choosing each word had to be explained with a stor...
Sypher, Eileen. Wisps of Violence: Producing Public and Private Politics in the Turn-of-the-Century British Novel. London: Verso, 1993.
Kreis, Steven. Lecture 12: The Existentialist Frame of Mind. 25 July 2002. The History Guide. 27 Nov. 2002.
(Crowell). Ironically the authors, directors and poets would deny that they are existentialists, because they are existentialists. (Corbett) The authors continued showing features that furthered the belief of their movement. In their eyes, people are free and must take it upon themselves to make rational decisions in a chaotic universe. Existentialists believe that there is nothing more to life since life has no purpose. (Corbett) Life is just where we are right now but we have no real impact to others or this earth. It is all the same if we were dead as if we were alive. This often comes as a realization to existentialist people and often present in existentialist literature about the “reality” of life.The question comes down to, do all human beings believe that they matter in life? This question challenges existentialist belief since life has no purpose. (Corbett) How can we matter in this life if one of the main themes in existentialism is that we have no purpose, it is quite
The influences of James's writing on his readers can be explained clearly from a psychological perspective. Readers have their individual perceptions and experiences which are defined as ego. Sigmund Freud pointed out that under the effects of the external world, the ego starts to react in various forms such as storing, adapting, learning, or fighting against external events (2). The external world includes all the things happening outside human minds such as activities in real life, in movies or in books. When readers react to the behaviors of the Governess and other characters in The The Turn of the Screw, it means their ego responds to the story that is the external world in this case. Since the perception and experiences of each person are different from the other, the reactions to this novel are varied. Moreover, James's story was written in a very sophisticated way, which is likely to lead to complex reactions.
Of the many literary conventions used to describe JM Coetzee's Foe, one of the more commonly written about is metafiction. Since about 1970, the term metafiction has been used widely to discuss works of post-modern fiction and has been the source of heated debate on whether its employ marks the death or the rebirth of the novel. A dominant theme in post-modern fiction, the term "metafiction" has been defined by literary critics in multiple ways. John Barth offers perhaps the most simplified definition: metafiction is "a novel that imitates a novel rather than the real world." Patricia Waugh extends our understanding to add that it is "fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to itself as an artifact to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality." According to these definitions, metafiction concerns itself not with the creation of a new narra...
With every story, every moment there are witnesses with perspectives blurred and skewed but what they wish to see and what they think they see, and in this admission that this will soles be his truth the narrator frees himself from the need to convey it is the actual truth of the situation. Although this provides the view of a self-aware narrator, where his biases are not only analyzed by the reader but him himself, the focus on what truth means to the narrator leads readers to question how close to the actual events this account will