“All human wisdom is contained in these two words – Wait and Hope”
– Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
I’ve never read this book. Its sheer size is intimidating. I’ve read The Three Musketeers and thoroughly enjoyed it. But this quote is accurate. We spend so much of our lives waiting for what we want and hoping it will happen.
Have you read it? If so, what did you think?
SPOILERS AHEAD
One could argue that Yann Martel’s Life of Pi has a choose-your-own ending.
Did Pi really travel across the ocean, learning to peacefully coexist with a ravenous man-eating tiger along the way, a clever allegory that opposites don’t necessarily have to cancel one each other out and people can learn to live their lives without destroying each other?
Did Pi lie to the authorities who questioned him because it was easier than it would have been to insist that his incredible story was true?
Was Pi’s claim of sailing with Richard Parker the Tiger a lie? Did he, in fact, suffer a terrible fate in which his mother was killed and he made up the story about the animals to avoid thinking about it?
Personally, I thought the Richard Parker version of the story was very uplifting, and then to add in the possibility that it never happened was a little disappointing. But the dual ending possibilities could be a litmus test. Positive people probably gravitate to the Richard Parker version. Negative people say “a boy and a tiger never could have survived on a raft together, the boy would have been eaten in 2 seconds. The version where Pi’s mother is killed must be the true version.”
All I can say is the novel is a good read, very original, and the movie really brings it to life.
“Just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean the explanation doesn’t exist.”
– Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
That concept just wrinkled my brain! But it’s true. There are many things in this world we don’t understand, and yet, there is an explanation as to why said thing is the way it is.
I could probably turn to my cynical side and say this is proof-positive that there are many dumb people in the universe who have no idea what they are talking about, the Bookshelf Battler is a kinder, gentler blogger who does not say such things.
He just kind of says them round-a-boutly.
Happy Veterans Day!
For the past week, I’ve been offering “Literary War Quotes” – quotes from classic pieces of literature, as a tie in to my latest obsession with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. I’m half-way through the campaign and have just learned that Kevin Spacey’s character is the bad guy. Who knew?
It is probably about time to conclude this series of posts with this quote:
“You were just babies in the war – like the ones upstairs! But you’re not going to write it that way, are you? You’ll pretend that you were men instead of babies and you’ll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we’ll have a lot more of them. And they’ll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
This quote, taken from Vonnegut’s 1969 novel, illustrates an ongoing problem in pop culture – glorification of violence. In TV, in movies, heck even in video games like the one I’m playing now, war is portrayed as exciting, noble, adventurous and so on. The heroic parts are played by actors who have never seen war. And while it is all well and good to portray the heroic and exciting aspects of war, there needs to be balance – the dark side of war needs to be shown as well.
Vonnegut’s point may have made more sense in his day. In his day, Sinatra or John Wayne would go on screen, do heroic deeds, give patriotic speeches, and then the audience would rarely ever see the blood and guts that occurs during war. Today, movies have done a complete turnaround and some may argue they show too much.
But overall, wars are usually fought by young people who are just starting out in life and learning about things – this is something we should keep in mind and it can be hard to do when Hollywood often portrays soldiers as battle hardened veterans ready for anything.
This may seem like a silly point to argue but the public can’t be led to think that wars are all flag waving and patriotic adventures, there is a steep price in human suffering that gets paid as well.
That concludes my series of quotes from literature about war. Sorry if it bummed you out, my intention was more to get people thinking. At any rate, it is time to move on to more lighthearted topics.
PS – Equally fitting because today is Kurt Vonnegut’s Birthday! Happy Birthday Kurt!
Bookshelf Battler here, reporting live from the Call of Duty home base. I am working on my fighting skills and have perfect a move where I run my character into a wall for thirty seconds until another player stealthily sneaks up behind me and either a) rudely shoots me in the back b) knifes me in the back c) lobs a grenade at me or d) a combination of a, b, and c.
All part of my genius plan to wear the enemy down. Once the opposing forces are exhausted from constantly throttling me, I’ll strike! (And run into the wall for an entire minute before I figure out how to turn around).
Are you playing Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare? Take a break to read today’s literary war quote:
“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway’s 1929 novel, A Farewell to Arms is a classic love story set against the backdrop of World War I. Heartbreaking and perhaps even depressing, it pulls no punches in illustrating the plight of those who fight.
What about the above quote? Essentially, Hemingway is saying that the world is such a harsh place that sooner or later it brings down everyone – pessimist and optimist alike. Is that true? Is there anyone who ever manages to get through life without being dragged down by some of the crueler aspects of the world?
Press the pause button on your remote control and share your thoughts in the comment section! As always, thanks for dropping by and don’t forget to follow @bookshelfbattle on Twitter.
Bookshelf Battle 