Beloved: Finding meaning in the face of unthinkable suffering

                In its depiction of the struggle of the African-American community to carve out a future in the aftermath of slavery, Beloved provides a poignant portrayal of what it means to find meaning and purpose in situations that seems entirely devoid of it.
                The main character, Sethe, is the product of a series of unthinkable events. She was born into slavery, abandoned by her mother and later subjected to brutal treatment by her slave master, the School Teacher. In spite of this, she attempts to create a loving union with Haley and later has children in an attempt to create a familty.  In this way, Sethe attempts to maintain her dignity.  Sethe forms a strong connection with her children which eventually leads to her decision to attempt to escape from slavery in order to protect them from a slave’s brutal fate.

                The love she has for her children and the hope they represent for the future are Sethe’s chief source of meaning and purpose. In particular, she seeks to protect them from slavery at all costs which later leads to her decision to attempt to kill them in order to prevent them from being recaptured. Sethe’s deep seated love for and connection to her children is stemmed in the reality that they are the one thing in Sethe’s life that is truly her own. As a slave, she was robbed of everything else including her humanity. Thus, Sethe attempts to protect her children at all costs. However, her need to posses her youngest child, Denver, prevents her from being able to grant her the independence she needs to truly be free. It is ironic that Sethe’s response to her slavery is to attempt to posses her own child and deprive Denver of her freedom.

                The meaning Sethe finds in her family is contrasted with how Paul D has responded to his enslavement and later freedom. In order to keep from losing that which he loves most, Paul D refuses to become too connected to anything. Morrison ultimately exposes this way of life as a futile one, as Paul D is never really free from slavery as a result of his refusal to become connected to anything. This is also ironic as Paul D’s main purpose seems to be to incite the opening of other’s hearts. He is successful in this regard as many women, including Sethe, confide in him yet this ultimately brings him little solace as he is unable to open up in the same way.

                Ultimately, Morrison reveals that perhaps the best way to find purpose and meaning in the face of a communal atrocity is to seek solidarity with others that experienced it. In order to move past the tragedy they have experienced, the characters in Beloved must turn to each other. Paul D is able to begin to heal his past wounds only when he returns to Sethe; likewise, Denver discovers herself and grows up only when she becomes involved with Cincinatti’s larger African American community.   The importance of healing through others is signified both by the community’s distressing failure to alert Sethe of the schoolteacher’s approach and by the important role the community eventually plays in collectively exorcising Beloved. In this way, Morrison shows that individuals can move on from atrocity and create a life of meaning only by coming together to attempt to secure release from the past.

The Stranger

            No book we have read this year has dealt more directly with ideas related to man’s search for meaning than Albert Camu’s The Stranger. The novel, which contains elements of existentialist, absurdist and nihilistic thinking, traces the ideological evolution of Meresault, a man who continuously challenges traditional morality and ways of understanding the world by living a life devoted to honesty and truth.

            The Meresault the reader meets at the beginning of the novel is an unperceptive man who interacts with the world only on a sensual level. His actions are not guided by reason but by action, thus he kills the Arab as a response to the intense physical effect the sun has on him. Meresault describes all of the events in his life, including the murder, merely as occurrences that “happen to him.” At first this worldview seems to point to a lack of understanding about his own responsibility for his own actions and life. However, Meresault is actually an enlightened mind who intuitively understands that neither the world nor the human mind possesses any rational order. Instead, it is society that tries to fabricate and impose rational explanations for the irrationality of the universe, a feeble process which robs man of their humanity, which is the exclusive product of honest interaction with the physical world.

            The remainder of the novel deals with Meresault’s trial, an event that serves as an allegory for the absurdity of man’s attempts to impose rationality and meaning on an irrational and meaningless world. Meresault’s values clash with those of his society which refuses to accept his worldview and thus attempts to explain his behavior through rational means. The prosecutor and Meresault’s lawyer both offer explanations for Meresault’s crime that are based on logic, reason and the concept of cause and effect.  Yet these explanations have no basis in fact and serve only as attempts to defuse the frightening idea that the universe is irrational.          Religion is at the forefront of the clash between Meresault and his society. Meresault is an atheist, indeed this seems to be the only thing about life which Meresault is sure, yet those around him repeatedly attempt to push religion upon him. It is the attempts of society to push religion upon him that eventually lead Meresault to his second great realization that nothing is certain except for death. Meresault comes to understand that death comes for all men and renders all life meaningless as a result. Meresault meets this realization with happiness as he realizes that to hope otherwise is to create a false belief that death is avoidable, a burden that presents man from fully experiencing and enjoying life. By coming to grips with death, Meresault is able to understand life and realize that one must live life for what it is- an impermanent experience that begins and ends without greater significance. Meresault finds that this realization is one to be celebrated as it allows man to make the most of life and accept its limitations. Death is not a burden but a liberator equalizing men and granting all the opportunity to live freely. This freedom is life’s greatest gift as it grants man the potential to find comfort in death if he is willing to see beyond society’s attempts to project greater order and meaning onto life and understand life for what it truly is: an opportunity to live freely in a world that is indifference to our existence and actions.

Crime and Punishment

  Crime and Punishment is a profound novel that deals with man’s struggle to find purpose in suffering. Roskolnikov is a poor student who lives in derelict poverty and has become increasingly withdrawn from society. He has become obsessed with his belief that society is divided between extraordinary figures such as Napoleon Bonoparte and ordinary men and seeks to prove that he is one of the extraordinary ones. He is also obsessed with the nihilistic philosophy that characterizes Russian society during this time period and thus chooses to murder a ruthless pawnbroker because it is an act that will benefit society. At the novel’s opening, Roskolnikov is obsessed with this “superman theory” and his plan to commit the murder that will prove that he is a superman. It torments him and provides motivation for all of his actions. Dostovyesky implies that Roskolnikov’s obsession with becoming a Superman is rooted in his personal poverty. He is a man of great intellect but he is stuck living a pauper’s existence in a city full of them. Because he feels he is intellectually superior to those around them he seeks to prove it to himself by committing the murder. Thus Roskolnikov’s search for meaning is a search to establish his own intellectual significance. However, after committing the murder, Roskolnikov is tormented by guilt and doubt about the virtuosity of his actions. He comes to realize that he is not a superman and the values he previously espoused were morally corrupt. Thus, he spends the rest of the novel struggling to come to grips with these realities and find a personal peace. Dostoyvsky sorrounds Rosklnikov with Christian imagery (the story of the redemption of Lazerus, the cross Sonya presents him with and his behavior in kissing the ground before his confession are all examples of this) which provide evidence that Roskolnikov is now finding meaning in the pursuit of a Christian redemption.

            While Roskolnikov pursues meaning selfishly, Dostoyevski also presents characters who achieve a sense of meaning by serving others. Sonya and Dunya are pillars of selflessness within Crime and Punishment. Both of these women live in extreme poverty but instead of selfishly trying to prove that they are above their situation they simply accept it and do their best to try and improve it and help those around them. These women find peace and meaning in their devotion to their families.

            A life of poverty is a struggle to find meaning in the face of overwhelming depression and despair. Dysoteyevski provides a depiction of what drives the poor to continue living and the social and moral results of these motivations. When you consider their motives and search for personal meaning and peace it becomes clear why the poor resort to such desperate measures to find peace in their lives. Sonya becomes a prostitute to serve her family, Dunya seeks to marry a man she does not love and Rosklnikov commits a murder. Thus, Dostoyevski shows that most social problems are the result of attempts by the poor to instill their lives with a greater sense of poverty and purpose. Simultaneously, sinners also seek meaning in the rectification of their sins.

Selfishness and Meaning in King Lear

King Lear is a play that offers profound meaning and insight into the human condition. For much of the ply most of the characters live a life that is devoid of any really purpose outside of advancing their own selfish interests; they are too consumed by their pursuit of power and pride to think about the consequences of their actions and their poor treatment of those around him. Most of the characters pursue these interests at the expense of all else; the lives of other people, including their own families, are almost completely disregarded. This behavior results in a complete breakdown of the family dynamic in Lear and the result of this breakdown is devastating for the characters in the play as nearly all of them meet a grisly demise by time it reaches its conclusion.  

Perhaps no character is more representative of this lack of meaningful purpose than Lear himself. Lear is a king who couldn’t care less about the people he rules over; he is only interested in maintaining his massive ego and ensuring that he is able to continue living his comfortable, carefree life without having to burden himself with governing for the good of his subjects. He is the most powerful and important figure in his society; however, all of the power and influence he commands ultimately does not matter  because in the end these values which he prizes above all else are hollow and he has nothing of substance in his life to live for. At the beginning of the play Lear pits his daughters against each other in a contest, asking each of them to proclaim that they love him more than their sisters do, a clear demonstration that he values appearances (even those that are clearly false) over reality.

This is the set up for a play that seeks to demonstrate the destructive ends that result when men live only for themselves and reject others as for the rest of the play; Lear is confronted with the consequences of his own hubris. Reagan and Goneril swiftly move to undermine what little authority he still holds and Lear ultimately chooses to flee the kingdom because he is unable to deal with his daughter’s betrayal. It is only when Lear finds himself wandering a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by Kent, a loyal nobleman in disguise that he is finally forced to confront his weakness and insignificance in comparison to the awesome forces of the natural world. He is confronted with his shortcomings both as a leader (he comes upon a hovel a symbol of the poverty that defined his kingdom during his reign) and a father (he realizes disowning Cordelia was a massive mistake and vows to cherish her above all else if he is ever able to find his way back to her). He truly becomes a more humble and caring individual and eventually finds that he has something beyond his own selfish wants to live for:  he concludes that he would rather live in prison with Cordelia than rule again as a king.

It is ironic than that after a lifetime of selfish behavior and hollow living, Lear dies at the very moment he finally finds purpose in life and realizes what he has to live for. Indeed, this is a tragic moment but this tragedy is incredibly meaningful because it shows that man’s world is not a just or fair one. By ending the play in such a tragic fashion Shakespeare begs humanity to ponder whether or not it is valuable to live “morally” (Shakespeare defines a moral life as a life lived for others) when life will end in cruelty and madness regardless of one’s own actions.
Clearly, Shakespeare sees selflessness as valuable for while Lear ultimately dies, he is able to do so with more comfort and purpose than he ever lived with for he knows that he has found a purpose (his daughter) in life.

Oedpus' Search for Meaning

The question of why we are here and what our purpose is as humans is at the very center of Odepipus Rex. Oedipus is one who portrayed determination in finding out what his meaning and purpose was in life, even though his fate was already predetermined. Implicit in the story is one essential question, how could Oedipus live a life of meaning and purpose when at birth he was sent to die?
Although Oedipus Rex was a man who lived a very complicated life, and attempted to uncover the difficult truths of his existince, in most cases, he made his voyage more problematic. He is the prime example of a person who sought to find meaning and purpose in life, but let his pride play a major role in his rejection towards the fate determined for him.

According to Sophocles  "the unexamined life is not worth living", and that is exactly what Oedipus did, examined his life to the fullest. This play proves to the reader that fate can't be tested or escaped . Oedipus finds trouble when he tries to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The Oedipus story begins prior to the start of the play when Oedipus recieves his fate from the Delphic Oracle, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he escaped to Thebes so he could change his fate avoid harming his parents. This shows admiration, but at the same time shows how much of a coward and how stubborn he was because he was unwilling to accept his fate. But he only later finds out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens.

Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who never gives up until he gets what he wants.  But it is recognized quickly, that in this play, those traits are not envied, but rather undesired. 

Two of Oedipus's major downfalls when trying to find his meaning and purpose to life were his pride and arrogance. Having no knowledge of who his real parents were, caused major chaos in his life and this is proven when he kills Laius without the understanding that he was not only his father, but the King of Thebes. He does this at a place where three roads meet because he was ordered to remove himself from the road that he was walking along to get to Thebes, and when he refused, was attacked by Laius and his men. Oedipus kills all but one, who actually survived. This is when the play turned ironic because in trying to save the parents he thought were his biological ones, he left Corinth to avoid the fate destined for him, but wounded up following his predestined fate. He eventually in the end finds out who his real parents are and sees the damage he has done. This murderous act shows how quickly his selfish motives took over as he would stop at nothing to have gotten his revenge upon the men who were interfering with his voyage to Thebes, to start a new life filled with hopeful meaning.
 However what ultimately destroyed Oedipus was the fate that he had no choice over. What he chose not to believe eventually destroyed him. The reader quickly realizes that by attempting to escape his fate, he ran head first into it. It was apparent that he wanted to uncover the pieces of his life, but in the same sense wanted to escape his fate, which in all actuality was impossible. He was without a doubt the central protagonist with good intentions but one big flaw. Fate was the antagonist that prevented him from living a life of meaning and purpose, and drew him towards change. When he arrives at the city of Thebes he is informed that the Sphinx is killing all that cannot solve her riddle, so Oedipus goes to cite the riddle and outsmarts this beast who was cursing the city. He received praise and joy from the people, and felt acceptance in the city of Thebes. While gaining the trust of all that lived there, he quickly became King of Thebes, and wedded Jocasta (his biological mother). In the play he is described as a secure leader, who the people looked up to and admired. He referred to himself as "Oedipus whom all men call the Great." Although, his confidence is an important virtue in a leader, when his confidence turned to modesty, this caused tragedy.

The one thing that stood against Oedipus was the fate that he had no choice over. What he chose not to believe eventually destroyed him. The reader quickly realizes that by attempting to escape his fate, he ran head first into it. It was apparent that he wanted to uncover the pieces of his life, but in the same sense wanted to escape his fate, which in all actuality was impossible. He was without a doubt the central protagonist with good intentions but one big flaw. Fate was the antagonist that prevented him from living a life of meaning and purpose, and drew him towards change. When he arrives at the city of Thebes he is informed that the Sphinx is killing all that cannot solve her riddle, so Oedipus goes to cite the riddle and outsmarts this beast who was cursing the city. He received praise and joy from the people, and felt acceptance in the city of Thebes. While gaining the trust of all that lived there, he quickly became King of Thebes, and wedded Jocasta (his biological mother). In the play he is described as a secure leader, who the people looked up to and admired. He referred to himself as "Oedipus whom all men call the Great. Although, his confidence is an important virtue in a leader, when his confidence turned to modesty, tragedy ensued.

The Biggest Question: Inside Man’s Search for Meaning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-jk9ni4XWk

When the alarm clock goes off in the morning, one though zooms through many of our heads, “I want to stay asleep.”  Many of us moan and groan as we continue to hear the buzzer-which gets louder every second since it is truly designed to get us out of bed.

After about 30 seconds, most of us will stumble to the alarm clock, add another 15 minutes to it and go back to bed. It takes me probably 8-10 minutes to return to sleep and it seems that, in no time, we hear that buzzer penetrating our senses again. Why can't we just stay in bed? Why won't our alarm clock just let us off the hook this one time so we can continue to bask in the luxury of blissful sleep?

This struggle to get out of bed that confronts many of us every morning highlights one of the most enduring and sometimes difficult but ultimately fulfilling universal truths: our lives represent a continuous struggle to find and apply meaning. 

Just think of the following days in your life:-Your first day at school.

• The starting day of a favorite project of yours.
• The day of your first date.
• The day of a major game or competition.

Did you have trouble getting out of bed on these days? Probably not (and if you did I bet it was because you were anxious to confront such exciting and important moments in your life) and I will submit that the reason these days were fulfilling (though not necessarily a bed of roses) was that each of these days was infused with a sense of meaning and relevance.

However, the truth is most of our lives just don’t feel that meaningful; that is they lack that special sense of natural, innate, embedded meaning that made it us so badly want to wake up and experience the milestone events I just mentioned. This is because most meaning just does not come along naturally. Meaning belongs to the individual and it is up to each of us to find it…in ourselves!

Okay, most of us don’t lie awake at night wondering whether our life has meaning and purpose. We are just too preoccupied completing our homework, going to our jobs and desperately trying to buff up our resumes before we apply to college.  But if we are to live lives full of zest, joy and satisfaction, then we must know what really matters to us.

As the motivational writer Chuck Gallozzi wrote: "What then is meaning? It’s a personal reason for our existence. It’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It is not a matter of searching for some ethereal, profound, and mysterious meaning, but merely of choosing what to dedicate our life to, for the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose. In other words, the meaning of life is to live a meaningful life. We create ourselves with the power of thought, and we create our meaning with the power of choice.”

The search for meaning and the struggle to understand what factors influence our search for purpose is something that truly defines our existence and thus our literature. Ken Haruf’s novel Plainsong is the story of ordinary Americans struggling to live their lives and deal with the changes that come about in them over the course of one year. Thus it is also a story about the struggle to find meaning. Each of them deals in their own moving and poignant way. For example, there is the teenager Victoria Robideaux who struggles to find meaning until she accidentally becomes pregnant. There are the elderly McPheron brothers whose lives are virtually devoid of meaning until they make the choice to take in Victoria and aid in the struggle of another. There is the kindhearted, pragmatic teacher Maggie Jones who finds meaning by bringing others together. There is even Tom Guthrie’s depressed wife who despite a wife and two young boys is unable to find a reason to get out of bed. Sound familiar?

The search for meaning is never easy but it is vitally important. For evidence of this, look no further then  Dan Buettner’s brilliant TED talk “How to Live to be 100+” in which he pointed out from research that one of the things common to people who live long is “a personal sense of purpose” and for a Japanese community he studied, their name for that personal sense of purpose is called “Ekigai “, which is an Okinawan word meaning “the reason I wake up every morning”. When I heard that, it resonated so deeply with me in the spirit of purpose not as some big grand goal or ideal in your head but one that is all pervasive and helps focus you day by day, moment by moment.

But there is something just plain magical about having that daily sense of purpose that makes you jump out of the bed, with praise in your heart, a dance in step, a twinkle in your eye and anticipation to DO something.