In life, we have to face so many questions (some simple, some complex) on a daily basis. What do I order at my favorite restaurant? What do I want to write about for English? What university do I want to attend? The most complex, perhaps frightening one is what death means and what a transient life means. Flight by Sherman Alexie and The Stranger by Albert Camus have different approaches to what it means to have a fulfilled life. How both books relate to “Ode on Solitude” by Alexander Pope shows the discrepancy. “Ode on Solitude” by Alexander Pope is a poem in which the narrator celebrates seclusion from other humans, enjoys only what his habit has to offer him, and expresses his wishes of dying in solitude, unremembered.
Humans are social beings (without supportive, loving relationships life can be quite bleak), and many people, if not most, think that establishing relationships and connections is an essential part of having a meaningful life. Zits and Mersault do not conform to societal expectations. Zits is a rebellious half Native American, half Irish orphan who often purposefully gets himself in trouble. Mersault is successful in the sense that he has a job, fiancé, house, but lacks empathy, which people around him (including me, the reader) find off putting. However, there is a key difference in their loneliness. Zits is afraid of meeting new people while Mersault is content in being alone (yes, he seems to like Marie, but more her body than her as a person). An “Ode on Solitude” represents both facets of loneliness. For Zits, an “Ode on Solitude” represents the façade he tries to maintain. For example, he trust and looks up to Officer David, but constantly pushes him away. He wants to seem like he does not need other people like the narrator of “Ode on Solitude,” but he craves human connections with trustworthy, loving people because of the void his parents left. For Mersault, on the other hand, an “Ode on Solitude” embodies his attitude towards relationships. Even the most important people in his life, like his fiancé, are replaceable to him. The ending of The Stranger, especially, shows Mersault’s indifference, even aversion, to developing connections. He “… had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of [his] execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.” Not only does he turn away from those who care about him, such as Marie, he wants them to turn away from him too.
Another aspect of a “successful life” is finding purpose and identity in life, to be able to answer the questions, “What do I live for?,” “Why do I want to do what I want to do?,” and “How do I achieve my goals?” This is why choosing an occupation is such a weighty decision for most. One’s occupation helps define one’s place and value in society, or at least assures them that they are needed in society. We are asked even in preschool “what we want to be when we grow up” (I have wanted to be a ballerina, animal rescuer, artist, journalist, even architect in the past). In the beginning of Flight, Zits is confused about his cultural identity without a family and knowledge about its past. Throughout his body shifting, he has many experiences that help him develop an identity. In the beginning, he does not have the nurturing environment that the narrator of “Ode on Solitude” has. The narrator of “Ode on Solitude” is “content to breathe his native air,/In his own ground./Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,/Whose flocks supply him with attire,/Whose trees in summer yield him shade,/In winter fire.” The narrator finds happiness and a sense of belonging in his domain. Zits eventually finds the same feeling of acceptance from his adoptive family and comfort with his own identity. These same lines can be interpreted differently for The Stranger. For Mersault, self definition is arbitrary, and he is “content to breathe his native air,/In his own ground.” For Mersault, this extends beyond the physical boundaries of his town, or “ground.” He is unconcerned about improvement and is perfectly content in his current occupation, where he lives, even how he takes care of his mother. He turns down a job offer, which could allow him to meet new people, get another promotion, and generate the income necessarily to potentially take his mother out of the care home. He “can unconcernedly find/Hours, days, and years slide soft away,” spending away day after day stuck in his routine.
The most difficult truth about life that people have to confront is that it has to end eventually. When measuring success, many assess the value of their lives from the perspective of death. Questions such as “What have I accomplished?” or “How many lives have I influenced?” or “Will people remember me?” stem from pondering how to make the most out of life before death. Zits and Mersault face death in different ways. By living through the mistakes of people in the past, Zits realizes the value of human life. He starts to understand what may drive one to end one’s own life and how wrong it is to take another’s life. Zit’s journey in Flight shows that death is not easy. It is universal and inevitable, but it is presented as almost sacred in Flight because it binds humanity together. This contradicts “Ode on Solitude,” which presents death as something that can go completely unnoticed: “Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;/ Thus unlamented let me die.” In the same way, Mersault embraces existentialism and absurdism more fiercely in the face of death. Unlike other prisoners who turn to religion to cope with their death sentence, Mersault rejects the idea of an afterlife and turns to nihilism. He does not have any last pleas and does not make any attempts to get his sentences revised. Rather, he finds solace in that no matter what comes between birth and death, everyone is faced with the same ending, and that this is the ultimate truth. His last wishes is parallel to that in “Ode on Solitude,” in which the narrator wants to “Steal from the world, and not a stone/Tell where [he lies].” Both Mersault and the narrator of “Ode on Solitude” view death as ordinary and undeserving of commemoration.
The value of life and eminence of death is a question that every individual has to grapple with. As Flight by Sherman Alexie and The Stranger by Albert Camus show, we are constantly brought together by similar viewpoints (like how nihilists, absurdists, existentialists have found each other) or pushed apart by differences as we seek to address these questions. What is clear through how both relate to “Ode on Solitude” is that no matter how we choose to confront life's truths (whether it is finding purpose in ambition or routine, believing in the gift of life or nihilism), we all have a choice in being alone or with company.
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