I finished Mr. Pip on Friday night and now realized why everyone called the book an ADULT read. It was brutal. It happened so fast, the killing of Mr. Watts. I spent the whole book slowly getting to know someone and in less than a page he is decapitated and fed to the pigs. I will take a lesson from Wallace Stevens and live life to the fullest.

I am still unsure of the direction I want to take in my essay. I have written the beginning but I am still unsure if I want to take that approach. Here are my quotes taken from Mr. Pip.

"...I do not know what you are suppose to do with memories like these. If feels wrong to want to forget. Perhaps this is why we write these things down, s we can move on." (p. 209)

"...No one in the history of your short lives has used the same voice as you with which to say your name. This is yours. Your special gift that no one can ever take from you. This is what our friend and colleague Mr. Dickens used to construct his stories with." (p. 124)

"...I could sit on the beach in the shade of a palm tree and see the moment clearly: Joe offers a hearty farewell. Biddy wipes her eyes with her apron. But Pip has already moved on. He is looking forward. It was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on..." (p. 153)

There was another quote where Matilda is forced to write her family names in the sand and her mother yells at her that Pip is not blood. Matilda states that she feels closer to Pip than any of her family. 

I want to talk about the themes of the power of storytelling and personal experiences. One does not have to be in England to experience a rimey morning and people can experience anything through a story. Also I wanted to touch on extraordinary people and how people are made through there experiences. I am not sure how to approach in again but it is still a work in progress.

On another note, I have finished reading Oedipus Rex and a quote came to mind. "Ignorance is Bliss." Everyone from Jocasta to the messenger urged Oedipus to stop looking for the truth because it would be painful and life altering, but he continued to persist for it. Can we really ignore the truth or do we naturally always strive for it. We can pretend not to know but we really do even though it will destroy us. There are things we just must know in life. It reminds me of the story of the matrix and how Neo wants to know what it is even though Morpheus is telling him he wont like it. and once he knows he can never go back like Oedipus. I also read in Medina's blog the theme of fate and destiny. I want to believe that we are not help to a standard by a designer and we can choose to change, but I just don't believe it. He are who who are because of who we meet and what we do. We are who we are and we could be nobody else