Literary Journal #8 : John Steinbeck's "The Pearl"

The Pearl is a story of a young pearl diver, Kino, who lives and works for his wife and son. One day, his son, Koyotito, becomes sick after bitten by a scorpion, but because he is very poor, he would not be able to bring his son to the doctor unless he sells more pearls. Soon, he finds a giant pearl in the sea. People call it "the Pearl of the World."

The original intention of Kino trying to pay for Koyotito seems to be disappearing. The greedy merchants of the town do not want to as much as the pearl is worth so Kino decides to go to the capital where he will be able to get the best price for the pearl. But it turns out many people in the town have evil plans to steal the pearl from Kino. Thieves come into their house and later it is set on fire. On their way to the capital, Kino and his family encounter trackers who are following them for the pearl and Kino decides to attack them. Though he kills all the trackers, he soon finds out his son Koyotito was shot from the bullet fired from one of the trackers. After loosing their son, Kino and his wife Juana come back to the town and throws the pearl into the sea.

John Steinbeck's look into the marginalized and the powerless of the society make his works masterpieces. While the world's attention is directed towards those who possess fame and wealth, Steinbeck looks at the people who survive each day struggling for their basic needs.

Ignored and persecuted by the rest of the society, the poor always has been left in the corner of the society as miserable outsiders. But when Kino finds "the Pearl of the World," people who have never bothered paying attention to him approach him with greedy plans.

Perhaps, the tragic ending was the unchangeable fate of Kino's family. The pearl, to me, seems like it has two sides: greed and opportunity. Kino's desire to sell the pearl with good price, while in can be seen as a mistake leading to the tragic ending, is understandable. It is the opportunity for him and his family not only to pay for the medical treatment for their son, but also to escape the unfair and loathsome position in their society and live happy live that they deserve.

It is heartbreaking for the readers to see how these people fall and lose everything they have while the greedy others do not seem to lose anything. It almost seems like mother nature tricked them. I mean, it is everyone's wish that good things happen to good people and bad people get some sort of punishment. But it seems like, the world just doesn't work like that way many times. In that sense, Steinbeck's works turn literature into a means of looking into the neglected part of the society with realistic but sympathetic views.

Literary Journal #7 : The Old Man and the Sea

Sea is a source of life. The gifts she gives are endless and infinite. At the same time, sea is violent. When she is having a bad day, she likes to throw her anger at vulnerable men and women.

Sea is a popular literary theme and background. To ancient play writers to 20th century American writers, sea has been a place of mystery where they seek to find the essence of human life. Beowulf had to cross the seas looking for his adventure and Herman Melville found his interest in sea men through "Moby Dick."

Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a classic masterpiece. As all of you know, it's a story of an old fisherman catching a giant marlin and losing it to the sharks. What makes this work a masterpiece is its frank and sympathetic view towards the nothingness of human life. Unlike many other novels, "The Old Man and the Sea" doesn't have either noticeable conflicts, except internal conflict of the old man, or complicated plot. Like the name of the book, it is just a simple story of an old man and an incidence he goes through. However, the theme and ideas this book make us reflect on is not that simple.

I saw the old man's solitude and vulnerability in the middle of the sea as a life of every human surviving through his days. Like the old man puts all of his energy left for the marlin, everyday people desperately look for chances of fortune and success. But when they lose things, they eventually realize it is the law of nature that things come and go.

Human life is full of frustration. Because we often don't admit that we are fallible existence, we are dominated by anger and agony when we fail. By the time we suffer enough from the frustration and stress, our life becomes like the old man's wrinkly tough skin.

Literary Journal #6 : Tuesdays with Morrie

I have always thought this book was so popular that it seemed like a naive topic. I remember when I was in grade school, the book was just translated into Korean language and was bestseller for months. Well, of course I did not read the book back then because I would have not even understood what the book was trying to tell me, but now taking this theology class called Death and Dying (and I am sure there will be hundred more people writing about this book), I was required to read the book. It is not always "fun" to read books that are designated by teachers or courses. And it is even less fun when I have to take a quiz or test based on the reading. But, surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the book. I am not sure if the book is a literary masterpiece that can be compared with Shakespeare or T. S. Eliot, but its content and meaning are no less greater than any other literary work I have encountered.

Morrie Schwartz, a former professor at Brandeis University, slowly dies from a disease called ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. While suffering from the terrible pain, he never loses smile on his face. The book is based on a series of dialogues between Morrie and his former student, and the narrator, Mitch Albom.

Death is brutal. It takes away all the good things we have experienced and learned in this world. Sometimes I become skeptic of my own life whenever people around me die. Sometimes it is just hard to understand what I live for and why I put so much of my energy trying to achieve things that I will lose someday. But after looking at Morrie, who doesn't regret or resent his fate, I had a chance to think about my birth, life and death once more in different perspective.

Morrie said "death ends life, not a relationship." I'm not sure if I was supposed to interpret the quote in a religious view point, but I was pretty sure he did not only mean relationship between human beings by saying it. Our relationship with the mother nature is also eternal. And death is only a small part of our worldly life. Death is as intense as our birth. The difference is, we were wet babies during the moment of birth just got out of the mother's womb trying to take the first breathe in, we die taking the last breathe out.

I don't know if there is afterlife or not following our deaths. But listening to Morrie saying "love always wins," I looked back and thought about what kind of life I want to live and I am living. Am I really loving myself? And I realized that I couldn't love anything or anyone else if I fail to love myself.

Literary Journal #5 : Fahrenheit 451

Humans have writing and reading books for thousands of years. Even though books are recognized as excellent sources of information, knowledge and even pleasure, some of them were, and still are banned in some societies. From censorship, political powers have shown their struggle of separating their people from the truth. Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 depicts a society where reading and possessing books are strictly prohibited. Its fire fighters, instead of extinguishing fires, set books that they find on fire. Making the long story short, Guy Montag, the main character and who is a fire fighter, rejects to follow the society's law and start reading books after he meets a girl named Clarisse. After found out about his "ill acts," Montag runs away from home and the society. Soon after his runaway, a war breaks out and the society is completely destroyed by bombing. And the novel ends with a hint that Montag and his followers who he met while running away will build a new society.

I realize that most of us living in this century are used to taking things for granted. I have no intention of making this post a political journal but this book shows the possible ways our society can be ruined when people do not pay enough attention to the world. Freedom is not a mere romantic word that teenagers look forward to having from their parents or school. While freedom is a right, it is also a responsibility. When people fail to look directly to the truth and make decisions based on composite facts and their logic, freedom is in danger. Look around the world. Notice how many people in different countries are still not able to practice their unalienable rights!

From "Blade Runner"(1982)

The novel also shows how fallible humans can be. Under corrupted powers, it is a matter of time to brainwash the people. Only absorbing the false and fabricated information like dry sponges, the spirit and minds of people become completely subordinate to the government. All the walls are covered with TV screens and people always keep earphones called "Seashells" in their ears separating themselves from the reality.

I heard North Koreans call TV "idiot box." (It is not a slang) But I realize it really make sense to call it that way. Visual impressions are much powerful and lasting than just reading texts. And you really become an "idiot" if you decline to think but just accepts everything that is shown to you on TV.

The book warns us not to be "idiots" of modern society who lost their spirit and logic to the corrupted power.