Again, I decided to talk about the quotes I liked in this book. The first one is on page 54.
‘All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one’s heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you.’
All things of grace and beauty, their birth were in grief and ashes. The boy was born after the disaster. He was born in grief and ashes. Is the speaker saying that the boy is about grace and beauty? I think this is true because the man talks about the sleeping boy right after. The man has the boy who is all the thing of beauty and grace.
Also on page 75:
‘He dried him with the blanket, kneeling there in the glow of the light with the shadow o the bridge’s understructure broken across the palisade of treetrunks beyond the creek. This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man’s brains out of his hair. That is my job. Then he wrapped him in the blanket and carried him to the fire.’
It is the man’s job, as the father of a boy, to protect him and care of him in this dangerous time. He washes a dead man’s brains out – he cleans and purifies the boy. He takes him to the fire – he takes care of him and protects him from animals which fear fire and humans. It is up to the man to protect the boy who is supposedly connected to god and beauty and grace.
‘You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand? Yes. He sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while he looked up. Are we still the good guys he said. Yes. We’re still the good guys. And we always will be. Yes. We always will be. Okay.’ (p.77) I was appointed to do that by God – God had given the man a mission to protect the boy. He tells the boy that even if they had killed someone it wouldn’t be a very bad thing because God had given the man permission to do it, to protect the boy, and it was a necessary thing to do in order to live.
'The day is providential to itself.' (p.54) I looked up ‘providential’ in a dictionary and the meaning being lucky, happening at the right time. What does this sentence mean? I am really, really curious.
That's all. Ta-ta.
You also wrote about the three quotes that you liked the most just like I did. However, it seems that you focused more on the beautiful relationship between the man and the boy. Last week, I wrote about the man and the boy as the assignment. And now, I can see that you have very similar opinion about their relationship to me. I also thought that the man is doing his best to protect the boy as his father, and I liked it. Very nice to have similar opinion. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand the sentence you quoted as well ㅜㅜ However, I really liked how you had three quotes that were kind of related to each other- they were all about the relationship of the mand and the boy. I especially like the third quote where you talked about how god appointed the man to look after the boy.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, Great Job!
providential also means fated by god. Usually it means "lucky" because god has blessed something, but here I believe the fate is more ominous.
ReplyDeleteYou've hit on some good quotes, but your analysis/exploration of them seems a little underdeveloped. Remember you should be writing 500 words--give yourself a chance to explore the ideas. It's ok to make guesses and be wrong here!