Reflect on Jacob Russel’s blog commenting on reading Severance by Robert Olen Butler.
“I was a young man, hardly more than an adolescent, when I first reflected on a curious inconsistency in the ways I thought about death. On the one hand, stated as a fact, an item of knowledge, that we are all going to die, myself included; how was it possible that I could state this fact--given the existential enormity of the subject----alone or in company...with complete indifference? Why should this idea have so little affective resonance? We have no knowledge of death, no experiential knowledge, I told myself. In that light, there was no reason that an idea, absent of content--a mere word, in effect, should make one anxious. What then, I had to ask, was I to make of those brief moments of absolute terror: waking at night to an absence, a black hole that seemed to have replaced the world, and was, perhaps, it's true reality?”
Can you explain Russel’s “indifference” to the idea of death? How does Butler help us gain knowledge of something which “we have no knowledge of”? What are your thoughts, reflections, curiosities on the idea of death?
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I think Russel's indifference to the idea of death comes from our lack of knowledge on the subject. "We have no knowledge of death, no experiential knowledge".
ReplyDeleteButler uses stream of consciousness to help us gain knowledge to his personal interpretation of death. Butler's stories are hurried, lack cohesive thoughts, and ignore most punctuation and grammar rules. Each story flashes back to the most important experience in the beheaded person's lifetime. Butler sees death not as something to fear, but to accept. Most of his stories are narrated in tranquil tones. But, since Butler himself has not yet experienced death first hand, his interpretation of death is just as good as anyone else's opinions.
Death itself does not scare me. I understand that death is a part of life, and is something everyone must experience eventually. What does scare me is the "mystery" or unpredictability of death. I will never know when or how I will die until it has occurred. I realize that human life is fragile; a freak accident could occur, and I could not be here tomorrow...but I also feel that the fear of death should not prevent anyone from leading the lives they hope for.
I think Russel's indifference is due to his somewhat acceptance to the fact that death is unavoidable. He realizes that although he does not like the idea that he will eventually die, it is going to happen anyway. Butler seems to accept this fact more willingly, because he writes about the last moments in people's lives right as their heads have been cut off. He even includes scientific fact concerning how long a person lives after their head has been removed and how many words they can say in this amount of time if excited. Also, by writing in a style as if the words are exactly the thoughts of the person (stream of consciousness), it helps the reader imagine the exact situations that the people are in. Like all humans, I realize that eventually I will die too. One of my favorite Disney movies to watch when I was younger was The Lion King, and after watching it, I would always tell my parents that I didn't want to die. They would calm me down, and tell me that wouldn't happen for a while. Older now, I still do not like the idea, but it is a bitter part of the circle of life. I agree with Allie in saying that you cannot dwell on this fact because then you miss out on enjoying everything while you are alive. Hakuna Matata!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sara that Russel seems to have accepted death as a natural part of life. Because it happens to everyone there is no reason to live our lives in fear of it, but we should instead live our lives to the fullest because we never know when it will happen. What scares me the most about death isn't so much about what will happen when I die, but how I will die. There is no way I can control how I die so I'm left hoping that the way I die will be painless and because of old age instead from a fire or accident that caused me to suffer as I leave this world. Besides that I am not to worried about death and will continue making the most of my life though it is difficult to when there are so many blogs to do. :)
ReplyDeleteCurious that the contradiction--the other half of what might pass as 'acceptance,' the breaking though of 'indifference,' the actual subject of the passage quoted from my review, is absent in the responses above. We prefer to ignore the repressed terror until it grabs us by the throat and stomps our face under the boot of harsh reality.
ReplyDeleteLife is terminal.
ReplyDeleteThis fact may scare people to think about, and they may not be willing to accept it or want to think about it, but the truth it, whether you acknowledge death or not, it will happen.
It is only human nature to fear the unknown. With so many unanswered questions that we will not know until death comes. "How will I die?", "When will I die?" and so forth.
The fact that there is absolutley no way of telling when and how death will come, scares the living daylight out of people.
I for one, find myself thinking about it periodically. I understand that death is something that will happen eventually, but I'm alive now, so why waste my time thinking about death? Never take life too seriously, no one gets out alive anyway.
Russel is indifferent to death simply because he has chosen not to fear the unknown. So many people fear what they do not know. Why? We cannot know everything. We have to have faith that death is not the end, but a new beginning. Fretting about death will only make us crazy, life is more enjoyable is you can just relax and trust that everything will turn out well. I like to think of death the way my great-uncle thinks of it, “I’m ready to go any time, but there’s no hurry.” Bulter helps to encourage the idea of death being a new beginning by showing us examples of people who did not fear death, but accepted it. The Muslim law student in “Six Pieces of Severance” did not fear death, he anticipated it and saw it as a new beginning. Death should not be feared if you trust that there is life after death, if you chose not to fear the unknown.
ReplyDeleteI think that the characters in "Six Pieces of Severance" are not indifferent to death in the way Russel is. They each mention frightening situations or ones that include a hint or foreshadowing of their fate, where they will end up after death. Each of them mention God, angels, the angel of death, or some sort of higher power, which shows how they all felt they'd have to answer to a higher power, someone who could put them in hell or heaven. I think they all realized that things could all of a sudden become hell for them (literally), or an eternal peace, and that is not indifference.
ReplyDeleteI think Russel was appalled with himself for having a lack of interest and concern with the fact that we’re all going to die. He wonders why this idea has so little of an impact on a person because we don’t know what comes after death. No one knows what in for us after our lives and if an after life exists… He doesn’t know what to think when he wakes up in horror thinking he may have died and the world is black? Isn’t the idea of death somebody going into the light and not feeling anxious?
ReplyDeleteButler helps us gain knowledge of something which “we have no knowledge of” because he’s done his research and used his imagination to dig deep and see what the folk being beheaded may have seen or been thinking.
I truly don’t know what happens after death. Sometimes I believe in reincarnation and sometimes I think maybe it’ll just feel like one of those amazing Sunday mornings in bed. When you’re so comfortable and happy because you don’t need to get up for work or school… you can just lay there, even if you’re not tired because there is no rush.
I believe that Jacob russel can achieve indifference concerning the idea of death because he has realized that life will not spare any. He has come to terms with the fact that no matter how much he fears death, no matter how much he avoids death, it will never change. There are no “Tuck Everlasting” figures in this world, and though literature can often help us escape the idea of death, some literature, such as “Six Pieces of Severance” places us face to face with death. Some people find distaste in a book that describes brutal deaths and leaving loved ones behind so immensely, but some people, like Jacob Russel appreciate the short story for its harsh truth concerning reality. The world offers whatever we take from it, one thing that people must learn is that death is unavoidable. I often find myself wondering where I may end up after death, if angels and ghosts really exist, and then I realize that I must be concerned with the present, for the future is unknown and worrying about people dying, is a waste of life. To waste life is to die early and if we can overcome death early, it cannot take us by surprise.
ReplyDeleteI think that Russel's indifference comes from death being such an abstract concept to comprehend. It is something people explain to you and talk about amongst each other, but not from firsthand experience. No one really knows what happens after death because we can not speak to someone who has experienced it. Therefore it was probably easy for Russel to be so indifferent towards death because he was not capable of comprehending the severity of it since at the time he had also probably never experienced the death of someone close to him either. I know for myself that death has always been terrifying. I had an aunt who was close to me die when I was little, and ever since then I have had trouble dealing with death. Although it scares me I also don't feel like I comprehend it fully. It is a concept that feels almost unreal to me. How can a person I just talked to last week be gone? I feel the severity and sadness of the situations but it still a mystery to me at the same time.
ReplyDeleteButler helped put death into some perspective with his ideas of what a person's last thoughts would be like. They all seemed to focus on what was most important to them throughout their lives within their last moments. Movies support this idea when the characters who just barely escape death say they "saw their life flash before their eyes". Butler wrote about that raw moment which gave people a possible perspective on what death may be like
I agree with abruley that Russel's indifference to death stems from the lack of knowledge about it. He feels it irrational to fear something that is inevitable for everyone, and that no one knows anyhing about--except those who have died, and therefore cannot tell the living about the experience.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Russel doesn't want to be weighed down with the fear of death looming around every corner, and instead would prefer to look at it as something, though inevitable, that is only a word, just as "the" is a word. To fear "the" would be rediculous and thus to fear death is rediculous.
In this sentiment, I mostly agree, though I do fear an early death--a death before being able to experience all that life has to offer. What I fear most, I suppose is the WHEN, as that when determines the end of my life experiences and the end of my time with the people on earth I love. It is losing time with them that makes the WHEN part of death most feared for me.
I agree with Sara, I think that Russel’s indifference is because he has accepted the fact that death is inevitable. Death is a part of life and eventually everyone will die. Robert Butler in Severance writes about the last moments of people’s lives. Using scientific experiments he discovered that the stream of consciousness after a person’s head has been cut off continues for about a minute and a half. He also discovered how many words they can say in that exact amount of time when excited. Butler expresses what is most important to the people as their life flashes before their eyes. This shows that Robert accepts the fact that death is unavoidable.
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