What is one part of Williams’ “The Catastrophe of Success” essay that resonated with you? What is one part that was difficult to understand? What made the “difficult” part difficult to understand? Your response should be at least four sentences.
13 thoughts on “Blog Post #11: The Catastrophe of Success (Williams)”
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One specific part of Williams’ “The Catastrophe of Success” essay that really resonated with me was when he states “The sort of life that I had had previous to this popular success was one that required endurance…, but it was a good life because it was the sort of life for which the human organism is created.” In my opinion, comfort and peace are nice to have from time to time. But to grow as a person, we must confront various challenges in our life. However, I don’t necessarily understand when he said “But once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle you are equipped with the basic means of salvation.” I can’t grasp the idea conceptually.
That second quote that you cited is quite challenging to comprehend. Essentially, what he is saying is that once you understand that there is a vacuity (emptiness) to a life in which there is no struggle, you can begin to embrace the idea that you need some sort of struggle to lead a fulfilling life.
The part that says, “The sight of an ancient woman, gasping and wheezing as she drags a heavy pail of water down a hotel corridor to mop up the mess of some drunken overprivileged guest, is one that sickens and weighs upon the heart and withers it with shame for this world…” resonated with me because it reminded me that no matter what era we in, there will always be class disparity. There seems to be hierarchy everywhere and in some societies it may be visible, while some may be invisible where you cannot tell if it exists or not. The last paragraph of the essay seems difficult to understand, especially the second sentence. I think the strong language that William used made the sentence hard to comprehend.
Good points, Henry. In that last paragraph, I believe Williams is trying to make the point that that only real currency in life is living a fulfilling life and the only way we can counter the loss of time we experience with each passing moment is to engage with life in the most meaningful way possible.
“William Saroyan wrote a great play on this theme, that purity of heart is the one success worth having. ” is the part that caught my attention, probably because I agree with the author. I noticed that money, popularity and being “well-known, powerful persona” most of the time changes people. People start to behave in the way that they can control everything and everyone if they have more money and power. However, I really admire with the people who were able to follow their dreams and despite the financial success, they were able to save the purity of their mind and heart. By that, I mean speak and behave politely, respectfully and just having “humanity”.
About the part which was difficult to read is last paragraph 2nd sentence. I was not able to understand what author wanted to explain.
I love you point about purity of heart, Aliya. That second sentence in the last paragraph is quite difficult to understand. In my opinion, he is saying that having compassion and conviction and translating that compassion and conviction into something creative is what brings true meaning to our lives.
In Williams’ “The Catastrophe of Success” essay, the part that resonated with me is “Nobody should have to clean up anybody else’s mess in this world. It is terribly bad for both parties, but probably worse for the one receiving the service,” because this reminds me of my childhood of being a big sister. I need to help my brother clean up the mess that he makes with his toys, and my mom will say that like the bigger kid you have some responsibility for the smaller one so you should help him. The difficult part for me to understand is “Security is a kind of death, I think, and it can come to you in a storm of royalty checks beside a kidney-shaped pool in Beverly Hills or anywhere at all that is removed from the conditions that made you an artist if that’s what you are or were intended to be,” I don’t understand what this is trying to show or tell us.
The part that you mentioned resonated with you, Xinyu, also resonated with me. I thought that this statement was quite noble. I think what he is saying in the “Security” quote is that when people can obtain luxuries as a result of being financially successful as an artist, they can no longer produce art that is as meaningful, because they have removed themselves from the environment in which they produced this art in the first place.
One part that resonated with me in “The Catastrophe of Success” was when he said “I sat down and looked about me and was suddenly very depressed. I thought to myself, this is just a period of adjustment.” This shows that everyone experience difficulties in their life. Not the type of difficulties like failing and then succeeding, but difficulties like being lost in life and becoming hopeless momentarily. One part that was difficult to read was “somebody worth being is the solitary and unseen you that existed from your first breath and which is the sum of your actions and so is constantly in a state of becoming under your own violation—” I don’t understand what he is trying to imply.
I like your thoughts on the first quote here, Amy. When we can step back and realize that we go through phases and not lasting conditions in life, it can change our perspective on things. This is particularly pertinent right now with what we are experiencing with COVID-19. I think to better understand the second quote that you mentioned, it is important to look at how that quote fits into the paragraph. He compares the public “Somebody” (the facade of yourself or the act you put on for other people) with the real somebody that you are. I think he is saying, in poetic words, that we need to remain who we truly are, especially when we obtain success.
In “The catastrophe of success” by Tennessee Williams the part that mostly resonated with me is when he said: “The sort of life that I had had previous to this popular success was one that required endurance.” This is important to me because it shows me you need to work really hard to arrive in this life. While you are on that aspect of your life it can be really intimidating or you may think that you worth nothing in the world because you suffer but you don;t have the rewards you deserve. well, rewards is on the way, you just have to wait. Time will show. patience is key. For me the most difficult part of the essay to understand was the last paragraph, For example when he said :”That time is short and it doesn’t return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, and the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, loss, loss, unless you devote your heart to its opposition.”
I like the points you made about working really hard to arrive in life. I think some of the work is external, which we have to do to survive in our environment, and some is internal, which we have to do to work to become people who are able to accomplish all that we dream of accomplishing. That second quote is difficult to understand. I believe what he is trying to say is that we know that we are losing time with each passing moment of our life, but it’s embracing the moment and living the fullest life that you know how that can combat that feeling of loss – or at least make us focus on it less.
The part of Williams’s essay that resonated with me is the part where he talks about disconnect between him and his audience. He says that after becoming famous, the fame that he wanted turned into something dull and trivial. From what he is saying, it seemed that his fame put some distance between him and others. He says that he didn’t have any friends to trust and that he couldn’t bring himself to interact with his fans. One part that is a little difficult to understand was when he was talking about level plateau and security.