great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

The scene that we focused on came a little more than halfway through the movie at the 54 minute mark, when Nagg is speaking to Hamm. In the text, the author, Samuel Beckett, did not specify what reaction Hamm was having as he heard his father tell him, “I hope the day will come when you’ll really need me to listen to you, and need to hear my voice, any voice.” (p.786). However, the director of the play chose to circle around Hamm’s face and zoom into his facial expression. The director of the play tries to show that Hamm is coming to a realization that what he is doing with his parents is wrong. Hamm has a facial expression that showcases some sort of guilt, as if he is feeling repentance for having treated his father so bad. This is the last time that Nagg is seen in the play.

In the texts “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “Metamorphosis,” both Bartleby and Gregor suffer a downfall in their society. Compare or contrast how being ostracized in their society affected these characters and how it ultimately lead to their death.

In Franz Kafka’s “Judgement,” Georg’s father exclaims that all this time, Georg has only cared about himself and no one else. Do you agree with the father’s remarks? Is there anything that Georg is not able to see or perhaps does not want to see like the example of the prisoners in “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?”

In the poem, One, a reoccurring theme that’s noticeable is the Tao will always be something that cannot be defined through words, but rather actions. From the beginning of the Poem, the reader is told “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” No matter how the Tao is described, the names that will be used are just words that can easily be mistaken and that can lead to confusion, and can have no eternal meaning. In order for “the gate to all mystery,” to be understood, one must not try to name or describe such mystery, but rather act upon it to try and get a better understanding of it. As one continues to interpret the poem, one can come to the conclusion that the Tao is something that simply cannot be understood. Exemplified by the quote “Darkness within darkness,” the reader is told that the Tao has an infinite way of being interpreted, much like darkness within darkness. By attempting to describe the Tao through words, the words become finite, and that which is finite cannot encompass that which is infinite. These ideas all enforce the reoccurring theme of the Tao being something that can’t be defined through words.