The Handbook of Epictetus, which I began to read, was interesting a different ways. This handbook started straight, no introductions, no nothing. It first talks about what you can control and what you can’t control and then it talks about desires. In section two of this handbook it states “Remember, what a desire proposes is that you gain what you desire,” (Epictetus Section 2). This might sound obvious but it made me think a lot. I had never seen desires so clearly, because its real purpose is to be met, not just to be a desire.

After talking about desires it talks about aversion and says “what an aversion proposes is that you not fall into what you are adverse to” (Epictetus Section 2). This states the opposite of what a desire is. But then some question came into my mind such as what if a desire is not met, or if something you are averse to happens? The handbook took no time answering “Someone who fails to obtain what he desires is unfortunate, while someone who falls into what he is averse to has met misfortune” (Epictetus Section 2). There is a big difference between those two words. The first one “unfortunate” is kind of like unlucky, while “misfortune” is closer to being cursed.

Here we are seeing how people who search for happiness, what they want, and can’t get it are unlucky in a way. But the ones who don’t want something to happen do them and it does, they are in a way cursed. Of course that those who say that they are averse to things they can’t control fall to them often. So they must, and we must set our desires with things we can control, as well as the things we are averse to.

Life and Death

After reading the seventh poem that Whitman wrote I thought about a very common thought nowadays which is the idea of seizing the day. This means enjoying everything about life, all about it. At the beginning of this poem he states, “Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?”(Poem 7) This clearly states the idea of enjoying every second of our lives since we are so lucky of experiencing one.

After a very positive first line, we read, “I hasten to inform him or her, it is just as lucky to die, and I know it”. (Poem 7) Here we hear again the idea that when you die you do on to the next life which is so much better than this one. But I was captivated by the last part of this line, “and I know it”. Here the author is saying that he has experienced it, death. I thought about this for a couple of seconds and could not find an answer to this. What exactly does Whitman mean with this?

Same Style

In the final parts of A Simple Soul we see the continuation of Flaubert’s style, the same style he has used the entire book. In chapter five we see a great example of description of all the things in the scene. “In the middle stood a little frame containing relics; at the corners were two little orange-trees, and all along the edge were silver candlesticks, porcelain vases containing sun-flowers, lilies, peonies, and tufts of hydrangeas”.(Chapter V) As you can see from this part, the author describe everything carefully to give us good picture of what is going on. Besides this, Flaubert talks about the church again in this same paragraph, “The clergy appeared in the yard”. (Chapter V) This shows how he continues the same style throughout the whole book.

Ready To Stop

In Chapter 5 of The Crying of Lot 49 we see how Oedipa begins to find clues of what is going on. This chapter reminded me of many movies and how the protagonist follows somebody that he believes will lead him to the solution. In this case Oedipa follows the man how got the letters, “She tailed him all the way back down the littered, shifty, loud length of the Market and over on First Street to the trans bay bus terminal, where he bought a ticket for Oakland. So did Oedipa”. (Pg106) She is now very much into the mystery she must solve. Her own questions must be answered for her to be finally in peace. Pynchon is making her restless, because she is getting nowhere with her investigation of the mystery she must solve. After all she has been through Oedipa is very tired of it, “Yet she wanted it all to be a fantasy”. (Pg 107) At the end of the day, she just wants it all out of her head.

Clues Come Together

Oedipa has now begun to go further into a problem which started as a slight disturbance. She has now gone to Yoyodyne, and takes a tour of the place. She gets lost and finds herself with Stanley Koteks. He is drawing a symbol like the one Oedipa saw in the bathroom in The Scope. Now she begins to make connections with the things that have been going on lately.

Sometimes this happens to me, I make connections of things I see to things a saw previously to make conclusions. If I, on an afternoon, I ask a friend what they are going to do that afternoon and they don’t respond, and then that same afternoon I see my friend with my ex-girlfriend I will know that he didn’t want to tell me what he was doing that afternoon. This would be because he was going out with my ex and didn’t want to make the moment awkward. This is the moment Oedipa is experimenting; it’s a small type of agnorisis.

Now we have to ask ourselves where will this lead Oedipa?

Symbols

In Chapter 3 of The Crying of Lot 49 we see an episode when Oedipa finds an interesting thing in the bathroom. She finds a symbol and some message, “Interested in sophisticated fun? You, hubby, girl friends. The more the merrier. Get in touch with Kirby, through Waste only, Box 7391, L. A.” (Pg 38)

In many novels, especially mystery novels, we constantly see the main characters find clues of what they want in symbols. If we take The Da Vinci Code for example we see hoe the protagonist is always finding new symbols that mean something important for him to achieve his quest. Each time he finds one something big is scrambled in the message transmitted by it. Here in this part of the book, Oedipa has just come across this symbol, and message, that don’t mean anything to her. She isn’t even looking for something. So this symbol must be a start to her problems, or start for her solutions.

A Favor To Gain One

Sometimes we do something good, a favor to others, and it seems we are doing it just for good but there really is a reason behind it. I happen to do this at times, like when I need money I do some random favors to my mom and dad, and when the time is right I ask for the money and because of the chores I did I get it.

The same is happening in The Selfish Gene where animals live in packs or herds so they have greater chance of surviving. The book says “A fish who swims obliquely behind another fish may gain a hydrodynamic advantage from the turbulence created from the fish in front. This could be partly why fish school”. (pg 167) So here we see that fish are selfish because they actually swim in schools to gain hydrodynamic advantages over the predators. We see the same desire of survival from all animals. That’s why when the book mentions “You scratch my back, Ill scratch yours” I realized why that saying is one that show selfishness. “You scratch my back” as in do me a favor, and I will also give you a favor.