Samuel Johnson
"The History of Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia" by Samuel Johnson captivates the reader by being composed of short episodes which show different ways in which people live and what makes each of them happy. I greatly identified with the novel. Living in three countries by the age of 17 and seeing how different people live, and what ultimately people strive for in order to make themselves happy is what Johnson is able to capture in his novel.
I think that the following quote speaks about the past, "that what cannot be repaired is not to be regretted" (p.9). This quote greatly touches the idea of the divine, destiny, and calling. These three concepts are out of people's ends, just as the past. As much as we may want to have that rewind button, we can not go back and change our past. As a result, in this quote the author's opinion is revealed, the idea that what we can not change, or can not undo is something we should not regret. It is something that as human beings we learn from and tend to label these incidences as mistakes.
In one of the "episodes", chapter XVII to be exact, the character Rasselas provides his view point of youth in the following quote, "Youth, cried he, is the time of gladness: I will join myself to the young men, whose only business is to gratify their desires, and whose time is all spent in a succession of enjoyments" (p. 36). I am wondering how many of us will characterize our youth as such. If we classify youth as our years as teenagers, I personally I will not agree with this quote. I think that, for myself, it was filled with a lot of rules. Also, the notion of rules is somewhat lacking in this novel. It seems like everyone is shown to be doing as they wish in order to "gratify their desires".
The ending of the novel is actually found in the middle of the novel. On page 47, Johnson provides a foreshadow to the ending of the novel by saying that "what this world can give may be found in the modest habitations of middle fortune". Pekuah at the ends ends up opening a college where she finds most gratification and happiness by doing so. Pekuah finds her happiness in something moderate, she does not say she wishes to teach everyone, or to have the most popular college on Earth, but rather to help others receive education. However, if we each ask ourselves what would we do in life, or what do we want can we honestly compromise on something moderate? This could also apply to our choice of occupation. Do we choose to be something moderate in our eyes? or something that is important to us, which we don't view as moderate. This concept could also be placed in our papers. How our characters view their occupation? as something that is moderate or something that has a higher meaning?
Posted by Nirit Zohar on October 27, 2008 10:56 PM
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"The History of Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia" by Samuel Johnson captivates the reader by being composed of short episodes which show different ways in which people live and what makes each of them happy. I greatly identified with the novel. Living in three countries by the age of 17 and seeing how different people live, and what ultimately people strive for in order to make themselves happy is what Johnson is able to capture in his novel.
I think that the following quote speaks about the past, "that what cannot be repaired is not to be regretted" (p.9). This quote greatly touches the idea of the divine, destiny, and calling. These three concepts are out of people's ends, just as the past. As much as we may want to have that rewind button, we can not go back and change our past. As a result, in this quote the author's opinion is revealed, the idea that what we can not change, or can not undo is something we should not regret. It is something that as human beings we learn from and tend to label these incidences as mistakes.
In one of the "episodes", chapter XVII to be exact, the character Rasselas provides his view point of youth in the following quote, "Youth, cried he, is the time of gladness: I will join myself to the young men, whose only business is to gratify their desires, and whose time is all spent in a succession of enjoyments" (p. 36). I am wondering how many of us will characterize our youth as such. If we classify youth as our years as teenagers, I personally I will not agree with this quote. I think that, for myself, it was filled with a lot of rules. Also, the notion of rules is somewhat lacking in this novel. It seems like everyone is shown to be doing as they wish in order to "gratify their desires".
The ending of the novel is actually found in the middle of the novel. On page 47, Johnson provides a foreshadow to the ending of the novel by saying that "what this world can give may be found in the modest habitations of middle fortune". Pekuah at the ends ends up opening a college where she finds most gratification and happiness by doing so. Pekuah finds her happiness in something moderate, she does not say she wishes to teach everyone, or to have the most popular college on Earth, but rather to help others receive education. However, if we each ask ourselves what would we do in life, or what do we want can we honestly compromise on something moderate? This could also apply to our choice of occupation. Do we choose to be something moderate in our eyes? or something that is important to us, which we don't view as moderate. This concept could also be placed in our papers. How our characters view their occupation? as something that is moderate or something that has a higher meaning?
Posted by Nirit Zohar on October 27, 2008 10:56 PM
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