Monday, February 14, 2011
The Dry, Yeastless factuality--a true story that misses the point
The two chapters 21 and 22 I think are touching on the same things we talked about in regards to 'The Things They Carried.' In chapter 21 the author is saying that Pi had made a statement about the "dry, yeastless factuality" and he mentions "a quickening of the moral sense, which strikes one as more important than an intellectual understanding of things." This seems to be dealing with the notion that a story doesn't have to be absolutely 100% factually true, but rather it needs to move one, to stir something inside a person and affect them on a moral, emotional level--that's the more important factor. And in chapter 22 when he talks about the athiest and the agnostic on their deathbeds, and how the athiest might recognize god then but an agnostic would not, he says the agnostic might "stay beholden to the dry, yeastless factuality, lack imagination, and miss the better story." Again, he means that the agnostic will cling only to what's actually true in their eyes, they'll have no imagination and no faith, and they will miss out on the real point, the real truth, the "better story." Sometimes, believing in something that isn't true can still enrich one's life and lead to a better understanding of oneself and the world; it can affect a person in a way that is very true and very real and very worthwhile.
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