My Big Fat Greek Problem

Bottom line… Creon is more right. I sympathize with Antigone (as much as I can sympathize with a character from a completely undeveloped storyline), but she is wrong. Polynieces is a traitor. I admit, the limiting factor of this story is that we have no idea how the dispute over the thrown went down. Polynieces probably was the rightful heir to the thrown, but he forfeited his justification when he lead an army on his own people. I don’t care about Eteocles or Creon. I could care less that he killed his brother, but he attacked his own people. He attacked the people that he would be charged with protecting and helping to prosper if he was king. You can’t care about them one day and not the other and be a just, responsible king. Doesn’t work like that. Even if he and Eteocles were the only ones to die, he purposefully attacked his own city and put an entire army of his fellow countrymen at the mercy of a bunch of Argive mercenaries. Mercs are not always the nicest guys on the block. The Argives could of turned out to be the Blackwater of Greece. Oh wait, that comparison can’t be right. They are security contractors not hired guns, right. (Hey you hippie, left-wing, vegetarian, tree-hugger. Hybrid-driving, pot-head liberals…this doesn’t mean I’m on your side. I just hate useless, poorly trained idiots with guns. I still love guns.)

How can Polynieces care for his people when he attacks them just to reclaim the thrown so he can protect them from attack as king. “ Ok, I will attack and possibly kill thousands of my people so I can help them live better lives in the future (as widows and orphans of course).” Maybe Eteocles deposed Polynieces because he was a selfish jerk. Polynieces didn’t deserve to be king. Neither does Creon, so Polynieces only removed a potentially bad king (I say potentially bad because we just don’t know. He could be a great king too.) to instate a suredly bad one. Polynieces was selfish. He valued himself over his people (and most certainly his family).

Creon is also obsessed with power.His edict is a bad law. Not because it is fundamentally wrong, but because it goes too far. King of the state is not enough for him. He wants to extend his powers beyond the worldly (he wants to be god-like, and we all know that he couldn't even multi-kill). He is obsessed with controlling the afterlife of Polynieces. He shows little concern for the higher law of the gods,but Creon is focused upon preventing Polynieces his nectar and ambrosia. In this way Creon both levels himself with the gods and shows his lack of faith in the gods (big mistake for a character in a Greek myth. Just say no to hubris). If he did have faith in them, he would let them take care of the punishment. Ironically, Creon should be thanking Polynieces. He just wouldn’t be king if Polynieces hadn’t knocked off his own brother. Creon doesn’t even listen too his people regarding Antigone’s actions. He is too busy playing God. Creon needs to pay attention to his own zoo (meaning the state).

Antigone is also selfish. Yeah, I think she’s selfish. Like Creon, she goes nuts with her cause. Like most martyr, she is too wrapped up in her cause to step back and solve the problem. I like the Hollywood version too, but dying for the dead doesn’t do a thing (other than reduce my morning traffic). Ironically, Creon is just as much a martyr (and killing for the dead doesn’t make much sense either). These Greeks can not possibly stand for the reason that they hold so dear. The world has too many martyrs. It is way too fashionable to “die” for your cause. And you don’t have to be burned at the stake or blow yourself up to follow in Antigone’s footsteps. While everyone is glorifying themselves by defying the whole world, the problems are just growing. We should all just lift our fingers off the triggers and put down our explosive vests and try to talk to each other a little. I promise, I won’t make you eat meat if you don’t make me grind with a redwood.

My advice? Antigone, think about how much it’s going to hurt before you nail yourself to the cross (and by the way, Jesus had a good reason…you, not so much). You can’t help anyone from the inside of a crypt. Creon, if you can’t get off your pedestal, I’ll get you a ladder. Go ahead and kill’em all, but let God sort’em out. You two could be a great team. You stab’em, she’ll slab’em.

By the way, Mr. Coon, 24 isn’t on this season. The writers ruined it. I can never forgive them for denying me my Jack fix. WWJBD? Take them out, just for the inconvenience.

Shock Value

Kafka’s metamorphosis is one of the most confusing stories I have ever read or seen… or even heard about. To some degree, I believe the story’s outrageous plot prevents the reader from uncovering the true message of the text. I also believe that this effect may be somewhat by design and may reinforce the message of the text. Gregor’s absurd transformation renders the reader helpless. The reader can no longer view the story seriously. The story’s removal from the realistic prevents the reader from uncovering the true nature of the text… initially at least. The eight hundred pound gorilla that is the storyline blocks us from truly seeing the meaning of the situation. We cannot get past the plot. The insane events that befall Gregor Samsa overwhelm our critical mindsets and force us to react to the circumstances. In this respect, we the readers are much like Gregor’s family in that we are distracted by the shock of Gregor’s transformation and condition. Gregor’s family is shocked by the transformation of their son into such a horrid, unacceptable thing, and we are shocked by the transformation of the text into a wildly unrealistic and insensible thing. We, as readers, are not prepared for this development and are therefore disarmed and transformed ourselves. We are blinded by the shock value of the story and are rendered unable to analyze the story past the transformation of Gregor into an insect. Gregor’s family is likewise unable see past Gregor’s transformation. They are rendered incapable of recognizing their own son for who he is because his transformation has shocked them into a state of petrified vulnerability. Gregor’s transformation has blinded them to Gregor’s true nature and left them unable to see their son as anything other than a monster. It is this blindness that connects the reader and the story. We are distracted by the overwhelming situation at hand, and this strips us of our insight.

Ignorance is Bliss

Ivan Ilych suffers incredible anguish because he can’t come to grips with the meaning of his life. It is not impossible to imagine. We spend most our lives achieving success based on society’s standards. The worst realization would be that most of our lives are spent achieving society’s standards of success. Most of our time on earth will be spent working towards a set of standards created by the successful and proper society that we are trying to join. They are not even our own goals. And if we convince ourselves that they are our own goals, they just happen to fit right in with the man’s expectations and everything is just great. You know who I envy? The ski bum. There is a person who has their priorities straight. Is the ski bum’s life meaningful? Maybe not to you, but your considerations mean nothing to him. Your approval doesn’t add meaning to his existence, so he does not seek it. The real twisted thing about the realization that your life is meaningless if its meaning is influenced by others’ standards is that even though I have just written it down in words, I am going to continue to let society determine at least a significant part of my worth. I am in too deep. I don’t know. I couldn’t imagine to expect reconciliation or rectification or enlightenment of Ivan Ilych’s kind on my deathbed. Instead, if I look at the odds, I choose ignorant bliss. I think I just might choose to remain behind under the illusion of what my life meant. If it really is a meaningful life, then I win. If it isn’t, and I don’t know that it isn’t, I still win. Then again, maybe my life was meaningful and my standards of meaning are wrong, and I lose.