"A Composer and His Parakeets"
Willed Ignorance as a Form of Helplessness
1. Why do couples settle into a relationship based on lies and willed ignorance?
You can say people are blind or they choose to blind because it's easier to be deluded on a certain level. Of course, it's really not easier.
Blindness is easier than dealing with real frustration. Often people "fall in love," that is to say convince themselves they are in love, to distract themselves from the fact that there is no love in their life, which makes their situation worse.
It could be argued that Fanlin and his girlfriend Supriya are both saddled down by some rather heavy delusions as a result of their willed ignorance.
Fanlin believes putting all his effort into the relationship while expecting nothing in return will reap future dividends. In effect, he makes himself into a doormat and this results in Supriya having no respect for him or herself. How can she respect herself if she takes advantage of someone whom she doesn't love. Deep down, she knows she's living a lie.
Similarly, Fanlin knows he's living a lie, that someday his girlfriend will show reciprocity.
Blindness is a major theme in the story. Think of the musical score, The Blind Musician. Both Fanlin and Supriya are blind; therefore, they can never be free.
Or one can argue they are free to assert their free will to be blind.
Or one can argue their blindness is not chosen; it's an unconscious impulse. I tend to agree with both arguments. In other words, I don't see free will and determinism (being compelled to action by environmental and unconscious forces) as mutually exclusive. To me, that's an either/or fallacy. Our actions are a combination of free will and determinism.
The crux of the matter:
Fanlin is blinded by his own neediness, which compels him to commit to a vain narcissist who is not willing to offer him reciprocity. In spite of being in a relationship, Fanlin is lonely and bonds with a bird more than his own girlfriend.
Fanlin is afraid of the "A" word: alone, so he settles for a BS relationship. Deep down, he must know he's living a lie and therefore deep down he must exist under a dark cloud of guilt and shame for living a life of self-betrayal. He is going to have to die, figuratively of course, in order to be reborn--apart from the loveless Supriya.
Fanlin can't count on Supriya to make the necessary change. Supriya is too vain to acknowledge that she is using Fanlin as her lackey and sycophant to groom her career.
They're both using each other in an unhealthy way. Supriya uses Fanlin as a doormat and Fanlin uses Supriya as a false hope in order that he need not face his fear of Being Alone.
The Shillyshally Effect
In America, we would say that Supriya is shillyshallying or dillydallying or lollygagging until someone better comes along. She shows contempt for her boyfriend, which means she must have contempt for herself.
Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but is Supriya really on the verge of a breakthrough in her acting career or is she, like most actors, doomed to a life of small bits here and there?
Perhaps her needy boyfriend is willing to massage her delusions and reinforce their symbiotic relationship so he doesn't have to confront "A."
2. The relationship between Fanlin and Bori casts light on Fanlin’s relationship with Supriya. Explain.
He realizes he has achieved in a few days more intimacy and closeness with a bird than his own girlfriend. That is the beginning of Fanlin's metacognition.
Fanlin's Chimera: The Grand Moments That Never Come
Life is what happens while you’re waiting for the grand moments that never come; closer to Bori; farther from Supriya. In other words, there is no real life with Supriya; it's just a dream, a life that will always come later. He's waiting for that life to come with Supriya, but it never will come. His real life is in the here and now and it's with Bori.
3. How is Supriya using Fanlin?
She is blind to the fact that she uses her boyfriend, that she doesn't love him and therefore doesn't love herself, and that she has a zero acting career. See 12 and 13. She won't marry him and settle down. She's dilly-dallying until someone better comes along?
4. What evidence is there that Fanlin and the bird are bonding?
(blister, travel companion, etc). Most importantly, see 23, the change in the second half of Fanlin’s music score, more depth, melancholy, beauty in the face of the death of his beloved bird.
Thesis Review and Samples
Thesis and the 4 Types of Claims on Purdue Owl
Thesis Samples
Cause and Effect Thesis:
Freedom is rare in Ha Jin's stories but when characters do become free, they do so because of the cultivation of the Third Eye which is evidenced by _______________, ______________, ________________, and __________________.
Argumentative Thesis
Eileen has made the right decision to breakup with Dave because Dave poses too many risks to Eileen and her daughter evidenced by ______, ________, __________, and _________.
Definition Thesis
What appear to be insurmountable obstacles in the characters' lives are really problems that can be solved if the characters free themselves from their learned helplessness, which is evidenced by __________, ___________, ____________, and ____________.
Claims of Worth Thesis
The most valuable lesson we learn from Ha Jin's stories is that metacognition is the number one facility that allows us to undergo a radical transformation, free ourselves of our mindless habits, and conquer the mental disease of learned helplessness.
Free Will and Determinism in Ha Jin's Stories
Definitions:
Free will is a humanistic belief, championed by Viktor Frankl among others, that we can, in spite of our circumstances, choose the attitude we have about our life and suffering; moreover, we can choose to be responsible and find meaning in a life of inevitable suffering. We are not bound by our biology and environment.
Determinism is the belief that we are hard-wired to act a certain way. This hard-wiring is influenced by the environment. Mental illness, compulsion, addiction, narcissism are all ailments that people do not choose; rather, these are afflictions, which affect behavior and contradict free will.
"The Beauty" : no free will; Dan is driven by jealousy. Dan becomes more and more odious and disgusting as the story progresses. He becomes a more intense version of his already lame self. He is what we call a centripetal character.
"Temporary Love": no free will; Lina is driven by a sense of guilt and duty; Panbin is overcome by curdled love that leads to bitterness and nihilism.
"A Composer and His Parakeets":
There is free will in a subtle way. Fanlin slowly lets go of his denial about Supriya's lack of love for him and undergoes the slow, arduous journey toward acceptance rendered in his melancholy musical composition.
Fanlin has grown as a person; thus we can say he is a centrifugal character.
"Choice": There is free will: Eileen cuts short her passionate affair with Dave because it's destroying her relationship with her daughter. Eileen ultimately asserts discipline and self-denial in the face of temptation for the sake of her daughter.
For your essay you must develop a thesis, perhaps an argument, about the topic of freedom as it pertains to Ha Jin's stories.
McMahon argues, in part, that freedom is an illusion. We are in fact motivated by things we cannot control such as fear, vanity, disgust, hunger for social status, the desire to be superior to others, greed, avoiding family shame and rejection, desire to please others, desire to conform to culture and/or family.
Now if you don't have the above motivations, what happens to you? You become lazy. You have no motivation.
McMahon has a problem. His list of motivations is only only bad motivations. Did McMahon have an agenda? Yes, McMahon was being dishonest. He was hiding good motivations in order to support an argument and to persuade you to "his side."
In reality, however, McMahon was tricking you, showing you how easily you can be manipulated and deceived.
What does McMahon really believe? Ninety-nine percent of us have no freedom. We are indeed driven by the above stated motivations.
However, if you look at history's heroes like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, what you'll find is that success, meaning, courage, nobility, heroism can be found without being slaves to our lower passions. A few people are free and they always want to free the rest of us.
Grammar Review
Subject-Verb Agreement on Purdue Owl
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Identifying Phrases, Independent Clauses, and Dependent Clauses
Identify the group of words in bold type as phrase, independent clause, or dependent clause.
One. Toward the monster’s palace, we see a white marble fountain jettisoning chocolate fudge all over the other giants.
Two. Before going to school, Gerard likes to make sure he’s packed his chocolate chip cookies and bagels.
Three. Because Jack’s love of eating pizza every night cannot be stopped, he finds his cardio workouts to be rather worthless.
Four. Maria finds the Lexus preferable to the BMW because of the Lexus’ lower repair costs.
Five. Greg does not drive at night because he suffers from poor nocturnal eyesight.
Six. Whenever Greg drives past HomeTown Buffet, he is overcome with depression and nausea.
Seven. People who eat at Cinnabon, according to Louis C.K., always look miserable over their poor life decisions.
Eight. After eating at Cinnabon and HomeTown Buffet, Gary has to eat a bottle of antacids.
Nine. Towards the end of the date, Gary decided to ask Maria if she’d care for another visit to HomeTown Buffet.
Ten. Whenever Maria is in the presence of a gluttonous gentleman, she withdraws into her shell.
Eleven. Greg watched Maria recoil into her shell while biting her nails.
Twelve. Greg watched Maria recoil into her private universe while she bit her nails.
Thirteen. Eating at all-you-can-eat buffets will expand the circumference of your waistline.
Fourteen. Larding your essay with grammatical errors will result in a low grade.
Fifteen. My favorite pastime is larding my essay with grammatical errors.
Sixteen. Larding my body with chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies followed by several gallons of milk, I wondered if I should skip dinner that evening.
Seventeen. After contemplating the benefits of going on a variation of the Paleo diet, I decided I was at peace being a fat man with a strong resemblance to the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
Eighteen. In the 1970s few people would consider eating bugs as their main source of protein although today world-wide food shortages have compelled a far greater percentage of the human race to entertain this unpleasant possibility.
Nineteen. Because of increased shortages in worldwide animal protein, more and more people are looking to crickets, grasshoppers, and grubs as possible complete protein amino acid alternatives.
Twenty. The percentage of people getting married in recent years has significantly declined as an economic malaise has deflated confidence in the viability of sustaining a long-term marriage.
Twenty-one. Before you decide to marry someone, consider two things: your temperament and your economic prospects.
Twenty-two. To understand the pitfalls of getting married prematurely is to embark on the road to greater wisdom.
Twenty-three. To know me is to love me.
Twenty-four. To languish in the malignant juices of self-pity after breaking up with your girlfriend is to fall down the rabbit hole of moral dissolution and narcissism.
Twenty-five. Having considered the inevitable disappointment of being rich, I decided not to rob a bank.
Twenty-six. Watching TV on a sticky vinyl sofa all day, I noticed I was developing bedsores.
Twenty-seven. While I watched TV for twenty consecutive hours, I began to wonder if life was passing me by.
Twenty-eight. Under the bridge where a swarm of mosquitos gathered, the giant belched.
Review Thesis
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