Author's Note: We had to respond to what we thought this meant: "The idea of a religious boy in a lifeboat with a wild animal struck me as a perfect metaphor for the human condition. Humans aspire to really high things, right, like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we're rooted in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being... as a perfect metaphor." It's the author talking about his book. So here is what I thought.
I think that what Yann Martel meant was that it his story symbolized humans. What I think he meant that humans are always worrying and thinking about things that are really out of our control and humans worry about things that we really can't change. We're constantly thinking about religion and justice like the author said. But really we're just animals trying to survive.
Perhaps when we're not in survival mode, we allow ourselves to ponder religion and justice; this becomes a luxury. That would explain why the modern-day philosophers tend to be affluent -- they have the luxury of having all of their animal needs met and exceeded.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mrs.Reagles and the fact that once we are able to get past our survival mode we are allowed to ponder greater things.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mitchell. I don't think humans are still in survival mode. We no longer have to worry about survival, because we have found ways to deal with our predators.
ReplyDeleteI never could have thought of anything like this...but it makes perfect sense. Good job!
ReplyDeleteYeah same thing with Jackson, I mean you have a really good theory, but I think that he means is that there are two parts of a person
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