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I was previously trying to post at night, bit that wasn't working out, so I'm trying to go back to mornings.
It's still entirely too warm for fall, but October is right around the corner, which is great because that's my favorite month. I've long held the theory that Halloween, not Christmas, is actually the most generous holiday. Most people on Christmas expect to get at least one gift in exchange for giving, but on Halloween, it's all about the giving away, for no reward beyond the pure joy of making a whole lot of kids happy.
...Eh, maybe the most generous holiday for adults, I do remember as a kid I was all about that candy.
Right, so I've been promising to talk about Maggio. Initially, I thought he was planning to escape by just up and murdering people, somehow, but I was wrong. He's planning to escape by pretending to assault a guard, getting declared crazy for assaulting a guard, surviving thirty days or more in "the hole", and then still being sane enough to pretend to be crazy when he's sent to the nuthouse, where he will finally escape the army.
The hole is solitary confinement, mid-20th century style. No lights, no bed, a pot for a toilet, and one slice of bread and cup of water per meal. Prewitt spent three days there, and ended up disassociating so hard he saw his soul float away from his body just to make it through.
It's really interesting to compare and contrast From Here to Eternity with Catch-22 (The source of the phrase "what's the catch" as well as "disapeered", which you hear less often, but is used to describe what happens to someone when they are made to vanish, usually by a government or ruling body.) Both are set during World War Two, both were published in the close aftermath - From Here to Eternity in 1950, and Catch-22 a little later, in 1961. They both feature a protagonist who strives against the system, one way or another, and they both touch on the absurdism and brutality of the military system, and by extension (I'd say) society as a whole.
Catch-22 is more surreal than Eternity, And, unless my memory fails me, was originally supposed to have aspects of the supernatural mixed in. While those were taken out (boo) elements still remain.
I'm letting this get too long again, but suffice to say they're both really interesting books, though I think Catch-22 was the more influential, with the stronger cultural impact overall.
How do you escape a system designed to trap you? What do you do when you do your duty, and more than your duty, but all the powers ever ask is more?
Yossarian knows.
Shockingly, this week is not a six-day work week for me. I'm both very surprised and very pleased. You'd think 48 hours wouldn't be all that different from 40, but that extra shift really does wear you out.
It's still entirely too warm for fall, but October is right around the corner, which is great because that's my favorite month. I've long held the theory that Halloween, not Christmas, is actually the most generous holiday. Most people on Christmas expect to get at least one gift in exchange for giving, but on Halloween, it's all about the giving away, for no reward beyond the pure joy of making a whole lot of kids happy.
...Eh, maybe the most generous holiday for adults, I do remember as a kid I was all about that candy.
Right, so I've been promising to talk about Maggio. Initially, I thought he was planning to escape by just up and murdering people, somehow, but I was wrong. He's planning to escape by pretending to assault a guard, getting declared crazy for assaulting a guard, surviving thirty days or more in "the hole", and then still being sane enough to pretend to be crazy when he's sent to the nuthouse, where he will finally escape the army.
The hole is solitary confinement, mid-20th century style. No lights, no bed, a pot for a toilet, and one slice of bread and cup of water per meal. Prewitt spent three days there, and ended up disassociating so hard he saw his soul float away from his body just to make it through.
It's really interesting to compare and contrast From Here to Eternity with Catch-22 (The source of the phrase "what's the catch" as well as "disapeered", which you hear less often, but is used to describe what happens to someone when they are made to vanish, usually by a government or ruling body.) Both are set during World War Two, both were published in the close aftermath - From Here to Eternity in 1950, and Catch-22 a little later, in 1961. They both feature a protagonist who strives against the system, one way or another, and they both touch on the absurdism and brutality of the military system, and by extension (I'd say) society as a whole.
Catch-22 is more surreal than Eternity, And, unless my memory fails me, was originally supposed to have aspects of the supernatural mixed in. While those were taken out (boo) elements still remain.
I'm letting this get too long again, but suffice to say they're both really interesting books, though I think Catch-22 was the more influential, with the stronger cultural impact overall.
How do you escape a system designed to trap you? What do you do when you do your duty, and more than your duty, but all the powers ever ask is more?
Yossarian knows.
Shockingly, this week is not a six-day work week for me. I'm both very surprised and very pleased. You'd think 48 hours wouldn't be all that different from 40, but that extra shift really does wear you out.
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