Brian's Search for the Meaning of Life in W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen the Wind
By Rodrigo Goller
Through the brilliantly written book Who Has Seen the Wind, Mitchell is able to very effectively describe the tale of one boy and his growth on the
Saskatchewan prairie. Brian's childhood revolves around aspects of everyday life, and in it he attempts to explain that which has evaded and mystified even the great minds of our times: the meaning of life. He is able to somewhat understand the meaning of life though his experiences with birth, particularly that of a pigeon, and a rabbit. His up-close-in-your-face learning of death, at an early age, when his dog, and subsequently his father dies. Lastly Brian's realization that it's all just sensations, and feelings complete his search for the meaning of life.
Early in his life, Brian has many experiences with birth. The first of these comes to him at an early age when he sees newborn pigeons. When his father explains how these pigeons were made, Brian understands that birth is the beginning of life. Four years later, a similar conversation comes up when
Brian asks his father how rabbits are born. With this new found knowledge,
Brian also sees another newborn. But this time it was a two-headed calf, who dies at birth. Because of this, Brian comes to the realization that "God isn't very considerate"(166), for sometimes he lets things like the two headed cow come into this world, only to suffer and then die.
The Second instance in which Brian is confronted with the meaning of life, comes to him when he sees death, and asks himself why. When Brian's pigeon died, he asked his father why it had happened.
"Why?" said Brian.
"It happens to things," his father said.
"Why does it happen to things?" He turned up his face to his father, cheeks stained with drying tears.
"That's the way they end up."
Brian looked down at the baby pigeon in his hand.
"It was an egg. Now it's stopped."
"Yes Spalpeen, it's stopped." (56)
Although this was hard for Brian to face, he was once again confronted with death. This second time, his dog Jappy dies crushed by a carriage of horses as "the front wheels of the dray missed Jappy. The hind ones did not. A shrill and agonized cry arose." (175) As Brian stood by, not able to help his dog, Brian "knew that this lifeless thing [ once had lived, but now ] his dog was dead,"(176) and that there was nothing he could ever do to bring
Jappy back.
money,he shows that money is so powerful and important among people that it takes on several
help to create a very real, life-like perception of him and his aspirations during the height
In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, a ranch hand named Carlson addresses a fellow ranch hand, Candy, regarding his old dog, “He’s [Candy’s dog] all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. And he ain’t no good to himself.” (Steinbeck 44). Candy’s dog is ancient and Candy and the dog live on a ranch during the Great Depression. It would be a hard life for anyone, especially for an old dog with an even older owner. The dog was falling apart at the seams; near blind, no teeth, and ached every time he stood. I’d imagine life loses meaning at that point, the dog wasn't enjoying life and probably hadn’t for years. Carlson, the ranch hand also states in regard to Candy’s dog, “Can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t walk without hurtin’.” (Steinbeck 47). Dogs are, by nature happy creatures and this dog was anything but happy. Naturally,this dog would have died long ago and honestly, it was the best option at this point for the dog. You know what people alway say, quality over quantity and at this point the quality of his life was
He saw that dog grow into what he raised him to and yet he got rid of him because he had to. How more human a person is to throw his or her own dog away. It must of hurt him so much since he saw his puppy grow into the dog he raised. I once owned a puppy as well, I adopted a puppy, a Chihuahua from the animal shelter. When I brought him home my mother, whom I live with was very upset because she does not like dogs. Moreover she does not like dogs inside of the house. She is not allergic to them nor anyone in my family she just simply did not want the dog inside nor out side of the house. I was very upset because she asked me to get rid of it. I my self did not have the heart to do so and neither did I plan on getting rid of a little innocent dog who had no place else to go. One day as I come home from school I noticed that Pete, my dog was not outside in the driveway waiting for me. Which was strange, so I came inside the house and notice that he did not bark as I came inside and to my surprise my mother got rid of him. She gave it to a friend who has a passion for animals as well. The example I gave reminds me of Turgenev and Marx. Turgenev representing myself, and Marx representing my mother in my
Brian Robeson was a 13-year-old boy flying in a bush plane when something very bad happened, a tragedy, but there was nothing Brian could do, how could he survive now? Brian changed his life all because of a plane crash, he went from being a hateful and sad boy ruined by the secret and divorce between his parents, to a boy who could catch fish, make fire, hunt for animals, build a shelter, survive in the wild on his own, a boy was happy to be alive, a boy who was happy with how his life was.
It isn't just plain interesting. After his mother died, he was very upset and angry. He wanted to create a living human being- bringing a dead body alive. He wanted to do something that no one else has done. This can be looked at, as a. metaphor saying that, he wanted to make something that even nature hasn't even been created.
Many people couldn’t imagine no longer having that beloved pet in their lives that has been there for such a long time. This unimaginable idea could possibly be the cause of why Ron Gillespie
In “Meaning of Life”, Richard Taylor begins with questioning the meaning of life. He mentions this is rather hard to do and decides to define what meaninglessness is in order to understand the exact opposite: meaningfulness. Taylor asks the reader to recall the famous myth of Sisyphus to come about the definition of meaninglessness. He states that Sisyphus was condemned to roll a large boulder up a hill, only to have that boulder roll back down the hill, forcing him to repeat the task forever. Despite all his efforts, his existence amounts to nothing more than endlessly repeating the same task, which itself contributes to no greater goal or purpose. This, Taylor suggests, is the very image of meaninglessness. He defines meaninglessness as the following: “Meaninglessness is essentially endless pointlessness, and meaningfulness is therefore the opposite” (270).
how to .The boy had been spared death because he was deaf and did not hear the battle
he retains the innocence and naive characteristics of a child. The creature’s grasp of human-like qualities allows the
On his way out he played and teased his dog Brownie, who in return bit him and accidentally ripped a portion of his left sleeve. It was his first unlucky day and he started thinking things happen because of his claim that t...
He sees how much an animal means to an individual, whether it be a cow to a farmer or a little poodle to an old lady. Each and every case is a brand new one. He feels for each and every animal, whether it is a bird or a horse.
of his survival, as well as his dog's too. Anything that the man and his
This symbolizes his intense insightfulness of the capacity of human emotion the ability to feel different from what ones ap...