Ruth

Was Ruth an existentialist? I just thought of this idea, and I think it's really interesting to focus on her character for a change rather than Kathy.  She's interesting in that she lives a selfish life, but regrets none of it.  She really just lives life down to her own ideals toward what is okay.  What are your reactions?

Theory

The theories of existentialism include:

• The curiosity of how to live one's life and the philosophical and psychological inquiry's one has in order to enlarge the knowledge of life.
• The idea that if one wishes to live life, there will always be questions that they must deal with. These questions would include death, God, relationships, time, and one's conscience of their own self existence. Existentialism doesn't focus on "social" questions such as the politics of life and what "social" responsibility the society or state has but instead focus on the individual.
• Life is difficult, doesn't have a universal objective or value so the individual creates their own value and meaning of life and live it by not talking about it.
• Actions define values, not words.
• Existential struggles are focusing on making everyday life decisions meaningful and find that literary characterizations are the best way to make their struggles in life easier.
• One always has the right and freedom to do whatever one thinks is right.

A History of Existentialism

Existentialism was first brought forward in the early 18^th century by the young French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. In La Nausea, Sartre’s manifesto to existentialism, he affirmed his thoughts on the theory that there is no higher being connected to the creation of the human race, but rather we are alone, fully responsible for our own actions. "We are left alone, without excuse".

From there, the theory of existentialism expanded. Philosophers brought forth their individual outlooks on the idea, expanding the definition that existentialism is “A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.”

No theory has been disavowed or demoralized, but no theory has been proven as the correct answer. It all varies on the beliefs of any individual person and what they believe to be correct.

 

Time

   Time creates an often linear line by which all human beings can measure and divide their lives.  People use time to predict milestones like an infant taking its first steps or a child graduatinig middleschool.  People also use time to reflect on devisions of thier lives.  When I remember things, I think back on my life as I divide it into preschool, elementary school, middleschool, and currently highschool.  Within each of these, I recall certain grades.  I am able to remember how I acted in each grade, as if I were remembering each different person I was compared to the one I became.

   In Never Let Me Go, the plot is driven by the concept of reflecting through time.  Kathy, the narrator, begins her story at point 1 in the diagram below, the present day.

   Kathy precedes to describe her current life, though the reader has no background to comprehend what is being said.  Then, Kathy takes the reader back to her youngest years at Hailsham (2), where her earliest memories include the peculiar treatment toward all students.  They were encouraged to be creative, but the reader immediately recognises that these young children have no parents and no deep connections with the adults in thier lives.  The children are independent, though they have unstable identities.  The plot then returns to the present day as Kathy objectively describes her friends, Ruth and Tommy.

   The plot then jumps back from 1 to 3, when she lived in the "cottages" with older Hailsham students.  You learn that they are infertile clones, and that they must donate their organs for use of the public health system.  The students form theories about how to escape this fate, and retain their hopes.  Kathy continues to struggle with her identity due to manipulative behaviors from the other students.  Students like Ruth were driven to manipulate others because they are afraid.  Before this section of the story ends, Kathy transitions to the present day(1).

   From here, she moves forward to reach closures.  This book follows a unique timeline that causes the readers to enter the story just like the children, knowing nothing.  The reader finds out about the purpose of Hailsham as the characters do, but the reader has extra background of knowing what a normal life is like.  The reader can feel rage at the differences in treatment, lack of escape, and purpose.  The characters in the book lack this response because they know of nothing else.

  This book skips around through time, but time itself provides a line through which the plot can derive some unity.

Existentialist Philosopher- Kierkegaard

Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish writer of philosophy, theology, psychology, literary criticism and more, made his mark in history as the “father of existentialism.” Born in 1813, he lived somewhat of a dull life, hardly ever leaving his hometown of Copenhagen throughout his 42 years.

Raised by a strict religious father, Kierkegaard took those beliefs with him into adulthood, often superstitious of his everyday actions.  As it turns out, most of his works in literature focused on ways to relate his readers to religion and Christianity.

Kierkegaard viewed a person’s life as a “single individual,” often believing only in what is reality rather than abstract thinking, even though he was a strong supporter of faith and “the God-Man” Jesus Christ. Taking everyday life choices, Kierkegaard examined the average persons emotions and approach throughout the occurrence.

Quotes:

“A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.”

“Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.”

“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.”

Existentialist Philosopher-Socrates

Socrates was a Greek philosopher in the 469 BC – 399 BC. He was a teacher to Plato,  Xenophon, Aristotle, and Aristophanes. He was a critic of democracy and he clashed with the politics that was current in his time in Athens. He made several offences that led him to his death trial such as praising Sparta, archrival to Athens, directly and indirectly and holding a position as a social and moral critic. Rather than upholding a status quo and accepting the development of what he perceived as immorality within his region, Socrates questioned the collective notion of "might makes right" that he felt was common in Greece during this period. His attempts to improve the Athenians' sense of justice may have been the source of his execution.
He came up with dialectic analysis where to solve a problem, he would break it down into a series of questions which gradually distill the answer a person seeks. This was used to test scientific hypothesies as well as in politics, philosophy and ethics.
Socrates is notorious for asking questions but never answering them, claiming to lack the wisdom to answer the questions he asked of others. He believes that people should be worried about the "wellfare of their souls instead of being concerned with their families, careers, and political responsibilities.
Socrates' belief in the immortality of the soul, and his conviction that the gods had singled him out as a divine emissary seemed to provoke, if not ridicule, at least annoyance. Socrates also questioned the Sophistic doctrine that virtue can be taught. He said that successful fathers did not produce sons of their own quality. Socrates argued that moral excellence was more a matter of divine bequest than parental nurture. This belief may have contributed to his lack of anxiety about the future of his own sons.

Popular quotes:
"I know that I know nothing noble and good".
 "I only know that I know nothing"
"virtue was the most valuable of all possessions; the ideal life was spent in search of the Good. Truth lies beneath the shadows of existence, and it is the job of the philosopher to show the rest how little they really know."
 "ideals belong in a world only the wise man can understand"

Friedrich Nietzsche, (Neechae.)

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th century anti-Christian philosopher who questioned the value and objectivity of truth.  He grew up well-educated and quickly took interest in poetry and musical compositions.

    Nietzsche rejected the idea of God, and his works remained controversial throughout history due to many misinterpretations, examples including inferences that he rejected religious spirituality entirely.  Nietzsche embraced no established branch of philosophy, and created all of his ideas independently.  He believed that men must accept that they are a part of a material world, regardless of what else might exist, and as a part of this world, men must live as if there is nothing else beyond life.  A failure to live, to take risks, is a failure to realize human potential.
    He also developed the idea of “Will to Power”, which sought to explain sympathy in society.  Through evolution, humans crave power to ensure survival.  Darwin’s evolution proposes that to ensure power, organisms should use animalistic instincts to fight for survival.  Nietzsche believes that humans developed a sympathetic society instead to ensure survival, creating the social drive of humanity.
    Lastly, he idealized the perfect person to be a “Superman”; one who defines his own morality.  Nietzsche believed the idea that God is dead, that the Creator is no longer active in human development.  By rejecting faith, the superman can become responsible for his own morality.  However, he decided that no person has reached such a level yet, that people are flawed and “all-too-human”.


Some Popular Quotes:
“Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it even becomes a mob.”


"Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."


"What is good? -- All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man."