Reality in OConnors, Herricks and Poes Works as They Relate to Math and Economics - Term Paper Example

? Reality in O’Connor’s, Herrick’s and Poe’s Works as They Relate to Math and Economics This literature focused on reality. This topic is clearly demonstrated by the Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” Although I am a math and economics major, I believe that I should take up this class because reality is shared and interpreted by math and economics in the same way as it is reflected in literature. Reality abounds in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” This modernist short horror story features several realistic elements. First, the story features the murder of an otherwise innocent family, including two children and a baby. Oftentimes, the innocent are spared from death or injury in other short stories but not in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” In this particular story, there is the cold truth that even the innocent die and that death respects no age, no gender and no one. Death as the ultimate communist is the only thing that levels the playing field in reality. In fact, one of the most horrifying parts of the story is when the three female members of the family except the Grandmother were summarily executed by the Misfit’s men: “There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report…there were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water” (O’Connor). It means that the mother, June Star and the baby were all executed in cold blood. The Grandmother also faces her death at the very end of the story as she tries to touch the Misfit: “The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest” (O’Connor). The deaths of these rather innocent characters in the story are somehow a testament to the cold and hard fact that indeed the innocent is never spared from death. Through the deaths of these characters, reality also teaches us that life can be unfair, and that criminals live while the innocent may die. Another realistic element of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the use of the dark archetypes of human conduct. In fact, the story features and focuses on the fact that all the characters have some evil in them and that no one is actually truly innocent in the story, except perhaps for the baby. The Grandmother who is seemingly religious for she talks about Jesus Christ at the very end of the story is actually more of a facade. Actually, she believes more in the religion of Southern Ladyhood compared to Christianity, for the reason that she dresses up well at the beginning of the story somehow shows us that she is being hypocritical: “Anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O’Connor). This is all that she is actually thinking and not Christianity. Moreover, as their car passes by a black African American kid, she is heard telling June Star, “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” (O’Connor). The Grandmother, who is supposed to be a religious and kind Christian, also says, “Little riggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (O’Connor). Such a statement of racial discrimination spoken to a little child will definitely breed more contempt and hatred against the blacks, and the Grandmother is clearly instrumental in spreading this negative spirit in her own little evil way. Moreover, the grandchildren June Star and John Wesley are also mischievous children as the latter even “kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could feel the blows in his kidney” (O’Connor). The parents are not that good either for they seem to have raised a pair of spoiled brats. The fact that the Grandmother is actually not a very good Christian, plus the fact that her grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law were not that perfectly good, somehow makes the reader realize that in reality, and as what the title suggests, a good man is indeed hard to find – and that some people who are believed to be innocent are actually not what they seem to be on the surface. Hypocrisy is everywhere and so is the evil of racial discrimination. Furthermore, as the Grandmother, with her false religiosity, represents the Church, another reality exposed by the author is very clear – religion cannot save anyone, and that sometimes there is just basically no salvation when one is about to die. The reality of the situation in O’Connor’s story relates to my major of math and economics in a few ways. Math and economics deal with brutal realities. For one, math is used to count the number of dead people after every disaster as well as the number of injured and those who are sick and dying. Mortality rates, crime rates and suicide rates are all never possible without math. Moreover, their implications to society are not well defined or made clear without statistics and statistical interpretation. Crime rates and death rates would not mean anything without mathematical interpretation of data. In the same way, divorce rates and the number of teenage pregnancies are actually brutal realities that confront us in our daily lives, and it is only math and statistics that can make these data meaningful and practically useful. Moreover, the fact that there is no perfectly good person and that a good man is indeed hard to find also have a bearing to my major. Math and certain tools in economics are actually used to measure degrees and ranks based on how far they are from being perfect. Math is used to determine who is better than who, or which is better than which, in different respects. For example, math is used to determine the degree of hardness of material, its density, specific gravity, molecular weight, and other fixed qualities. The density of a material is compared with that of the original to determine if it is pure or not. The weight of an individual is compared with the standard to determine if his weight is healthy or not. Blood pressure data are also compared with a standard in order to determine if someone is suffering from hypertension, hypotension or is normal and healthy. Furthermore, economics is used to measure whether a country is either above, on or below the poverty line, or whether the population is indeed enjoying the GDP or not. Economics is also used to measure whether a country is prospering or not, and how much it has improved in terms of finances and other indices. In short, both math and economics separate the chaff from the wheat, and thus point out which ones are pure or agreeing with the standard, and which ones are not. In short, without math and economics, one has no standard way of gauging improvement, progress or difference in terms of quantity or quality. As the Grandmother and her family are judged by the Misfit in the story, math and economics judge the world for how much it has fared. Reality is also the recurring theme in Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” The reality in this particular poem is expressed through the tone of the poet himself. As he summons the women in haste, he is believed to reveal to them two very important facts – that time is gold, and that not everything lasts forever. The importance of time is seen in the lines, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may/ Old Time is still a-flying” (Herrick 1-2). This means that while there is still time, one should gather one’s rosebuds, which means that one should try to achieve his dreams as soon as possible or while there is still time. In the same way, one should try to do his tasks early on as he does not know what the future holds, or whether he will have time in the future to do it or not. Moreover, the importance and ephemeral nature of time is shown in the lines “That age is best which is the first/ When youth and blood are warmer” (9-10). This means that the best age at which one should accomplish his dreams is when he is young and when his blood is still relatively warmer, or when he is still full of energy. This is the age that one should not waste for this is the only time that one can easily obtain one’s goals. However, if this time in one’s life is wasted, one can only regret as there is only one sad outcome: “But being spent, the worse, and worst” (11). Time and youth wasted on useless things will never come back anymore and will only serve as a lesson for one not to make the same mistake in the future. Everything in this world is transitory and that nothing lasts forever. As the poem says, “And this same flower that smiles today/ Tomorrow will be dying” (3-4). This means that what is good today may not be as good tomorrow, and the same thing goes true with everything – even love. One should love much while the feeling is there because when it is gone, nothing can ever revive it. Thus, Herrick’s advice is very practical and clear: “Then be not coy, but use your time” (13). This means that one should try to take advantage of things while one can and while one is young enough to do it. Youth is not going to stay forever. However, this is not a call to revelry nor is it suggestive of engaging in hedonistic pleasures while one can. The point of the poem is for one to work to achieve one’s goals while one is strong enough to do it. If one does not follow Herrick’s advice in this poem, one thing is sure to happen – it will not be long before one turns around and wonder where one’s life has gone. The idea of the importance of time is actually a matter of concern not only in reality but also in math and economics. Thus, it is through math and the measurement of time, and through economics and the measurement of resources, that one may be able to make exact estimates of things that matter to him. By calculating and subdividing time, one may be able to successfully follow through all of one’s goals completely. In the same way, if one knows how to manage one’s money and resources like salary, investments and savings through practical economics, then one may be able to see how important math and economics are in the management of time and finances. With sufficient knowledge in math and economics, one is able to save and make good use of one’s resources, and one is able to heed Herrick’s advice of managing one’s time very well. Moreover, as Herrick’s poem talks of longevity and of the limited nature of everything, math and economics also deal with all kinds of limits, end points and life spans. Through math, one can determine the possible life span of a living thing or of a particular product. It can also be used to determine the half life of certain chemicals as well as the longevity of batteries, power sources, architectural materials, minerals, as well as the effects of poisons on the animal and human body systems. Math is also instrumental in determining the consumption period of bread, fish and other perishable food products. It is also used to determine expiration date of other necessary and essential materials including medicine. Therefore, without math, then one will not be able to determine the life span of things, and so one would not be able to prepare for the end or destruction of these things including human life itself. In the same way, economics also teaches us the limits of population growth, the limits of food production, the limits of migration, the limits of exportation and importation, and the limits of mortality and crime rates. Economics therefore teaches us to respect such limits for if we do not, then what would result would be either destruction or any negative consequence. If these limits are not recognized or respected, they will therefore be the basis of the downfall of certain economies. The reality of O’Connor’s short story and Herrick’s poem is also shared by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” Although the poem “The Raven” portrays a black bird that speaks to the narrator, the realistic element here is the element of sorrow and pain that follows death or loss of a loved one. Sorrow and pain are real and they are obstinate. In the poem, they are represented by the word “Nevermore,” which does not only speak of sorrow and pain but the finality of death or the fact that one cannot anymore come back after death (Poe 48). Moreover, sorrow is also symbolized by the raven itself, or “this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore” (71). Sorrow is therefore not only something that is sad and painful but is actually “grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous,” or that it is actually scary and frightening. Sorrow is therefore something that is not just sad but something that can scare the wits out of someone, even literally, just like the narrator in “The Raven.” Death may be sad but the sorrow that comes after it may be more difficult to handle and may even have the tendency to destroy someone’s sanity. Another realistic element demonstrated by the poem “The Raven” is the evil that comes with death. Contrary to those who say that everything in this life is good, evil exists. In fact, the raven is somehow likened by the narrator to the devil, as it is described as a “thing of evil” (85), and possessing “fiery eyes” (74) and a nature akin to that of a “fiend” (97). The evil here may actually be the devil himself or the sorrow that begins to gnaw at someone’s sanity right after a loved one’s death. The realities of sorrow and pain are also determined by math and economics perhaps in very subtle ways. For example, math measures the number of depressed and psychotic people in a particular area, as well as the number of people suffering from disease, war, drought and other environmental disasters, as well as those suffering from poverty and crimes. Through math and statistical analysis, sorrow and pain are clearly expressed in terms of numerical data. These data, or changes in them, are then used for projection purposes or for the purpose of determining whether a particular strategy is working well to alleviate a particular negative condition or not. For example, in order to measure the effectiveness of a particular type of drug on patients with depression, then only math can interpret whether this particular type of drug is indeed effective or not. Moreover, if some strategy is used in order to improve the health or longevity of a particular population, then still only math is applied to confirm the effectiveness of this particular strategy. Moreover, the reality of evil somehow philosophically translates as the reality of the opposite situation. The fact that the opposite or negative situation is possible can also be expressed by math and economics. For one, math can be used for evil purposes as much as it can be used for the purpose of good will. This is not to say that math is evil but that recognizing this fact lends math the image of greatness and completeness – that it is indeed that useful for it can be used for the purpose of both good and evil. This also instills in us the idea that anyone or anything can be both good and evil, and so only a responsible man must possess this thing in order to ensure that it is in the right hands. It is the same thing with math – as long as the evil people of the world has access to the advanced principles of math and economics and if they combine these with technology, then we have all sorts of destructive products like atomic bombs, nuclear missiles, guns with digital scopes, violent computer games, and viruses. These highly negative programs operate on math. In the same way, economic principles can be used in a bad way like illegal financial transactions, illegal distribution of wealth, unfair salary allocations, illegal export and import and many other negative things. Based on the ideas previously mentioned in this paper, math and economics are indeed reflective of the realities mentioned in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Robert Herrick’s “To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” and Poe’s “The Raven.” Although the relationship of math and economics to these realities are rather abstract in nature, it would still mean that there is a connection that exists, and that math and economics deal with reality in the same way that literature does, but only in different approaches. The literature class is therefore an indispensable part of my education because it is through literature that I am exposed to the true realities of life, in the same way that math and economics expose me to the same truths. Therefore, if my major and future job will deal with reality, then I had better focus more on reality using literature. In math and economics, there is no room for fiction, and the same thing goes true in literature, particularly in the three works I have mentioned. As literature deals with the realities of pain, evil, suffering, sorrow, time, limits, and death, my majors – math and economics – deal with the same things by documenting and interpreting them in such a way that they can be used and understood. Top of Form Bottom of Form Works Cited Herrick, Robert. “To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” Reassessing the Presidency. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Reassessing the Presidency. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” Reassessing the Presidency. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Read More