Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Save Jack
I am a little sick of everyone bashing Jack. Yes he has some problems, he is immature, a possible drug addict/alcoholic, and he can't keep a relationship for more than a month but he has such an amazing mind. The way he sees and talks about the world is unmatched. I don't understand why people can't over look his problems to see the beauty of his words.
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7 comments:
Max, max, max...
We ARE appreciating the beauty, otherwise we wouldn't be commenting and analyzing everything!
In general, people are also better at seeing the negatives than the positives, we like to point out who may be weaker.
Yes, Jacks writing is beautiful, yes he is clearly a very intelligent man, but when people hold him on this pedestal, it's easy for us see the character flaws, and penalize him for the tiniest mistakes.
His problems are what create what we see as a unique view. He is, in essence, an overgrown child. I read the book Sophie's World for an eighth grade academically talented class. Here are some excerpts from a rather interesting passage of the book, pertaining to the connection between philosophy and what we perceive as maturity (or often lack there of.)
"THE ONLY THING WE REQUIRE TO BE GOOD PHILOSOPHERS IS THE FACULTY OF WONDER.
Babies have this faculty. That is not surprising. After a few short months in the womb they slip out into a brand-new reality. But as they grow up the faculty of wonder seems to diminish. Why is this? Do you know?
As words are gradually acquired, the child looks up and says "Bow-wow" every time it sees a dog. It jumps up and down in its stroller, waving its arms: "Bow-wow!
Bow-wow!" We who are older and wiser may feel somewhat exhausted by the child's enthusiasm. "All right, all right, it's a bow-wow," we say, unimpressed. "Please sit still." We are not enthralled. We have seen a dog before."
For those of you too lazy to read that: we are born into a brand new world, where everything is interesting because it is unfamiliar. As we get older, more and more becomes familiar, and this enthusiasm for life fades as we slowly enter the stage of life where we are just going through the motions. Those who are immature see the world through a much different (and thus for us, to which it is unfamiliar, a much more beauteous,) lense.
The obvious draw backs are the ones we see in Jack: and his astounding lack of maturity.
Wowza Joey, your blog commenting skills are awesome. (No sarcasm intended)
Do you think Jack's writing is beautiful because of his immaturity?
He's not a baby experiencing the road. He's knows the horror of drugs, and violence. His lens is not beautiful, it's quite the opposite.
Can you clear up what you're trying to say Mr. Keogh?
I think people are afraid of Jack. THe fact that he can do all these horrible things and still think such beautiful ideas is really scary. Also the fact that the main character in a book is human and none of these characters especially Jack are sweetened up. I think this book is amazing and his thought process is really good but people have a need to interject their personal views into a book and thats why there is so much bashing.
To clarify, I think his lens is so unique because of this. Given, I am far behind in the book, where at times he does voice his enthrallment with all things. He may not be a baby, but his view has not been excessively glossed over, as those of most of society have been. Rather, he takes fewer things for granted, appreciating the existence of almost all he comes into contact with. (My definition of appreciation here is not that he enjoys all of it, rather that he pays attention to it, making some effort to understand rather than just going through the motions.) There is a rather large passage about this in Sophie's World (the book I quoted), in which the author, (or the speaker, or whoever) refers to these people as "philosophers". Yes, Jack is a writer, but I would argue that any one who writes in his style is practically a philosopher.
Basically Jack's mind is brilliant, obviously. He does all these things, but yet he can still stay somewhat stable, on his own terms. People, in general, tend to find it astonishing that he can think the way he does, it's unlike most people that have written before.
Basically Jack's mind is brilliant, obviously. He does all these things, but yet he can still stay somewhat stable, on his own terms. People, in general, tend to find it astonishing that he can think the way he does, it's unlike most people that have written before.
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