Although the entirety of Saturday happens in one day, Perowne experiences various things that lead him to have great faith in the power of science and the many things it can resolve. As neurosurgeon, Perowne sees everything logically and solves all of his problems by means of mathematical, proven answers. With this mindset, the tragedies and problems he faces through one day, he feels can be solved easily through science, like a systematic neurosurgery. However, as he comes to realize science can only go so far. Science may be able to prove why a plane exploded or a man’s illness, but science can not prove why two lovers are fighting in the square at dawn or the lost connection between a father and his daughter. And when the power and effect of science ends, humanities step in.
The earlier part of his day starts by Perowne waking up suddenly in the wee hours of the morning. He is starring out of his window and observing the silent streets, when he sees what he thought was a projection from space, but then realized he was witnessing a plane crash. For the early part of the morning, he could not get the incident out of his mind. He had no control over the status of the passengers, nor did he have any knowledge of why the plan crashed. He resorted to the news that eased his mind with the announcement that the plane was a carrier plane that exploded due to mechanical difficulties. This problem that he could not solve was eventually solved by science. Science proved why the plane crashed, which proved to Perowne that science can solve everything. Even later when he has to do brain surgery on Baxter, he knows and is assured that the power of science will heal his brain injury. However, Perowne is confronted with other obstacles that he can not find the answer to overcome, because he thinks with science on a pedestal.
Later Perowne prepares himself for a game of “squash” and a casual visit with his mother. He looks out the window of his bedroom and sees a couple arguing in the square. The young man is trying to embrace the young women but she wants nothing to do with him. In this instance, when two lovers have a deeply entwined passion for each other, science can not prove why they are arguing. Humanities, the interaction of humans, the conversations of the two lovers, s what will heal their broken string connecting each other. And when Perowne later embraces his daughter, she is upset and can not find the moment to tell her father why she is so upset. When she is finally forced to undress and her physical body signs reveal to her family that she is pregnant, Perowne now knows what’s been bothering her. Sure science can prove how someone got pregnant, but it can not explain the lost connection between the entire family and the treachery of Daisy having to tell her parents she is baring a child.
I agree with Perowne’s faith in science to some extent. Science can solve our logical problems and the mechanical things that can be proven. However, I believe the rest is up to humanities. Interaction of humans- feelings, values, and morals- is the other link to how our world functions. Where science can no longer provide answers, humanities step in. This proves true in not only Perowne’s life, but ours as well.
Worde Count: 579
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Imagination of Images
Ian McEwan described the images shown by the media on 9/11 as one’s with a “curious kind of silence”. He noted that, as a viewer at home, he could only imagine the human panic inside the burning buildings as “breaking news” images sullied the television screen. He noted that various TV crews rushed to track down family members of those who tragically died in the burning buildings. As messages were played over the news of those trapped in the buildings to their loved ones, McEwan was amazed at how cell phones “so completely penetrated daily life, even dying moment when people were trapped in buildings and rooms they knew they couldn’t get out of”. The simple words “I love you” was all that these innocent victims had to say as they knew that would be the last instance of human contact. He established an emotional legacy of September 11TH – an expression of love- that revealed to America “love was all they had to set against the hatred of their murderers”.
McEwan said the most terrifying thing about the tragic event was that we had “to imagine ourselves in the position of people on those planes”. Our moral understanding encompasses humans imagining themselves into the minds of other people- an act of empathy. He also noted the image of people jumping from burning buildings revealed no hope to him and left him with an image of “utter desperation…sheer panic”. McEwan felt from the events that took place on 9/11, America needs to have more doubt, skepticism and less certainty, especially when it comes to defining evil. He says we have to take in all of 9/11 in human terms, not put into the hands of the “sky gods”. After the effects of 9/11 have been consumed by viewers and their minds and beliefs have been shaken up, McEwan reveals the balance of our capacity to love and what human nature is capable of need to be held together in balance.
In both this article and McEwan’s Saturday, a plane crash occurred. As Perowne wonders what story lies behind the mysterious plane that crashed in the middle of the night, McEwan also describes how America imagines, from pictures and news reports, what the tragic of event 9/11 entailed. Perowne’s assumptions of the plane and what the passengers were thinking were confirmed when he saw the news report that stated the status of the plane’s passengers and the reasons for the crash. The people in the streets of New York and viewers throughout America also had their assumptions confirmed through the news reports of the terrorist attack on September 11TH. Although McEwan description here of the images and America’s reaction to them is much more tragic that the minor plane crash in Saturday, the power of images and imagination our both equally present.
Word Count- 473
McEwan said the most terrifying thing about the tragic event was that we had “to imagine ourselves in the position of people on those planes”. Our moral understanding encompasses humans imagining themselves into the minds of other people- an act of empathy. He also noted the image of people jumping from burning buildings revealed no hope to him and left him with an image of “utter desperation…sheer panic”. McEwan felt from the events that took place on 9/11, America needs to have more doubt, skepticism and less certainty, especially when it comes to defining evil. He says we have to take in all of 9/11 in human terms, not put into the hands of the “sky gods”. After the effects of 9/11 have been consumed by viewers and their minds and beliefs have been shaken up, McEwan reveals the balance of our capacity to love and what human nature is capable of need to be held together in balance.
In both this article and McEwan’s Saturday, a plane crash occurred. As Perowne wonders what story lies behind the mysterious plane that crashed in the middle of the night, McEwan also describes how America imagines, from pictures and news reports, what the tragic of event 9/11 entailed. Perowne’s assumptions of the plane and what the passengers were thinking were confirmed when he saw the news report that stated the status of the plane’s passengers and the reasons for the crash. The people in the streets of New York and viewers throughout America also had their assumptions confirmed through the news reports of the terrorist attack on September 11TH. Although McEwan description here of the images and America’s reaction to them is much more tragic that the minor plane crash in Saturday, the power of images and imagination our both equally present.
Word Count- 473
Monday, February 11, 2008
Wanted...Dead or Alive
Why is "thought experiment" of Schrödinger's cat (btm. 17- 18) so fitting an end to the first section of the novel? Why does Henry reject it as a thought experiment? How does the image of the cat in the box address the idea of disasters that occur outside the range of our own consciousness? In other words, why after hearing on the radio that the plane has crashed, does Henry think "Schrödinger's dead cat is alive after all" (36).
McEwan introduces Henry Perowne in his novel Saturday as a successful surgeon who is happily married with two grown children. Perowne lies in bed in the early hours of Saturday morning. He has just finished a long and strenuous week at the hospital and now "wakes to find himself already in motion" (McEwan 1). Perowne rises from bed and watches the city slowly awake as well and details even the nurses walking home from the hospital. After much contemplation of why is awake and references to the draft coming in from the cold of the night, he sees a plane- what he first thought was a comet- caught on fire crash into the bed of the darkness. He goes back and forth in his mind whether he should wake his wake but decides not to wake her to a nightmare. He wonders to himself what could have happened to the plane and if the people on the plane are dead or alive. He resides back to his quarters and concludes he "observed a catastrophe from a safe distance"(15).
As he comes away from the window back to his bed he remembers a thought experiment he learned in a physics course. The process was that Schrodinger’s cat was covered in a box and it is unknown whether the cat is alive or randomly been killed. Until the lid to the box is lifted, both possibilities exist in a parallel universe. This thought process is very fitting to the first section of the chapter because it indicates Perowne’s need to know the outcome of things and the power he has in everyday life- as a surgeon- to predict and control the effects of causes. However in this situation he has no idea of the state of the passengers on the plane or even if there were any passengers on the plane while it exploded. In a parallel universe, where the lid is not lifted, both possibilities exist- whether the passengers are “frightened and safe, or dead” (18). However, because Perowne is accustomed to have the power and knowledge of outcomes he can make no human sense of this thought experiment. He believes the result “exists separately in the world, independent of himself, known to others, awaiting his discovery” (18).
Soon after he lingers at the foot of the bed debating on whether to wake his wife, he decides to go downstairs and speaks with his “blues-musician” son over a cup of coffee. Perowne tells his son about the plane crash he witnesses and they look on the news for a “breaking news update”. The two men learn it was a Russian cargo plane on the run from Riga to Birmingham. The news report announces that one of the engines caught on fire and that neither of the two-man crew was hurt. Henry then thinks that the dead cat is alive after all. He thinks this because now that the news has announced the event publicly and numbered casualties at zero, his mind can finally cease and no longer race between whether the passengers are alive or not. This disaster has occurred outside the range of man’s consciousness, only until it is announced publicly- when the lid is lifted.
Word Count- 536
McEwan introduces Henry Perowne in his novel Saturday as a successful surgeon who is happily married with two grown children. Perowne lies in bed in the early hours of Saturday morning. He has just finished a long and strenuous week at the hospital and now "wakes to find himself already in motion" (McEwan 1). Perowne rises from bed and watches the city slowly awake as well and details even the nurses walking home from the hospital. After much contemplation of why is awake and references to the draft coming in from the cold of the night, he sees a plane- what he first thought was a comet- caught on fire crash into the bed of the darkness. He goes back and forth in his mind whether he should wake his wake but decides not to wake her to a nightmare. He wonders to himself what could have happened to the plane and if the people on the plane are dead or alive. He resides back to his quarters and concludes he "observed a catastrophe from a safe distance"(15).
As he comes away from the window back to his bed he remembers a thought experiment he learned in a physics course. The process was that Schrodinger’s cat was covered in a box and it is unknown whether the cat is alive or randomly been killed. Until the lid to the box is lifted, both possibilities exist in a parallel universe. This thought process is very fitting to the first section of the chapter because it indicates Perowne’s need to know the outcome of things and the power he has in everyday life- as a surgeon- to predict and control the effects of causes. However in this situation he has no idea of the state of the passengers on the plane or even if there were any passengers on the plane while it exploded. In a parallel universe, where the lid is not lifted, both possibilities exist- whether the passengers are “frightened and safe, or dead” (18). However, because Perowne is accustomed to have the power and knowledge of outcomes he can make no human sense of this thought experiment. He believes the result “exists separately in the world, independent of himself, known to others, awaiting his discovery” (18).
Soon after he lingers at the foot of the bed debating on whether to wake his wife, he decides to go downstairs and speaks with his “blues-musician” son over a cup of coffee. Perowne tells his son about the plane crash he witnesses and they look on the news for a “breaking news update”. The two men learn it was a Russian cargo plane on the run from Riga to Birmingham. The news report announces that one of the engines caught on fire and that neither of the two-man crew was hurt. Henry then thinks that the dead cat is alive after all. He thinks this because now that the news has announced the event publicly and numbered casualties at zero, his mind can finally cease and no longer race between whether the passengers are alive or not. This disaster has occurred outside the range of man’s consciousness, only until it is announced publicly- when the lid is lifted.
Word Count- 536
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