Still No Regret

Slaughterhouse seemed to cover every thematic topic I could think of- except for regrets.  So, yet again, I will revert to the question DOES Billy regret?  The answer, in my opinion, is no.  He comes off as aloof and in a way unapologetic.  He seems to think a bit more as the Tralfalmadorians do- that life just happens.  We can’t control it.  We have no free will, and it’s out of our hands.  So why would there be any regret?  This is an extremely short blog post, but I feel it goes along with the message that there’s no point to dwell on something that has no answer.  It just simply is.  Billy Pilgrim does not regret.

Regret and Release

It is not so much a question of why do we regret as it is a statement.  My god, this woman regrets.  She regrets fiercely.  In the beginning of Beloved, Sethe appears relatively free of remorse.  She goes about her day.  However, when the idea of rememory comes up, that status changes quickly.  Once she is forced to relive her anguish, it becomes clear that she does not lack regret.  The whole idea of rememory is feeling.  Feeling whatever it is one has left behind.  Sethe left a lot behind, and what she didn’t leave behind left her.  Once Paul D reenters her life, everything comes together; whereas the moment that Beloved returns, everything falls apart.  Beloved and Paul D do, however, share one thing.  They force her to regret.  She can no longer escape her past mistakes through an ignorant Denver.  She must confront the actuality of what she committed.  In the end, Paul D was the one who healed her.  He told her what she did was wrong.  No excuses.  He allowed himself to hate her and be disgusted with her whereas Beloved could not seem to cut the cord.  She could not stop loving her mother.  I love her.  Only her.  Mine.  Paul D allowed her to love herself.  She has more than her children.  She’s got herself.  And ultimately, isn’t that all any of us really has?  It’s like when Baby Suggs calls out to the men, women, and children of The Community and tells them to cry, dance, and sing.  They walk into the clearing alone, because we are all alone and forgiveness lies within us. Regret lies within us, and if we chose to accept it and release it, then maybe that’s all it takes.

Murderous Regret?

Once again, another book has addressed the subject of regrets.  Now, my “big question” is why do people regret?  I realize now I perhaps should have put more consideration into my big question due to the fact that there have now been numerous circumstances in which there is a noticeable lack of regret in the main character.  This is one of those circumstances.

One would think, when reading a novel concerning murder, that regret would be addressed in great detail by the author.  That is not the case in the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus.  His main character, Meursault, notably lacks not only regret, but seemingly most emotions as well.  An example of this is when, on various occasions, his girlfriend asks if he wants to get married, to which he continuously replies in the same way.  “I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to.”  Marriage, one of the most momentous and emotional occasions in one’s life, is something that can’t inspire even a hint of emotion in him. However, throughout the book, his emotions arguably appear to shift.  Quite suddenly, the narrator begins to show that he is angry, frustrated even, with his situation and the people around him.  This seems to be sparked by the Chaplin who comes to speak with him before he dies.  He tells the narrator, “I am on your side.  But you have no way of knowing it, because your heart is blind.”  The narrator then grabs him by his collar.  “I was pouring out on him everything that was in my heart, cries of anger and cries of joy.”  However, though he does begin to emote, there is still seemingly no regret.  “And so?. . . Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. . . What did other people’s deaths or a mother’s love matter to me . . .? I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.”  Throughout his revelation of sorts, he feels, and he knows. He knows that he has no obligation to feel regret.  He has chosen his life and lived it.  What more do any of us need? 

Without Regret...?

Regret is a theme that is carried consistently throughout the book Invisible Man. Many mistakes the narrator makes are brought up again and again, and many of them continuously hurt him. The Invisible Man takes Mr. Norton to Golden Day after exposing him to the shocking situation with Jim Trueblood and consequently is kicked out of school by Mr. Bledsoe. This one decision he makes to let Mr. Norton talk to a “savaged” black man leads him on a totally different and arguably more difficult path than he would have originally been on if he had taken a naive Mr. Norton away from the situation.

However, much greater regrets are also explored. For example, his regret of being submissive at certain times and violent during others. Either way, he’s being some form of a stereotypical black man, isn’t he? He’s either answering “Yes, suh,” or being an “uncivilized savage/brute” black man.

What surprised me most in the end was how little he seemed to regret. He looked back on his life, reflecting, and sort of admired, in a way, the life he had lived. He learned a great deal. It was shocking to go from him worrying and stressing about the choices he had made and the paths he had taken, to him being seemingly at peace. He looked upon his life with a sort of content feeling. Maybe even a feeling of satisfaction.  It appeared that he was thanking his old self, for making so many "mistakes."  Perhaps he forgave himself, in the end.

Royalty and Regrets

I would not say “regrets” is a big motif that is immediately obvious when reading the play King Henry IV Part I.  However, I think regrets are a big part of everyone’s lives.  I think the main issue is that a lot of regrets may arise after everything that has occurred in this play.  A lot of big decisions were made at the end of this play; a lot happened.  Hence, regrets may arise later on.  It’s hard to be regretful when the decisions you’ve made have just begun to set in.  Until things begin to happen as a result of those decisions, the consequences are unknown.  It’s nearly impossible to be regretful of something if nothing bad arises from it.

Hal may regret seizing his “rightful” position as King.  Of course, it’s not truly his rightful position due to the fact that his father stole the crown.  Anyway, he may regret not staying back where he seems comfortable, with the Pub Crawlers.  He would be able to live without the pressure of his subjects and those around him in the palace.  The decision he made will affect the rest of his life.  However, I am lead to believe he knows exactly what he is doing, due to his infamous “plan.”

All in all, the main thing is that there will be plenty of regrets to come, but it’s hard to target regrets within this play due to the fact that all major decisions were made towards the climax and end of the plot.  I am interested to see where those decisions lead in the next part of the play.

Regrets, Regrets, Regrets

The decisions we make often lead to regret.  It’s inevitable, and the outcome is most times unforeseeable.  Oedipus made many decisions throughout the play that ultimately lead to deep regret.  The biggest one, of course, was to keep pursuing the truth in order to find out who killed his father.  If he had done as everyone had told him, he never would have felt the pain he did by the end of the play.  He wouldn’t be blind.  His mother/wife wouldn’t have killed herself.  He could have stayed with his children, whom he loved so much.  By the end of the play it is clear to see that he regretted the decision he made.  But I wonder if he would have ultimately regretted dropping the search for the truth.  In the end, it seems the decisions we make define us instead of the outcome.  It really shows what kind of a person Oedipus is when he stays determined to hear the truth that he knows will hurt him deeply.  He could have given up and lived in oblivion, but he chose deliberately to seek out the answers he so desperately needed.  The play has not necessarily answered my question, “WHY do we regret.”  However, this book did explore the motif of regrets in exceptional depth.

Blog #1- The Big Question

1.)

What is my big question?  I have many, to be honest.  However, one that seems to keep popping up in my mind is why do we regret?  I’m only seventeen, and I’ve got a lot of regrets.  Some big ones.  And I want to know why.  Where do we get the idea that it’s okay to regret things we’ve done throughout our lives?  Is it natural to regret or have we just been raised with the notion that we should regret things we’ve done?

It was late at night, and I was angry.  I mean, really angry.  My mom and I have been disagreeing over colleges and majors and careers ever since I retracted my seventh grade statement that I wanted to be a nurse.  I don’t want that anymore.  I want to do something that I’m good at and passionate for.  I want to do something that challenges me, and I want to show the world… and my mom, that I can do whatever I want.  Everything she brought up was what I was against.  You won’t make a lot of money.  Acting is not a solid career.  Screenwriting isn’t very sensible.  She just didn’t get it, and wouldn’t let me speak.  I was frustrated.  And upset.  And really sad that she didn’t want me to do whatever made me happy.  So I wrote her an e-mail, disputing everything she brought up.  At the end of the e-mail, I told her she would never understand.  That she never wanted anything that she had to work for, and she just took the easy route for everything.  I told her I didn’t want to be her, stuck in an office doing something that will never mean anything in the end.  Then, I pressed send.  And she never brought it up again.  I regret that.  I regret that I can’t say sorry to her or that I possibly made her feel unimportant in any way.  I love her, and she’s the most important person in my entire life.  I feel that regret every day.

 

2.)

I think any movie, book, or song relates to regret.  We all carry our regrets around, and it’s like a stone in our pocket.  They are weighty, but eventually we start going for longer periods of time without noticing the stone.  Then we reach into our pockets for something, and we feel the stone.  We remember the regret, and then that weightiness comes back, strong as ever.  A really good book, song, or movie touches us in different ways; but it should relate to everything in our lives.  Regret, death, life, love, happiness; everything.