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.