A Heart is a Heavy Burden //Samantha T

     C.S. Lewis' first essay within The Abolition of Man, addresses an english textbook which is kept anonymous. The book was sent to him to be reviewed honestly and that he does. Lewis criticizes the two authors opinions on beauty. Specifically peoples thoughts on beauty. They say that ones thoughts about nature, art, animals and so on, are merely word association paired with strong feelings. They are not intending to discount all that is beautiful, but they have fallen into the dangerous world of subjectiveness. Lewis paints this danger with the school boys who might read this book. How they will look at the world influenced by this book without realizing it. That young people will find them selves on a side of something they though sideless, simply because they were unaware of opinions given to them as facts. 

    The authors do not support any of their claims well either as they "debunk" trivial adds, without showing the reader what a better piece of literature looks like. Instead they state the obvious to any educated reader, the add is trying to sell something. So, it might stretch the truth and therefore it is a bad work of literature. Discounting any well written works about travel that might show young readers a glimpse into another corner of the world. Maybe one will not see the same beauty in a worn down abby as Wordsworth did, but is it not worth the exploration? Is there not value in discovering beauty? Even if it is found differently then what first enticed someone to go there? 

    Lewis argues, and I agree, that this dismal "debunking" of trivial things, without acknowledging the great works within the same realm is harmful. The neglect of beauty being something true is bothersome too. I think most would agree that nature contains mountains, oceans, valleys, and canyons beyond human description. Places barely encapsulated within the word "beautiful" to always be that. The world exists outside of ones opinion. Objectivity must exists for things to have true value. Lewis even quotes Plato to show how long humanity has seen value in truth. The quote chosen goes on the say man cannot truly appreciate reason without truth. 

    The title of this blog is a movie quote. It is from Howl's Moving Castle and credited to Sophie. Without spoiling much, I chose this statement because Howl spends most of the movie running, but when he finally takes a stand once he finds a truth he believes in, all of his troubles get harder yes, but they are worth far more than hiding in the shadows any longer.

P.S. I commented on Bug Olsen and Joshua Naqiv's posts.

Comments

  1. Lily CaswellMarch 15, 2022 at 9:32 AM

    I agree, Samantha. I think that not acknowledging the great works is always detrimental.

    ReplyDelete

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