Saturday, October 9, 2010

It Depends on the one Day

As Pirate’s of the Caribbean character William Turner/The Flying Dutchman after being sentenced to ten years at sea and only one day allotted on land placed it, when asked about the one day, “It depends on the one day.” In that situation the sense was that if you were allowed one day on land after spending ten years at sea would you be able to satisfy any thirst you may feel while at sea and therefore the total significance of that day in someone’s life.
As an observer that will play absolutely zero intrusion on the life of any single person, if we as observers watched this individual would we by the end of the day be capable of telling generally anything about the person? Well first of all we would only be able to make a tale based solely on outward appearances and actions which may be fine for at least half the extrovert population, but what about everyone else? Beauty is only skin deep supposedly so we have to entire the mind of the individual during this observation to truly see their whims and woes, delights and dreams.  Just in the same manner as how Michael Cunningham framed the Hours he gave readers all access into the mind of almost every character that showed significance in understanding the mentality of our three main characters.
On a normal day, not giving birth, close-ones do not die, basically a day that would be somewhat mundane and forgettable because it happens so very often that at times the smaller things of the day are forgettable and overlooked, if we observed a person on that day, with full access to their mind we may be able to know the person completely by the end of the day.  Literature and film gives us these opportunities to explore a character’s very essence.
For some of us while we go about our everyday duties we are predominantly in our heads constantly thinking. We think of our future; dream of whom we wish to become, to be with, how and when we will impact and make our mark in the world before we make our grand departure.  We think about the past; in constant reflection of our memory viewed on silver screens of the mind, nightmares that we wish to forget, moments that want to never forget that last a life time instead of reality’s mere moments.  Our forever thought of what did I do wrong, what was right, did I make the right decisions, maybe if I did this I would have made out better in life, I should have spoken to this person, if I knew then what I know now would it be better? All of the past events that have created to people we see today.
We are marked with invisible scars of the good and bad of the past. So we push forward, we interact with the present, how we behave gives the observer an impression of our history. We see a familiar face and react negatively, as an observer we know you’ve had a rough history with this person. You see someone else with infatuation we understand there’s a level of romance or admiration between the parties. Therefore in response to the question of whether or not a person’s identity can be revealed over the course of a day, I still would say it depends on the day. Pending your not in an uncustomary mood you can observer the entity of one’s life in a single, mostly average day.   

1 comment:

  1. First of all, love the Pirates Of The Caribbean reference. That’s a great way to start off this blog about days in people lives, something that many people don’t really think about. I agree that we are constantly thinking throughout the day. About work, about school, about friends and social problems. What we think about is important to us and has an impact on our lives, and for someone to see what we think, they are able to find out how we process information, how we plan to do things and how we problem solve. The mind is the basis of a person, and even if you were to have access to it for only one day, it would be fairly easy to understand what the person is all about.
    I also like the idea of the visible scars. Memories and thoughts can’t be erased or go away. The more vibrant and memorable they are, the more they affect us as a person. How we react on the outside is not how we react inside, and if someone was to access our thoughts, they could see what we really feel and think. This is why books like the Hours leave you satisfied with the knowledge that you know the character.

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