COMMENT
Read your classmates' comments first and avoid repeating the obvious.
Pascal describes a childhood in conditions of wretched poverty and exploitation, of deprivation and suffering.
And yet, at a certain point, he says that "they were happy."
Is that "happiness" a result of total lack of self-awareness at that time; or is it the product of the passing of time, of looking back and re-inventing the past?
(And, don't be so sure your answer is the correct one.)
REPLY to a perspective you had not considered.
I believe what Pascal meant by saying that "they were happy" was that they weren't starving, had a roof over their heads. They were thankful that their family was together, and that they were healthy and not sick and dying.
ReplyDeleteI did not consider his "happiness" what he had. You make a good point because he did not have much. I know it was difficult for him and he faced poverty.I consider his happiness hope for the future.
DeletePascal’s shares the struggles and every disadvantage faced. It is evident through the descriptions of Pascal’s childhood that there was struggle and disadvantage. The poverty conditions were harsh and the working conditions were unbearable. Despite these conditions, he says that “they were happy.” The “happiness” is a result of both lack of awareness and the product of passing time.
ReplyDeletePascal D’ Angelo states, “An unshaped blackness is massed on the broken rim of night, with its lofty tusks battering the breast of heaven,” Here, it is evident the word blackness represents the harsh conditions, but there is a glimmer of hope and happiness when he thinks of what he can have one day. He uses “heavens” in reference to success. He has a lack of awareness because he does not know any better and it is also a way to pass time. It is almost like living in a different world.
In addition, Pascal’s poetry is a way for him to look into the future and pass time. He can imagine a place free of poverty, hard labor, and other disadvantages. He used his “happiness” as almost a form of escape to get away from these realties of immigration. Pascal remains hopeful because he feels if he does not have “happiness” or fake happiness, it could be worse.
I didn't so much think about the poetry as a way for him to pass the time. However, I agree with you that his happiness results from the passing of time. When he writes his poetry it seems to allow him to escape to a place of happiness and hope.So not only does he find that happiness in the passing of time but the happiness derives the poetry itself.
DeleteAs mentioned in the first reply, I didn't consider his poetry being a factor to his happiness. After analyzing your comment I can agree that his "happiness' may have been a result of both passing of time and lack of awareness due to his escape of reality through poetry.
DeleteI did not consider his poetry as a factor of his happiness, as I thought the poetry was a reflection of past events instead of current. Though I may have not looked at his poetry deep enough, so your comment is certainly plausible.
DeleteIt is interesting to define his poetry as something to pass the time, I did not think of it like that.
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ReplyDeleteI think that Pascals' "happiness" is the result of the passing of time. This is because though he obviously went through alot as a child I think he's able to look at all of his trials and be content with them because he got through it.As time goes on he is able to keep hope alive, believing that things will be better.
ReplyDeleteI believe Pascals' happiness is the result of looking back and reinventing the past. The reason I believe this is because firstly, humans are faulty when it comes to our memory. Especially our day to day memory. Obviously Pascal is able to describe what life was like during his childhood, but it's still totally capable of being fictionalize, even more so because this is his book where he's telling a story.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, it's also possible that his life seems bad to us as Americans living in 2018. We can't know how we would interpret his life if we were Italians living at the time when he wrote this. His own life is good to him, it's his personal interpretation of his life. He's talking about his own life so he's supposed to interpret it himself anyway. Believing your own life makes you happy is good for your own mental state as well.
I do believe this is a scenario of reinventing the past because human nature is to think of the past as the "good'ol days", but we never know when we're living in the "good days". It is also important to consider how accurate his memory really is because as one grows older we tend to mesh memories together and we cant really be sure what actually happened compared to what really happened. I see myself with this very dilemma with my parents telling me a story from my childhood that I thought went about a completely different way.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about that perspective. The fact that he may like to think that they were always happy during his childhood, but wasn't at times, and that our mind can play tricks on us. Interesting depiction of how one may mesh their memories together.
DeleteI believe that Pascal uses the term happiness in this case as a lack of awareness. Throughout some of his childhood stories, his parents seem to have less of a reaction to what occurs around them, such as when Pascal is awoken by rainfall on him. Their happiness is a lack of awareness of their situation, being content with what they have yet not knowing how bad it truly is.
ReplyDeleteI believe that what Pascal meant by happy was that compared to the past in Italy they are happier because of the little money they are making and the apartment that they can afford to live in. Compared to in Italy they were barely able to afford a home to live in.
ReplyDeleteI have two opinions. First, Pascal is looking at the past through rose-colored glasses. He is ignoring the obvious poverty they are in because life was simpler then. Second, it was all he knew then. You can't long for what you don't have if you don't know. For example, the whole family slept in one bed his entire life. Of course he wouldn't think that was strange because it was his normal. So his idea of happiness is a combination of his lack of self-awareness and rewriting his past.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you would describe his "happiness" as both a lack of self-awareness and rewriting his past, I had not thought of these aspects as being possibilities. They live in a life of poverty and don't know much and as a result the lack of awareness causes them to be content with what they have without questioning. In the same bed example, he thought this was normal because he had not known that other people have a separate bed per person/couple. Combining the two aspects seems like a logical way to describe their "happiness".
DeleteWhen Pascal describes his childhood conditions in terms of “happiness”, I understood this aspect in terms of the passing of time. Looking back now, he is able to think of his childhood as being a happy one overall. Even though they were poor, it was still a better situation than others who lived around him and this he viewed as happiness. He was content with his living and financial situations, not necessarily happy with being poor. There was happiness in knowing that they are not as poor because others were in worse conditions.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Pascal describes his happiness in terms of a product of passing time. Looking back at the past, people including Pascal begin to understand how lucky they were to have things that they had back then. As much as conditions were poor, they still managed to survive and live in an apartment that others couldn’t afford. Even thinking about my family members, they always mention how easy and affordable life was back then and they didn’t have to face the issues that they do now.
ReplyDeleteI believe Pascal's "happiness" was the fact that he was healthy, had a family, and had a roof over his head. I felt like in the past people accepted the bare minimum and viewed it has happiness and were grateful. At the time Pascal accepted his fate and looked to the future and progression without looking down at what he has so far in life. Life was simpler back then and people lived and were comfortable with what they had. I felt like Pascal always tried to have a positive look on life and whats to come.
ReplyDeleteSometimes happiness is not all about monetary possessions. Some individuals characterize happiness as being healthy and being surrounded by family and friends. I believe that's what Pascal was referring to when he mentioned happiness.
ReplyDeleteit's been said that "money can not buy happiness". we all create our own happiness, to Pascal that was his own happiness. i believe looking back at the time, he had the most important people in his life.
ReplyDeleteSometimes happiness is not all about how much money you have. Some individuals characterize happiness as being healthy and being surrounded by family and friends.
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