Jacques Bernis in Courrier du Sud

Bernis was the main character in this philosophical—and I believe quite autobiographical—novel of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Courrier Sud (Southern Mail). Bernis was a pilot for the airmail service from Paris to Dakkar. In the early 20^th century aircraft was a new technology, thus working as a pilot meant you faced a great danger everytime you fly. Bernis’ risk was doubled as his route forced him to fly over Sahara desert which was difficult to navigate with such simple equipment they had at that time.

However, although people underestimate his career (and called him as ‘ghost’, as they could not imagine how a human being could fly), Bernis could feel happy only when he was alone in his cockpit, flying the atmosphere and threw his gaze to the horizon. Bernis loved the sense of freedom, where everything was moving when he passed them. He also loved the change of the atmosphere and the weather along the flight. I can imagine how it feels, to think that we could leave one place and kept on moving to another, never be in the same place, like the flow of water which never stays at the same place.

Bernis was a kind of man who can never feel happy in this life. Unlike ordinary people who need to have a home (a real house and routine life), Bernis’ home was beyond the society; his true home was in the air, when he was surrounded by wind and clouds, sun and moon, sky and earth. When Bernis lived ordinary life, he was distressed and bored because everything was so routine and unchanged. I feel pity on him, he must be the most lonesome guy in the universe, never belonged to anywhere or anyone…well..except, perhaps, God.

Bernis was not a man who insisted his will. When he loved a woman (his childhood friend), but the woman chose to be with another man, Bernis did not get angry of her, he just let her go—bitterly though. **spoiler** However, when the woman got troubled and wanted to leave her present life, Bernis was happy to take her with him. But when at the end the woman could not live Berni’s way of life, Bernis let her go, for a second time. And I felt sorry even more for poor Bernis…**spoiler ends**

This is Exupery, but I always take Bernis as
Exupery himself, anyway...

I always wonder, was Bernis happy with the life he had chosen? I think yes, if only he never loved Geneviève, and if he has courage to stand on his own life, no matter how strange or different it was from the world, and if he cherished what he had or what he loved. I sometimes felt different from ordinary people (although not as extreme as Bernis), but I have learned to be happy with who I am, what I have and what I love in this life.

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

Why Reading Classics: Classics Club October Meme

I think The Classics Club’s prompt for October meme is the basic thinking we ought to reflect when we decide to dedicate our times and efforts to read classics. But before coming to why I read classics, maybe we ought to describe ‘what is classics’ first. I believe the exact description of “classics” itself will vary among us, but I think it’s basically the same. These are what for me classics represent,

"A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." ~Italo Calvino

“A true classic, as I should like to hear it defined, is an author who has enriched the human mind, increased its treasure, and caused it to advance a step; who has discovered some moral and not equivocal truth, or revealed some eternal passion in that heart where all seemed known and discovered; who has expressed his thought, observation, or invention, in no matter what form, only provided it be broad and great, refined and sensible, sane and beautiful in itself; who has spoken to all in his own peculiar style, a style which is found to be also that of the whole world, a style new without neologism, new and old, easily contemporary with all time.” ~Charles Sainte Beuve

For me personally,

Classics are books that hit at the heart of its readers; that their influence continue to resonate long after the book was published or the author passed away. Classics are books that continue to be read for generations, because what is in it is universal, even though times have changed. Classics also contain things that teach values worthy of being role models.

Now we come to this month’s prompt:

Why are you reading the classics?

Looking at ‘what is classics’ stands for me, I read classics because they speak about valuable things in life: humanity, love, friendship… ; because they show us the reality in human life: passion, kindness, hatred, poverty… I read classics because I can learn something from the past that I can use as a compass or barometer for the future; because the authors wrote it in their era but their works resonate until now. Or, I read classics merely because they were beautifully written, and I love them… :)

So, why are you reading classics, then?....

My Choices for Let’s Read Plays Reading Event

If you haven’t been informed yet, Let’s Read Plays is a yearlong event for reading classics plays that I will host together with Dessy, starting November 2012. For a whole year we will read play(s) based on different themes every month (you can find the theme list/schedule here.) Based on the schedule, I have made a plan for myself. These are plays I will read for the event:

Nov ’12 – Shakespeare Tragedy: Julius Caesar - with Melisa, Listra, Maria, Helvry
                                                  Antony and Cleopatra - with Listra, Dessy

Dec ’12 – Shakespeare Comedy: The Merchant of Venice - with Dessy

Jan ’13 – Freebie: King Lear 

Feb ’13 – Shakespeare History: Richard III - with Dessy, Melisa

Mar ’13 – Greek: Medea (Euripides)

Apr ’13 – Shakespeare Comedy: The Taming of The Shrew - with Dessy

May ’13 – Shakespeare Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet

Jun ’13 – Oscar Wilde: An Ideal Husband - with Dessy

Jul ’13 – Other Author: The Cherry Orchard (Anton Chekhov) - with Joon Ann

Aug ’13 – Shakespeare Comedy: Twelfth Night

Sep ’13 – Freebie: Saint Joan - Geoge Bernard Shaw

Oct ’13 – Shakespeare Tragedy: Hamlet - with Melisa

I might as well re-read A Midsummer Night’s Dream sometime during the event, or perhaps one of Wilde’s plays if I need to laugh a bit after a distressing reading… :)

What about you? Do you like to read plays? Why don’t you join us in Let’s Read Plays, and have fun in the yearlong event?

Weekend Quote 8: Gone With The Wind

Since I’m still reading Gone With The Wind, I hope I’m not boring you with another post about this book :)… I found this piece of quote from Part four. The Civil War has been over, yet the worst would still come. In this Part four I begin to see what Mitchell wanted to speak through her book. It was about the changing era that was following the war. In the middle of the uncertainty of the future, Mitchell showed us through her characters and their dialogues, that one must be brave to move along. One must not regret over the ideal life he once had, and dreams for living the same ideal in the future. One must work hard—although it is far from his ideal—to survive and to face the future.

This particular quote showed that spirit,

“It’s a poor person and a poor nation that sits down and cries because life isn’t precisely what they expected it to be.”

I think it helps us too right here, right now. The world is changing rapidly, and we know that the ideal life has long gone, so we must go on living, never dream about the past, but do our best for the future.

This Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can:

• Give the context of the quote
• Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
• Share your experience related to the quote
• Share similar quotes you remember
• Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.

Gone With The Wind Read Along: GIVEAWAY!

It’s already the last week of September. How did you all get going with Gone With The Wind? You can check the Update Posts page to see how others have progressed. Meanwhile, I want to remind you that every update posts you entered in the Update Posts page will be regarded as entries for my giveaway.

This giveaway is eligible for everyone who joins Gone With The Wind Read Along. The winner would be picked from Update Posts entries that you have entered during the read along. I have picked five authors from early 20^th century (just as Margaret Mitchell), whose books are offered for the prize:

Agatha Christie

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ernest Hemingway

Virginia Woolf

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

• One winner can choose 1 (one) title from one of those authors from Amazon (for US residents) or from The Book Depository (for non US residents) at max. $10.
• Leave a comment mentioning how to contact you if you win (email/blog/twitter), and the book you’d like to have (you can change it later if you win; I’m just curious).
• I will pick and announce the winner on November 8^th 2012, so make sure you have added your update posts in the linky before that. Note: review post did not counted, as Bzee will host another giveaway for review posts at the end of this read along.
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.

Good luck!

Jack Merridew in Lord of The Flies

Jack Merrydew was the main antagonist in Lord of The Flies. He arrived at the isolated island as the head of a group of choir boys.

“Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness. Out of this face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger.”

From the beginning we could see that Jack was a leader. While all the other boys—in fear and without adult supervision—wandered confusedly around the island after the plane crash, Jack had managed to assemble his group orderly. All the boys listened to him, obeyed him. However, from the beginning also, I have sensed vaguely a kind of wicked passion in this boy. From above quote, Jack was pictured as being ‘frustrated and was going to be angry’, while it was still at the beginning, nothing had yet happened.

Without any reasonable reason, Jack already hated Piggy from the first time Piggy was involved in the conversation. In a harsh manner Jack howled Piggy to ‘shut up’ and called him Fatty. I could not understand, even now, why Jack hated Piggy so much from the beginning (and persisted till the end), while Piggy did nothing to him. Was it because Jack has a superior sense in him, that the shyness of Piggy was unbearable to him? I think so, and I think it is the same reason of most bullying cases everywhere.

[before] Jack - the head of choir boys

In his superiority, Jack never thought that there would be anyone else who was more capable than he to become the chief of the boys; there was there another sense of dominating, of controlling others, in spite of his leadership qualities. And when it turned out that the boys (except the choir boys) elected Ralph to be Chief, the rage was germinating in him.

I admit it that if you scrap his wicked qualities, Jack was actually a better leader than Ralph. Unlike Ralph who often confused and could not focus his mind, Jack was self-possessed, always knew what to do, and could make a quick decision when needed. Unfortunately, the rage that began to germinate in him, soon transformed him into a devil. I think, it’s all began when he failed to be chief. He needed to prove others that he was more capable than Ralph. He boasted that he could hunt and killed pigs easily, but when they really met a pig, Jack could not kill it.

“You cut a pig’s throat to let the blood out, otherwise you can’t eat the meat.” [Jack]

“Why didn’t you—?” [Ralph I guess...]

They knew very well why he hadn’t; because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.

Next time there would be no mercy. He [Jack] looked around fiercely, daring them to contradict.

That scene reflected the point when ‘evil’ took over ‘kind’ in men’s soul. It was when Jack’s pride conquered him, that he dismissed his own conscience. Jack has surrendered to the evil’s hand… And after that Jack rapidly transformed into a barbarian. When you have let the evil overpower the kind in your soul, it is very difficult to have your conscience back. Things got worse because Jack had the leadership in him. Soon enough he gained other boys respect to join him by providing food and freedom, while Ralph kept prating about ‘keep the fire’ and ‘build a shelter’.

[After] Jack (right) - the head of a barbarian tribe
(left) is Ralph

In the end, it is not the skill of leadership that matters in a leader, but the conscience (and the persistency to keep it). Jack gained respect from others, obeyed by others, but to what point? He only led them to savagery. No, I would not proud of a chief like Jack.

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

Part 3 of Gone With The Wind

Part 3 brought me to the worst of the war. Now the South suffered terrible lost from the Yankees. And when Scarlett has begun to enjoy her life once again, when she once again regained the life she have had enjoyed, Atlanta was suddenly in the big risk of being under siege by the Yankees. Most of the neighbours—so did Aunt Pitty—fled away to other cities, but what could Scarlett do with Melanie, whose laboring time was nearly approaching? Her first instinct was to leave everything and sought protection in her home, Tara. However, Ashley’s pleading at Christmas holiday kept haunting her, for she could not bear the thought that Ashley would be disappointed because Scarlett did not keep her promise. How selfish was this woman!

So, Scarlett stayed, alone with Prissy and the pregnant Melanie. And just when the situation was growing more frantically, when the doctor was busy with hundreds of wounded soldiers, and everybody took care of their own businesses, Melanie started to feel the laboring pain. There was only Scarlett and Prissy—the little slave—at home, and they just have to do everything they could to help delivering the baby. That was Scarlett’s turning point, I think, because from then on life would never become easy for her; and that event showed her real qualities: strong and brave.

Now Scarlett, in an urgent desire to flee to Tara, forced Rhett to find a carriage to bring her, Wade, Melanie and the baby, and Prissy. Rhett did it, brought the group out of the danger of Yankee’s capture, but abandoned them half way because he wanted to take part in the war. Scarlett hated Rhett for that, and with all her might she finally succeeded in bringing her group to Tara. Only to find everything was different from what she has looked forward to. Ellen was dead, and Gerald was ‘no longer himself’ after the shocks. And now…Scarlett did not have anyone else in this world to come to when she was in trouble. Now Tara belonged to her, and suddenly the burden had fallen on her shoulders.

Tara suffered terribly during those days, and every time, when Scarlett thought the worst was over, came another trial for Tara. Here both Scarlett’s and Melanie’s characters developed. The selfish Scarlett became harder; and her spoilt and childish manner was replaced with a firm business manner that she must hold to get respect from the blacks. On the other hand, Melanie showed her courage and strong determination despite her weaker physical health. I was a bit entertained to see the two women at Tara could now work hand in hand to protect and to provide life for all of them. Although, here and there Scarlett’s wicked thoughts often emerged towards Melanie, who she considered as just another mouth to feed. Oh Scarlett….what kind of heart did you possessed? I can tolerate selfishness, childishness, or other one’s bad habits, but not a cruelty. I can’t imagine how a well bred young woman (with Ellen always taught her to pray Rosary) could have such an iron heart? And I don’t understand either why Margaret Mitchell should create such an annoying character to be her main heroine! >,<

Anyway, Part 3 was topped with the arrival of two men from the war. The first one was Will Benteen, a wounded soldier who was rehabilitated at Tara (under the mercy of Melanie, but with a grudge from Scarlett—at least at first). However after having been recovered, Will was proved to be very valuable for Scarlett, for now she had someone (and a male too) to share the hardship of managing both the plantation and the house hold of Tara. The second one was…Ashley, who has been released from prison after the war—finally—came to an end. And this was where Part 3 was ended, left us with more curiosity of what will happen next in Part 4.