The Music School Essay Research Paper I

The Music School Essay, Research Paper

I am more interested in the so-called illogical impringements of the connotations of words on the consciousness (and their combinations and interplay in metaphor on the basis) than I am interested in the preservation of the logically rigid signification at the cost of limiting my subject matter and perceptions. –Hart Crane

Is life really full of logicality? Visualize yourself in a world where everything made “logical” sense. There is no creativity and individuality. “Oh, you cannot do that, it does not make logical sense!” Who cares? We, the people of this earth, are on the top of the evolutionary cycle. We are different from other living creatures because of our ability to think — to be an individual by expressing your needs and wants. Our emotions contradict logical sense sometimes. For example, when someone is in trouble, but you have a plane ticket going back to your country that is only good for that specific time–what would you do? The most logical solution is just to go on the plane since you already have everything set, but you realize that saving the girl is more important–highly illogical. You have the plane ticket already–why would you risk losing your chance to go home? Illogicality! The same concept can be applied to metaphors. Why would you give up you creative endeavors just to follow a “basic” rule of logicality? Being logical in the use of metaphoric language only limits you to boundaries and never lets you show your personal perceptions. The limits of logicality only deprive you of expression–you never grasp the full meaning of what you are trying to say.

“The Music School” by John Updike is mainly about a man drawn to tears and fear of rejection by the occurrences around him. Such occurrences include the death of his friend, the computer expert, the music school where his child studies, the Catholic Eucharistic ceremony, the psychiatric visits and divorce to his wife. “I do not understand the connection but there seems to be one.” Updike gives us all these details in single, detached paragraphs that does not quite possess logical connections. Every detail was hand-woven by Updike’s unique writing style. Such “illogical impringements”–the detached details– are brought together in paragraphs seven and eight. The last two paragraphs brings forth the reasons on why Alfred is afraid of rejection and/ or failure and also his reflections and thoughts on the world around him. Illogical connections are brought together to form a more meaningful impact on the story itself and its readers.

The last two paragraphs of John Updike’s story, “The Music School”, bring meanings and connections to each paragraph of the story. The story tends to switch topics from place to place. First, you are introduced to the church and how absurd their customs and dogmas are — for example the way a “Eucharistic wafer” should be taken. Then, you switch to the murder of an acquaintance of the narrator — a computer programmer. Afterwards, you are subjected to the music school and the narrator’s personal views about music, therefore unraveling his perception of life. A couple of paragraphs later, you are encountering the narrator’s relationship with his wife. The statement “I do not understand the connection, but there seems to be one” luminates throughout the story. The last two paragraphs answer this statement. Also, a hint of ambiguity is evident in the last two paragraphs of the story.

Updike begins his story with the statement, “My name is Alfred Schweigen and I exist in time.” Is there any significance? Of course, there is significance. The statement itself arouses the existentialist belief of “existence precedes essence” where human beings are thrown into existence first without any predetermined nature and only later do we construct our nature or essence through our own actions. We create our own human nature through the free choices that we have. Time, a very important term is used to describe the relative nature of human experience. Bergson states that time is heterogeneous, always in motion, fluid, ever shifting, and things in it are indistinguishable. Space, conversely, is homogeneous, still, measurable. Time, furthermore, cannot be characterized by separate moments–to do this, as some have attempted, is to measure what is indistinguishable and to replace time by space.

With a touch of his brush, Updike highlights certain brushstrokes which conveys the meaning of the story in a more clear and concise way.

We are all pilgrims, faltering towards divorce. Some get no further than mutual confession, which becomes an addiction, and exhausts them. Some move on, into violent quarrels and physical blows; and succumb to sexual excitement.

This statement briefly states how he has lived his life. He has been a failure since the beginning. He never pursued his music lessons because he was afraid to fail — so he would rather watch his daughter take music lessons. He is vicarious — never once trying to experience life, but rather experience it from someone else. Take the computer programmer that died, for instance — he has accomplished many things in life, including being successful, and yet the narrator grieves for his death. He is unable to cope with his murder.

Each moment I live, I must think where to place my finger, and press them down with no confidence of hearing a chord.