In the final chapter of The Once and Future King, Arthur is contemplating crazy big concepts that philosophers have questioned for many years. As I was reading his thought process of these issues my mind was exploding. He starts to think that "perhaps man was neither good nor bad, was only a machine in an insensate universe-his courage no more than a reflex to danger, like the automatic jump at the pin-prick" (630). He continues to ask questions like "why do men fight?"(630) and "what was right? and what was wrong?" (631). These questions begin to topple over one another and spiral into issues that even Arthur lacks control of. These issues have been around way before Arthur was King of England, but Arthur decides to truly think about these problems at the end of his life. When I read this it reminded me of when people die and they start contemplating their life and its purpose. Isn't it interesting that as humans we do this right at the end of our life when we can no longer make any changes? I think this is why Arthur passes down his story to the young boy Tom. Arthur had so much hope for his country, it just did not work out as he planned. It is a bittersweet ending, no one wants to see Arthur go, but we all knew it was going to happen eventually.
Young Tom ... aka Thomas Malory, who wrote Le Morte d'Arthur! ;-) I always thought that was clever!
ReplyDeleteI agree it is interesting that we as humans have all these philosophical thoughts when the point in our life comes that we can no longer make any changes to our's or anyone else's actions. This also makes me think what would be different if anyone was to take a step back from a situation and think thoughts like this. Humans are impatient and always caught up in the moment and it often leads to rushed decision making.
ReplyDeleteIt's common to reflect on life and regrets or mistakes when we know life is over. Arthur has learned a lot. And even though he did a lot of good things, he knows he could've done better. I think this makes him sympathetic to us, because we often do the same thing. Passing his thoughts to a young boy gives the hope that the next generation will carry on his ideals.
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