I am woman....hear me roar.....
9 years ago
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Timshel
During the naming of the twins, Lee, Sam, and Adam have a long conversation about a sentence from Genesis, disagreeing over whether God has said an act is ordered or predetermined. Lee continues to think about this conversation and enlists the help of a group of Chinese philosophers to come to a conclusion: that God has given humans choice by saying that they may (the Hebrew word for "may," timshel, becomes a key trope in the novel), that people can choose for themselves. What is Steinbeck trying to say about guilt and forgiveness? About family inheritance versus free will? Think of instances where this distinction is important in the novel, and in your own life.
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3 comments:
"Timshel"..."thou mayest" is really about agency...to chose or not chose to do right. "Thou mayest" entered in the decisions of Cathy to become what she became, to Cal to chose what he was going to become, to Adam to chose to take back his life and live it, to Aron to become angry and run off to the Army and be killed, to Lee to come back home, or to Adam to forgive Cal. I liked the defination the Chinese Elders came up with after studying Hebrew...that "thou shalt" in Hebrew "timshel" means "thou mayest". That sounds so much like the true meaning of free agency...that we mayest chose to do right or chose to do wrong. It is up to us.
I love that the novel hinges on this belief. It is exactly what I believe. My choices are mine. There was a point in my life where I felt horribly wronged by many people and it held me back. It was my crutch. One day I said out loud…”you have taken this much from me and I had no control over that, but you may not have any more.” I have lived by that ever since and I believe it. I choose. This is my life. I choose happiness or misery. I choose good or evil.
I love when Kate tells Cal that he has her in him and he tells her “I’m my own. I don’t have to be you,” and then, “if I’m mean it’s my own mean.”
Yes. That was one of my favorite things about this book as well. It may be (yes probably is) why the song Timshel on my Mumford and Sons CD is my favorite!
Free will is everything. When you are forced to do something, you may do it but you aren't doing it for the right (or wrong) reasons. When you can choose for yourself then you can choose right or wrong for yourself and that is the only way of knowing where your heart really is.
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