Distractions, Illusions, Delusions
- Charlie_C
- Jan 15, 2019
- 3 min read
Throughout my high school career, I have learned that distractions are not a friend to academic success. I can’t even begin to describe how many distractions I encountered when trying to write this blog because even that would be distracting to me. But when I was thinking about how to begin this piece, I was trying to search up witty quotes that had to do with this topic… and then I got distracted and I somehow ended up looking at inspirational dog quotes. Anyways, to get straight to the point, this blog is going to be talking about distractions.
I recently read Araby, a short story written by James Joyce, where the main character becomes infatuated by his friend’s sister and goes to a bazaar to find a gift for her. He goes through the entire bazaar only to find himself confused and angry. "I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger" (187). This short story reminded me of 2 other stories I had read through the semester: Station 11, a novel written by Emily St. John Mandel, and Death of a Salesman, a playwright written by Arthur Miller.
As I was reading these three stories, I noticed how all three of them connected through some type of distraction that prevented the character from seeing the beauty surrounding them.
In Araby, the protagonist was so distracted by the girl’s beauty and his infatuation with her that he didn’t stop to enjoy the bazaar. His distraction resulted in him being angry with himself for not appreciating the beauties of the bazaar, as he had longed to see the beauties of it for a long while.
In Station 11, Mandel touches upon the story of a woman named Miranda Caroll who lived her entire life following others and questioning her own judgement, as she also accepted her inability to take control of her own life. She lived her life with her head down as she always abided by the rules and never stopped to enjoy life. She later died of the flu but not without finally seeing the beauty that surrounded her in her final moments.. "Miranda opened her eyes in time to see the sunrise. A wash of violent colour, pink and streaks of brilliant orange, the container ships over the horizon suspended between the blaze of the sky and the water aflame, the seascape bleeding into confused visions of Station Eleven, its extravagant sunsets and its indigo sea. the lights of the fleet fading into morning, the ocean burning into sky" (228).
In Death of a Salesman, the main protagonist, Willy Loman was so obsessed with being successful and being well-liked that he didn’t even realize that he had already achieved it. In the finally scene of the play, Willy finally acknowledges that his success is the love he has from his family.
These three stories present the common theme of distractions because in each story, there is some sort of distraction that prevents the character from seeing the world around them. The protagonist in Araby, Miranda Caroll, and Willy Loman lived an illusion that prevented them from seeing the beauty in the world. Unfortunately for Miranda and Willy, it took death to finally understand what they had and to appreciate the grace and elegance the world had to offer.
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I think that distractions are one of the reasons why at times the world seems to move so slowly when we are focus, all of our time is spent on one thing and we can sometimes lose track of time and not even realise that hours have passed. The same thing goes with books, you can spend hours reading a book and you will have not even realised it. I really enjoyed this blog post and how you even incorporated yourself into distractions, showing that everyone gets distrated and that it is a very common thing that can occur. I feel that I have gotten distracted writing this post, when I initially went off topic. I think that each of…