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Saramago – Death with Interruptions

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Impressions

This week’s choice of book is Death with Interruptions by Saramago. The book is unique and distinctive from other books we have read because it grapples with a more philosophical approach to it, specifically on the topic of death. I am not too much of a taboo individual, but seeing the word death constantly does not feel comforting at all. The word itself reminds me of a skull in one of those hoodies or cape holding a scythe, which I guess makes more sense in the later part of the book when the word itself becomes a being. The beginning of the book unveils what appears to be sudden immortality as no one in the country seems to be dying, despite deaths occurring the day before. Immortality seems to have permeated the society, but no one quite knows why.

Interestingly, I do think that Saramago intentionally turned death into a character because well, for one, talking about death constantly is depressing, but also I think there is a deeper philosophical essence to it. For example, Death is described as being a woman (p. 141), which when you think about it, anything nature or environmental related is typically associated with having feminine energy or being a woman. We see this to be the case when you hear people talk about the Earth being a mother or ‘mother nature.’ Seeing how death in the book was once just a concept or what would be seen as marking the end of life, but in this book, it paradoxically turns into a character or what mimics life itself.

 

One thing I noticed about the book is the lowercase, as well as the switching between lowercasing and capitalization of the first letter for names. It is mentioned that in the letter of the newspaper the character, Death did ask to have her name to be restored to death, however, the letter also talks about one day finding about Death with a capital D (p. 123). There were also instances where names don’t have capitalization such as the list of names on page 125 or the name of the famous musician, Johann Sebastian Bach (p. 190). One thing that I believe could explain this is that the capitalization emphasizes whether or not the character is alive or technically no longer alive. The newspaper does talk about how one will understand between full and empty, but why would she want to have her name be restored and then capitalized. I don’t really know, but I presume there is a philosophical meaning behind it because death itself is still an unknown thing. We don’t know what really happens after the end of life, maybe there is just nothing afterwards and the author writes this so we can have some extent of hope about it. There are just many theories about death, and I think that the author really makes you think about it throughout the book, hence why it turned into a character.

 

Thus, my question for all for you is:

 

Questions

Why do you think the names were not capitalized?

Introduction

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Introduction
Hi everyone! I’m Sally, a third year psychology student with a minor in family studies. I am born in Vancouver, BC, and speak Cantonese, English, a bit of Mandarin, as well as a little bit of American Sign Language (I took ASL100 and 101 at UBC, and I highly recommend it!). Outside of school, my hobbies include drawing portraits, reading (primarily “self-help” books), playing the piano, building legos, and watching Studio Ghibli films. I also do volunteering as a first aid first responder, and plan to pursue a career where I can make a difference in other people’s lives and create positive change. I’m not entirely sure on which career I will embark on, as it has definitely changed from when I first started university. That said, I look forward to meeting all of you and reading your responses. Feel free to ask me any questions about my interests or if you would like to know more about me! I’m always open to meeting new people.

Expectation
This is my first literature related course I am taking in university, thus this is my first time being exposed to analyzing the depths of different types of literature (e.g. romantic studies) other than research or academic papers which I have been accustomed to reading in my other courses in undergrad. I expect that in this course, there will be a lot of readings to do. I do hope to get an A or A- in the course, but that will come with the expectation of putting in effort into creating insightful responses, completing all my readings, studying, and asking for help when needed. In addition to the expectations listed above, I would also like to improve on my analytical skills when it comes to interpreting literature, as it can feel quite subjective and tricky sometimes.

Response to the Lecture
I felt a sense of relief after watching Dr. Beasley-Murray’s video on misreading, as someone who resonates with having some extent of anxiety when it comes to approaching literature, specifically in an academic setting. This stems mostly from how I feel as though I did not interpret the literature in depth or in the same manner the professor would see it. It was reassuring to hear that there isn’t necessarily a certain way to read literature, but rather that there is the intent to produce a good misreading or being an adequate reader.