Blind Regression
The invention of the world is Vancouver Island novelist Jack Hodgin’s first full length novel. The novel was published in 1977 and it tells two stories in retrospect. The first story being told is a historical account of Donal Keneally’s journey to re-invent the world by creating a colony known as the Revelations Colony of Truth which resulted in a failed utopia. The second and modern day story is the tale of Maggie Kyle, who used an insurance settlement to purchase what was once the Revelations Colony of Truth. The focus of this essay falls primarily on Donal Keneally’s attempt to re-invent the world and not the modern day aspect of the novel. Firstly, to fully understand the nature of Keneally’s endeavor to re-invent the world it is first necessary to examine his childhood. As a child, he was taught too much knowledge for his own good and this propelled him to commit various acts of mischief on the people around him. Donal’s childhood molded him into being an unstable leader from the start. Secondly, Donal believed he knew everything there was to know and he was blind to the world around him. He would later find out that he does not know how to accomplish his one goal in life, which is to re-invent the world, and this would be the main cause of his failed utopia. Furthermore, on the journey to the new world (Vancouver Island) many people lost their lives and even when arrived, many lives were taken due to insufficient food supplies and disease. Finally, Donal believed he had succeeded in creating his own world, this being the root of his mistake. He was blind to the fact that he had failed and he was too ignorant and stubborn to come to this realization. Donal Brendan Keneally’s attempt to invent the world by starting a colony (revelations colony of truth) resulted in him being blind to his own failed utopia.
First of all, in order to see the result of a failed utopia, it is first necessary to investigate Donal Keneally’s childhood to really understand what is behind his vision. Donal Keneally’s childhood is what really molded him into being an unstable leader, therefore making a failed utopia inevitable. Donal is the son of a whore and a bull and at a young age he was taught too much knowledge for his own good“[…] she went out to the shed in the night to check on the girl and found her mounted by a monstrous black bull with eyes that shone like red lanterns and a scrotum that hung like a sack of turnips.” (Hodgins,71). From the start he was born to a dysfunctional family and he would go on living his life without ever seeing his real mother. He was raised by an old woman named Grania Flynn and a man named Jerry Quirke. Even at a young age Donal was very stubborn and bold, and all of the townspeople agreed.
The O’Sullivan family reported that they’d seen him, at the age of three, marching across their bottom field where their meanest bull was kept out of the way of mischief, to give the snorting beast a crack across his nose. And Moriarty In his bar reported less than a year later that he’d seen the boy give Jerry Quirke a good kick that set him rolling on his back. “Oh he’s a bold child, that one,” they all agreed (Hodgins, 79).
Jerry Quirke would be the one to teach Donal but he did not teach him how to change his ways; his stubbornness and ignorance “[…] for in some matters he’s as ignorant as the next man and twice as dangerous.” (Hodgins, 82). Donal was a quick learner but he would often use his knowledge for the worse “[…] the boy was the easiest pupil he’d ever taught.” (Hodgins, 80). Donal’s knowledge would soon surpass that of Mr. Quirke’s and he proved this on many accounts. “On another occasion he hypnotized them all [the village] into believing they were a herd of cows and sent them mooing down the road tossing their heads at flies…Quirke told him he’d gone too far and ought to be beaten like a dog” (Hodgins, 81). Donal believed there was nothing wrong with what he had done because everyone was afraid to actually do something about it. He would go on living his whole life thinking he could get away with anything. At the young age of twelve, Donal had a vision of creating a new world, a world which will be a utopia for any human being, a world where truth will be exemplified “By the age of twelve he was able to tell everyone in Moriarty’s Bar of fifty different ways you could come at a world like ‘truth’” (Hodgins, 81). He started off with the right idea but would later go off on a tangent and completely forget the whole principle of his vision. Donal’s unstable childhood is without a doubt what caused him to be an unstable leader which is the root of his failed utopia.
Correspondingly, Donal thought he knew everything there was to know about everything. “[…]for Keneally with his usual capacity for not only learning all there was to teach, but also going on from there to every possible logical extreme[…]” (Hodgins, 83). He claimed to have the answer to everything, giving him the ability to accomplish anything but the truth is, he does not know how to accomplish his one goal in life: to re-invent the world. Donal had an apparatus that he claimed was God. He used this device to persuade people into thinking that he had God in his pocket. This would make him seem greater than God, which would lead anyone to believe that he could accomplish anything.
Out of this pocket and that pocket and out of his sleeves he pulled wheels and rods and cylinders and boxes until he had assembled before him a large complicated machine which he told them was God…he said, but the fact was that God was a machine which he carried around in his pocket. God was his slave too, just as all of them had become his slaves, and he would show them what he thought of God his slave. (Hodgins, 99).
Donal’s problem was that he too was convinced that he could accomplish anything. He would not listen to anyone, take their input on anything, he would remain blind to everything around him until his death. Since he was blind to his own stubbornness which he developed as a child, he would without a doubt be blind to his own failed utopia.
Moreover, since Donal was so stubborn and full of himself, re-inventing the world would be no problem for him. Nevertheless, the reaction of his followers proved otherwise. Many people lost their lives on the journey from Ireland to the new world which was set to be established on Vancouver Island. Once arrived on the island people were still losing their lives because of disease, lack of food and supplies. No one ever seemed happy, the mood was always dark and ominous and this was exemplified by Donal’s own wife. Upon first seeing the colony Donal had established, the first impression his wife had was not a very good one “One of the first things I remember thinking when I got down into this place was what have they done to it so that I feel as if I should keep my eyes always on the ground?”( Hodgins, 246). “You were conscious only of the earth, the dirt…the houses were all squat, dark made of logs[…]” (Hodgins, 247). First impressions go a long way and her first impression was an accurate one, “ It was an ugly sight, that first day, that first week, in the rain. Those brown log shacks, those pale fields, everything was so dull.” (Hodgins,.247). The colony was not successful but Donal did not come to this realization. “[…] he thought he’d provided everything on it that anyone could possibly want: a piece of land, a sense of belonging, enough work to keep you too tired to start worrying about anything[…]” (Hodgins, 254). Donal claimed to be the father of his followers but if he were in fact their father, he would have taken much better care of them and a half decent society could have been established. Instead he was blind to his own actions and the reaction to this was a failed utopia.
Finally, Donal Keneally thought he had succeeded in creating his own world but this was in fact the root of his failed utopia. The problem was that Donal thought. He thought he had done everything he could to create the ideal new world but a thought and the truth are sometimes very different things. Even if someone would have had the courage to tell Donal he had failed he would have probably just ignored them. He was stuck in his own little world, his own little paradise where everything was perfect. He had failed in re-inventing the world and if he could have just opened his eyes and looked around, that would have been enough proof to persuade God himself. He was blind to the reactions of his followers and therefore could not accept failure. He blindly regressed his colony into a less evolved, less mature society than the outside world. On the outside world, society’s were evolving into more well adapted environments where humans were fine the way they were living. Instead of doing his people good by re-inventing the world, he sent his colony into a less developed state than what they had been from the start and he was not able to see what he had done. He would often give speeches on how his colony will be used as a model in future societies yet its existence did not surpass a decade.
And then there were the speeches just for me. About his colony and how it would be held up as a model in the future and how he was trying to get the government to come in and have a look in order to set up others like it on the island. You shouldn’t colonize a place by just inviting people onto it and letting them do what they want, he said, that way in fifty years they’ll have ruined it all, you’ll get people thinking they have the right to sell some of it to the others. (Hodgins, 255).
If existing societies were turned into Donal’s vision, then the whole world would be in ruins. No one would ever be happy, endless lives would be lost yet Donal would still not see this as if he has made a mistake. Even a character in the modern day aspect of the novel discussed that fact that Vancouver Island had been the home of many failed utopias, Donal’s being one of them “this Island is littered with failed utopias"(Hodgins,77). Donal failed in re-inventing the world and he failed in seeing this.
Clearly, Donal’s goal to re-invent the world had no other outcome then to become a failed utopia. From the start, Donal’s childhood would mold him into an unstable leader which would be one of the main reasons behind his failed utopia. He thought he knew everything but the truth is, he does not know how to accomplish his one goal in life and he is blind to this. If he could of just opened his eyes and taken a look around his colony he would have seen how unhappy everyone was. He could have acknowledged his mistake but he was too stubborn and ignorant to do so and because of this, countless lives were lost. Donal thought he had succeeded in re-inventing the world, but this was his biggest mistake. He was blind to everything around him and because of this, a failed utopia was inevitable.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Essay Outline
I figured I might as well post my outline on my blog just because. I gave my hard copy into murray on friday so hopefully I'll get it back tommorow (tuesday) and I'll start my essay thursday night at around 11 p.m. because it is due friday.... just joking. Im going to do a bit of work each night and hopefully get it done by wedendsay.
Essay outline
The invention of the world
Yanick Lee
Thesis: Donal Brendan Keneally’s attempt to invent the world by starting a colony(revelations colony of truth) resulted in him being blind to his own failed utopia.
Reason: In order to see the result of a failed utopia, it is first necessary to investigate Donal Keneally’s childhood in order to really understand what is behind his vision. Donal Keneally’s childhood molded him into being an unstable leader therefore a failed utopia was inevitable.
Example: He is the son of a whore and a bull and at a young age was taught too much knowledge for his own good. He is a quick learner, but a learner of the wrong things and arrogant as well as not listening to what people have to say. He used his knowledge to make people’s lives around him miserable.
Examples: 1. Son of a whore and bull “…she went out to the shed in the night to check on the girl and found her mounted by a monstrous black bull with eyes that shone like red lanterns and a scrotum that hung like a sack of turnips” (pg. 71)
2. “ The O’Sullivan family reported that they’d seen him, at the age of three, marching across their bottom field where their meanest bull was kept out of the way of mischief, to give the snorting beast a crack across his nose. And Moriarty In his bar reported less than a year later that he’d seen the boy give Jerry Quirke a good kick that set him rolling on his back. “Oh he’s a bold child, that one,” they all agreed. (pg. 79)
3. “… the boy was the easiest pupil he’d ever taught.” (pg. 80)
4. “ By the age of twelve he was able to tell everyone in Moriarty’s Bar of fifty different ways you could come at a world like “truth””. (pg.81) – had the right idea as a child but vision changed.
5. “ on another occasion he hypnotized them all(the village) into believing they were a herd of cows and sent them mooing down the road tossing their heads at flies…Quirke told him he’d gone too far and ought to be beaten like a dog.” (pg.81)
6. “… for in some matters he’s as ignorant as the next man and twice as dangerous”. (pg.82)
7. “…for Keneally with his usual capacity for not only learning all there was to teach, but also going on from there to every possible logical extreme, immediately turned himself into a pair of twins.” (pg.83)
8. “ The villagers became so angry at the boy’s nonsense that instead of complaining to Quirke as they had done in the past they came in a group to Brendan, and tried to persuade him that for the good of the whole mountain he should strangle his brother in his sleep…” (pg.85)
Reason (continuation of reason #1): Donal thought he knew everything there was to know but the truth is, he does not know how to accomplish his one goal in life: to invent the world. This causing the failed utopia.
Example: Donal had an apparatus that he claimed was god. He used this apparatus to persuade people into thinking that he had god in his pocket, making him seem greater than god. Which would lead them to believe that he could accomplish anything.
Example: 1. “Out of this pocket and that pocket and out of his sleeves he pulled wheels and rods and cylinders and boxes until he had assembled before him a large complicated machine which he told them was God…he said, but the fact was that God was a machine which he carried around in his pocket. God was hs slave too, just as all of them had become his slaves, and he would show them what he thought of God his slave.” (pg. 99).
Reason: Many people lost their lives on the trip to Vancouver island, and many lost their lives in the actual colony because of disease and lack of food and supplies. No one was ever happy, the mood was always dark and ominous and Keneally had gotten power hungry. He claimed to be the father of his followers but if he were in fact their father, he would of taken much better care of them.
Examples: 1. “ One of the first things I remember thinking when I got down into this place was what have they done to it so that I feel as if I should keep my eyes always on the ground?”(pg. 246).
2. “ You were conscious only of the earth, the dirt…the houses were all squat, dark made of logs…” (pg.247).
3. “ It was an ugly sight, that first day, that first week, in the rain. Those brown log shacks, those pale fields, everything was so dull.” (pg.247)
4. “ I saw them all through that rain, living in their cloud, going about their plodding business with their eyes hardly ever lifted off the ground in front of their feet. I imagined that they were incapable of seeing anything beyond they own bodies, their own clay.” (pg. 250)
5. “… he thought he’d provided everything on it that anyone could possibly want: a piece of land, a sense of belonging, enough work to keep you too tired to start worrying about anything…” (pg. 254)
Reason: Donal Keneally thought he had succeeded in creating his own world. This was the root of his failed utopia. He was blind to the reactions of the pioneers of his colony and therefore could not accept the fact that he had failed.
Example: Donal would give speeches on how his colony will be used as a model in future society’s yet its existence did not surpass a decade.
Example: “ And then there were the speeches just for me. About his colony and how it would be held up as a model in the future and how he was trying to get the government to come in and have a look in order to set up others like it on the island. You shouldn’t colonize a place by just inviting people onto it and letting them do what they want, he said, that way in fifty years they’ll have ruined it all, you’ll get people thinking they have the right to sell some of it to the others.” (pg. 255)
Essay outline
The invention of the world
Yanick Lee
Thesis: Donal Brendan Keneally’s attempt to invent the world by starting a colony(revelations colony of truth) resulted in him being blind to his own failed utopia.
Reason: In order to see the result of a failed utopia, it is first necessary to investigate Donal Keneally’s childhood in order to really understand what is behind his vision. Donal Keneally’s childhood molded him into being an unstable leader therefore a failed utopia was inevitable.
Example: He is the son of a whore and a bull and at a young age was taught too much knowledge for his own good. He is a quick learner, but a learner of the wrong things and arrogant as well as not listening to what people have to say. He used his knowledge to make people’s lives around him miserable.
Examples: 1. Son of a whore and bull “…she went out to the shed in the night to check on the girl and found her mounted by a monstrous black bull with eyes that shone like red lanterns and a scrotum that hung like a sack of turnips” (pg. 71)
2. “ The O’Sullivan family reported that they’d seen him, at the age of three, marching across their bottom field where their meanest bull was kept out of the way of mischief, to give the snorting beast a crack across his nose. And Moriarty In his bar reported less than a year later that he’d seen the boy give Jerry Quirke a good kick that set him rolling on his back. “Oh he’s a bold child, that one,” they all agreed. (pg. 79)
3. “… the boy was the easiest pupil he’d ever taught.” (pg. 80)
4. “ By the age of twelve he was able to tell everyone in Moriarty’s Bar of fifty different ways you could come at a world like “truth””. (pg.81) – had the right idea as a child but vision changed.
5. “ on another occasion he hypnotized them all(the village) into believing they were a herd of cows and sent them mooing down the road tossing their heads at flies…Quirke told him he’d gone too far and ought to be beaten like a dog.” (pg.81)
6. “… for in some matters he’s as ignorant as the next man and twice as dangerous”. (pg.82)
7. “…for Keneally with his usual capacity for not only learning all there was to teach, but also going on from there to every possible logical extreme, immediately turned himself into a pair of twins.” (pg.83)
8. “ The villagers became so angry at the boy’s nonsense that instead of complaining to Quirke as they had done in the past they came in a group to Brendan, and tried to persuade him that for the good of the whole mountain he should strangle his brother in his sleep…” (pg.85)
Reason (continuation of reason #1): Donal thought he knew everything there was to know but the truth is, he does not know how to accomplish his one goal in life: to invent the world. This causing the failed utopia.
Example: Donal had an apparatus that he claimed was god. He used this apparatus to persuade people into thinking that he had god in his pocket, making him seem greater than god. Which would lead them to believe that he could accomplish anything.
Example: 1. “Out of this pocket and that pocket and out of his sleeves he pulled wheels and rods and cylinders and boxes until he had assembled before him a large complicated machine which he told them was God…he said, but the fact was that God was a machine which he carried around in his pocket. God was hs slave too, just as all of them had become his slaves, and he would show them what he thought of God his slave.” (pg. 99).
Reason: Many people lost their lives on the trip to Vancouver island, and many lost their lives in the actual colony because of disease and lack of food and supplies. No one was ever happy, the mood was always dark and ominous and Keneally had gotten power hungry. He claimed to be the father of his followers but if he were in fact their father, he would of taken much better care of them.
Examples: 1. “ One of the first things I remember thinking when I got down into this place was what have they done to it so that I feel as if I should keep my eyes always on the ground?”(pg. 246).
2. “ You were conscious only of the earth, the dirt…the houses were all squat, dark made of logs…” (pg.247).
3. “ It was an ugly sight, that first day, that first week, in the rain. Those brown log shacks, those pale fields, everything was so dull.” (pg.247)
4. “ I saw them all through that rain, living in their cloud, going about their plodding business with their eyes hardly ever lifted off the ground in front of their feet. I imagined that they were incapable of seeing anything beyond they own bodies, their own clay.” (pg. 250)
5. “… he thought he’d provided everything on it that anyone could possibly want: a piece of land, a sense of belonging, enough work to keep you too tired to start worrying about anything…” (pg. 254)
Reason: Donal Keneally thought he had succeeded in creating his own world. This was the root of his failed utopia. He was blind to the reactions of the pioneers of his colony and therefore could not accept the fact that he had failed.
Example: Donal would give speeches on how his colony will be used as a model in future society’s yet its existence did not surpass a decade.
Example: “ And then there were the speeches just for me. About his colony and how it would be held up as a model in the future and how he was trying to get the government to come in and have a look in order to set up others like it on the island. You shouldn’t colonize a place by just inviting people onto it and letting them do what they want, he said, that way in fifty years they’ll have ruined it all, you’ll get people thinking they have the right to sell some of it to the others.” (pg. 255)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The invention of the world: Thesis.
After completing my novel this weekend (basically reading all of it) I came up with three possible thesis's.
1. Donal Brendand Keneally's attemp to re-create the world turns out to be a failed utopia.
2. The characters in the novel make the extraordinary seem ordinary in his/her own ways.
3. The novel is a fictional retelling of Edward Arthur Wilson A.K.A Brother Twelve's journey.
These all seem pretty decent to me and I was thinking of maybe combining the first and second thesis's into one big thesis.
1. Donal Brendand Keneally's attemp to re-create the world turns out to be a failed utopia.
2. The characters in the novel make the extraordinary seem ordinary in his/her own ways.
3. The novel is a fictional retelling of Edward Arthur Wilson A.K.A Brother Twelve's journey.
These all seem pretty decent to me and I was thinking of maybe combining the first and second thesis's into one big thesis.
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