The word ‘life’ in humans’ vocabulary stands for various meanings since every individual’s life is unique and only lived once. It is this valuable trait of life itself which makes Life priceless and adorable. But it is this trait also which imposes on life an unbearable, very heavy burden. It is the burden of the responsibility each one feels in order to make sure that this valuable gift will be lived in such a way so that it will not be left to slip out of your hands or wasted in actions, decisions and /or lifestyles which prove to be of meaningless or catastrophic effect.
If Life is to be perceived foremost as a journey which is to provide you with experience on getting to know the world around you but mostly the inner, unrevealed parts of yourself, then life is to be lived at its full, without fear, stress, sorrow and or second thoughts on what has been done. This essay will present you with the main qualities one’s life ought to have drawn upon the reflections on three literature genres. The novel ‘Greasy Lake’ by Coraghessan Boyle, the poem ‘Ballad of Birmingham’ by Dudley Randall and the play ‘Tape’ by Jose Rivera are three literature pieces which all approach the issue of life and its value under a different perspective. Taking into consideration these aspects of life which are highlighted by each writer, this paper will present you with the reflections and thoughts drawn upon their messages.
The three aspects of life which are depicted in the above mentioned literature pieces are the conflict between bad and good, freedom and lying to one’s self when the moment of recollection in life comes.
Another significant aspect of life is the relationship people develop with freedom. Generally speaking freedom could be characterized as the state of balancing on a swinging rope. This metaphor can be actually used so that it is understood that each person’s freedom ought to stop at the point where other persons’ freedom is not violated. But even if this is realized and applied on behalf of people there is an even greater issue in the aspect of inner freedom. Each person ought to feel free to express his / her points of view and not be obliged to suppress his /her wishes in the name of obeying to others’ rules. In the ‘Ballad of Birmingham’ by Dudley Randall, the girl wants to go out in the streets to parade for freedom ‘Mother dear, may I go downtown / instead of out to play / And march the streets of Birmingham / In a Freedom March today?’ (lines 1-4) but her mother believing that she knows better what is good for her daughter asks her to go to church and pray. “No, baby, no, you may not go, / For the dogs are fierce and wild, / And clubs and hoses, guns and jails / Aren’t good for a little child.” (lines 5-8). And when the daughter tries to persuade her so that she is not deprived of her right to her own freedom to define her actions and choose what she wants to do, the mother goes on ‘No, baby, no, you may not go, / For I fear those guns will fire. / But you may go to church instead / And sing in the children’s choir.”
What happens is that there is a bombing and the church collapses taking to death all those who were inside to pray. So, once more the arising question is to what extent should one listen to others’ advice and not follow his/ her inner free voice of his/her soul in his/her life?
The third aspect of life on which the paper is to present you with is the issue of looking back at life and self-criticism. Each one is entitled to making mistakes and it is often argued that one cannot really grow up if no mistakes happen from which he/she can learn things about himself/herself. The hero of the ‘Tape’ is closed in a room which the readers do not know whether it is heaven or hell and is on the verge of recollecting his past actions. The first idea that meets readers is that mistakes are part of life so there is no point in trying to forget them or cover them. The deeper aspect though which meets the readers is the fact that most people seem to be afraid to accept their own personal truths about their mistakes or past actions of which they are ashamed, so they tend to lie to themselves and others. But life is meaningless and loses its beauty and value if it is covered in lie. The Attendant informs the enclosed Person that he / she is to listen to the tape which is the inner voice of his / her soul telling ‘Listening, word by word, to every lie you ever told while you were aliveEvery ugly lie to every person, every single time, every betrayal, every lying thought, every time you lied to yourself, deep in your mind, we were listening, we were recording, and it's all in these tapes, ten thousand boxes of them, in your own worlds, one lie after the next, over and over, until we're finished.’ So the Person, has to deal with his lying. His lying to himself and to others. And he realizes that this is his own hell. His hell is not being able to hide form the ugliness of his lies which were the ones which led his life.
Conclusion
Life is a lot of things. And certainly life is full of feelings and experiences. But the first thing that one should never forget or neglect is that life is foremost the wish to live. And living is a journey in which no matter the dangers, the traps, the unknown places, the tempests, the bad or good weather, the clouds covering the sun and the possibilities of losing your compass, it’s worth travelling. So life needs love, courage and free will.
