FinnaBen

The day Ben Leubner came into class, i was no more expecting to understand Finnegans Wake than any other day. However he did shed some light on a few pages, as well as how to interpret what exactly you're reading. Ben began with how we, as a society today, examine books: in a linear sort of fashion. We lives our lives by the time passing by on the clock, by our eternally reoccuring schedules, and by the rise and fall of the sun. This is not how FW should be looked at. Think of Finnegans wake as a cycle. It has no beginning or end, but is a story about what happens to us after death, that foggy period between life and reincarnation (if you're so inclined to believe in this sort of thing). The text, as it sits in front of you, is only half of what Joyce wrote. This is evident when one reads the first word: Riverrun, and the last word: the. It is a never ending cycle. Two different parts, to the same whole, always complementing eachother, but constantly contradicting eachother. It is no code to crack, it just is. So forget what you know, or thought you knew about literature. Let the book teach you about language and the world around you, let the book remind you of life, and how when one thing ends, another always begins. When the sun begins to set, you can always count on it rising the next day. When one life ends, another inevitably begins.