In Night City by Elizabeth Bishop we see a very dark scene, along with Howl we get a vivid image of something that has gone terribly wrong. The world moving toward a place far from what God originally intended is the overall themes of these two stories. Questioning Hope in such a dark and dying world I mean in Howl you see people who are dying of drug addictions, Suicide and who are just plain crazy. Compassion plays a big role in Howl as the author is feeling for these people, you can feel the heartache that this author is feeling for these people as he sees and isn't that the same heartache Jesus has when he looks at the broken and abused being mistreated by the Pharisees. We have to have compassion on those people (Isaiah 58) and not just have compassion but to reach out and clothe these people and help them find Jesus and that's where there hope and freedom where come from. When I look at the Night City poem I see sort of a post apocalyptic city in ruins, People moving along the street hastily and scared of the fact that all is gone. She is looking at a well to do person weeping by himself and just like I said in class its like she can imagine him with all these people having friends and wealth and now just like the city he is in ruins. I like the fact that she could also be alluding to the fact that the world is in ruins or heading that way.
I like what you said about how we not only need to have compassion for people who are hurting, but we actually need to do something about it by feeding or clothing those in need. It's like how we read the Bible and agree with everything it says, but until we actually apply its truth to our lives and live it out they are merely just words on a page. I agree that this poem definitely depicts an image of how our world is far from what God intended it to be.
ReplyDelete"Compassion plays a big role in Howl as the author is feeling for these people, you can feel the heartache that this author is feeling for these people as he sees and isn't that the same heartache Jesus has." Yes and Amen.
ReplyDeleteAshley is correct in her comment about about needing to do something. But in the end we will not be able to fix the world or end suffering. In the end, we need to sit with the question of darkness: this sitting is closely related to compassion.