Sunday Question
"...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment." (page 165)
Describe the significance of this quote regarding the different stories within the book. How is this an ironic statement regarding the woman and her missing daughter?
This quote is the whole message of this whole book, and is what the river of Sutra represents. If the beauty is running through the river, then it will pass areas and bring great happiness and beauty to that area. However, since the river is flowing, the beauty cannot stay, and will just pass by. This novel is a collection of vignettes when the river brought them either the happiness of the river, or the despair that follows the happiness. An example of the despair is the the story when the cruel Sahib slits Imrat's throat. On page 90, the narrator touches upon the incident, "'Wouldn't you scream if you saw a man slitting a boy's throat?"" Also, the story of the women and her missing daughter is ironic because it is a story of dispair, while the river usually brings happiness. The daughter was kidnapped and still had not been found. There is no happiness in a women losing her daughter once, and now having her life at risk once again because the police won't continue to search for her after she was kidnapped. The mother says, " I have lost my child once, sir. I beg you, do not endanger her life again. Let me tell you how my daughter was stolen from me. Then you will understand why the police have abandoned her" (161). While the river is a passing thing of beauty and love, this story is ironic because it has neither of which the river promises, which is beauty and love. The essence of this quote is similar to a line in The Outsiders, when they often make the reference that, "nothing gold can stay". It just means that good things can't happen all the time, and without the bad things, good things aren't as special.
ReplyDeleteThis quote has specific significance to many different stories that are told in A River Sutra. The quote itself is describing that beauty is a passing thing, therefore it does not last and even the most beautiful things will not be beautiful forever. For example, beauty fades with age in people, and as described in Chapter 10 when the woman is recalling where her grandmother used to be employed, beautiful places are destroyed due to aspects such as industrial development and pollution. Love beyond attainment is describing that love is next to impossible to acquire and once is acquired, it is next to impossible to keep and can be taken away in a heartbeat. Both the passing of beauty and unattainable love are evident in the story about young Imrat and his beautiful singing voice. The music teacher, Master Mohan is enthralled with this child’s ungodly voice and decides help nurture his talents. However, no matter how hard Master Mohan works, in time, the boy will lose this talent as he ages. Master Mohan loves this child as if he is his own son and after the Great Sahib hears the boy sing and decides that no one deserves to hear such a beautiful voice except for him, Imrat’s throat is slit and he dies. Master Mohan is devastated and his love is destroyed, exemplifying the fact that love is unattainable. This quote is especially ironic to the woman with the missing daughter. The daughter is beautiful and talented, however beauty is a passing thing therefore, just like Imrat, this young girl’s beauty and talent will also fade. Perhaps the more ironic aspect is the fact that the mother describes the child as an angel, saying “You may think it is only the opinion of a mother, but truly, sirs, my daughter was an angel, giving love to all who met her as a child gives love to those who have conceited and spoiled it because it does not know there is harshness in the world or ugliness” (169). This quote is ironic because the mother truly believes that love is attainable by all if they are touched by something that allows them to love again, even after they have experienced the harshness and ugliness in the world. Even though the mother was taught at young age to teach princes to understand that love is unattainable, she believes this is possible through a child with gifts such as the one’s her daughter possesses. This love becomes unattainable when her daughter is kidnapped, in the mother’s eyes, now there is nothing that can help ease the pain of a cruel world.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the entire novel we come across a variety of stories all sharing the same theme, happiness accompanied by struggle. As Jesse said, "the river brought them either happiness of the river, or the despair that follows" referring to the constant battle between success and struggle between each of the stories. The quote from page 165 illuminates how throughout the entire novel, good things will never stay for too long and achieving love is beyond capability. For instance, in the Monk's story, a wealthy man gives up his entire life to become a jain monk. He gave up on his wife, children,father, and wealth just for this faith. Although the monk is happy, sorrow and anger falls over his family. The monk's father angrily yells at him "I should have never allowed you to live abroad. The West has destroyed your peace of mind" (27). Clearly the father is upset by his son's actions, proving the theme of balancing happiness for one while there is sorrow for another. The quote on page 165 is ironic regarding the woman and her missing child because there is no "beauty passing by" and no love is being achieved. The innocent child has been missing for two years and the police have given up their search for her due to the dangers that lie between her abductors. Perhaps this story begins with sorrow and follows with happiness, rather than happiness followed by sorrow.
ReplyDeleteA River Sutra contains many stories in which something beautiful is found, but then taken away, and the love that was attached to that beautiful thing is then too taken away. As a child, Master Mohan had a great singing voice and his father fought away his illness to see his son with a successful record deal, but then Master Mohan's voice broke and he couldn't sing the same again. Years later as an adult though he finds Imrat who sings wonderfully too. He teaches the boy to sing, and a fondness grows inside Master Mohan for the boy's beautiful voice. But when the boy is killed, that beauty is taken away and Master Mohan's love goes with it. As Caroline said, "For instance, in the Monk's story, a wealthy man gives up his entire life to become a jain monk. He gave up on his wife, children,father, and wealth just for this faith. Although the monk is happy, sorrow and anger falls over his family." The monk had a good life before he became a monk, but he let it all go away and the beauty of his life faded in his father's eyes, even when to the monk it was still beautiful. Naga Baba takes in a young child from a woman who was selling her out, and he shows her beauty through the Narmada River. He says to her one night "'The Narmada claims all girls as hers. Tonight you become a daughter of the Narmada.'" (254). He performs a ritual on the child by the river and gives her something more than beauty to hold onto, and something she can love, a religion. Naga Baba seemingly understands that beauty isn't forever and that love reaches to more than just a finite thing. The quote "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" is ironic when referring to the woman and her daughter because of their situations. The mother's beauty has faded in time, and the daughter is now beautiful, but she was stolen away. In the two years that the daughter was away, the mother's love for her daughter grew, but the daughter had fallen in love with the man who kidnapped her. The daughter and mother are reunited briefly after the kidnapper died and the daughter returned. The daughter has lost the one she loved and the mother and daughter shortly part ways. The daughter's love has been lost, but she still holds her beauty. The mother still holds her love for her child though and it never fades away. Each of them holds onto something at the end of their story.
ReplyDeleteThe quote relates to every story in the book A River Sutra. It's explaining how beauty and love are magical and amazing, but neither can truely last forever. They come and go before you know it, and everything is always changing. Jesse Jay further explains it very nicely when she says "If the beauty is running through the river, then it will pass areas and bring great happiness and beauty to that area. However, since the river is flowing, the beauty cannot stay, and will just pass by." A story from the book where this quote is applied is the first story when a man renounces the world to become a jain monk. Everything in his life is beautiful and his family is satisfied, but then he gives it all up to be a monk, making his family miserable even though he is going to be happy. His father is especially angray and upset, "My father comes to fetch me, he weeps again, but I can offer him no consolation" (39-40). The quote "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" (page 165), is ironic to the story of the woman losing her daughter because love and beauty are taken away. The daughter was kidnapped and even though her and her mother were eventually reuinted, she is still in danger and her mother fears she will be taken away from her again. Even though the daughter and her mother were reunited, the beauty and love was never fully restored once it was gone. -Jocelyn Donohue
ReplyDeleteRelating specifically to “A River Sutra”, this quote has precise implications to many different stories told throughout this novel. The book focuses on a tangled web of stories, taking place in India, along the Narmada River. Throughout the entire book, many characters share stories with one another, all relating to a similar theme…”happiness is always accompanied with a struggle”. Starting from the beginning, one of the first stories told was the Monk’s Story, explaining his choice of path throughout life. His story describes the celebration of his “renunciation from the world”. Becoming a Janis Monk is extremely spiritual and in order to practice Janism, one must abandon his past life entirely. He explained the hardship of leaving his wealth and family, but overall his choice to become a Janis Monk was decided. The quote itself describes that no beauty can stay forever and love itself also must come to an end. A great example of “love beyond attainment” is in the story of Master Mohan and Imrat. Master Mohan was blessed as a child with a wonderful singing voice…however, as described before, all great things must come to an end. Once his talent faded, a part of him was never the same. Until he met Imrat, he never realized that he could love a stranger like a son. As Imrat’s talent soared, so did the love between Master Mohan, the music teacher and Imrat, the young eager child. However, unattainable love is shown once again when Imrat is brutally murdered. Master Mohan was devastated when his love for the child was destroyed. Why cannot love be attained? What reasoning keeps us from being truly happy without struggles? The quote “…beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment” is especially ironic to situation between the woman and her missing daughter. As explained on page 171, the mother said, “Please, sir, do nothing until I hold my daughter safely in my arms again”. This quote is ironic because the mother truly believes that her love with her child is attainable no matter what. She believes that they will reunite and all will be right in the world. Nobody can help the mother ease her pain, except for the return of her daughter.
ReplyDeleteA River Sutra presents the volatile relationship between beauty and love. Like a river, life brings phases of prosperity, and phases of loss. Beauty is found, love ensues, and yet it can be taken away just as quickly. This is apparent in the teacher's story. Master Mohan finds a fufilling young boy to live his chilhood dream. He sees great potential in Imrat, and lives somewhat vicariously through him. Imrat provides an empathetic, joyous, and beautiful task for Master Mohan to take under his wing. This gives Master Mohan a sense of meaning, that is foreign in his family life. The boy was murdered, along with Master Mohan's incandescent life treasure. Like Bailey said, "when the boy is killed, that beauty is taken away and Master Mohan's love goes with it." Tariq Mia finished the story with, "But he threw himself under the train before it reached Calcutta"(91). Master Mohan's suicide portays the idea that one cannot exsist without their single ambition, whether it's a person, religion or vocation. The beauty that Mohan experienced through the child was ripped from him, resulting in intense sorrow, that lead to his death. This struggle between fact and fate is also seen in the story of the woman and her lost daughter. "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" is an ironic quote because the mother's beauty has dulled, yet her kidnapped daughter is beautiful. The mother loved her daughter increasingly throughout their two years apart. However, the daughter fell in love with her kidnapper. The mother and daughter never truly reconnect. The daughter is still stunning, but she has no love. The mother has love, yet no beauty. One cannot possess both, but must embrace the virtue they are granted.
ReplyDeleteThis quote is the message of this entire book. It describes the fleetingness of love and beauty. Both relate to the river Sutra itself, and the aspects of the river. The river is always flowing, every changing, and never staying exactly the same as the waters move on. This quote and the river describe the essence of the novel. One story that exemplifies the quote is the teacher's story. In the story, a music teacher takes in a blind boy who can sing like an angel. The boy is taken to sing for a great sahib, who takes his life. Just as the quote describes, the beauty in this story is always passing boy. The music teacher's voice was beautiful until it cracked with age. The boy was perfect in tone, until the sahib's knife silenced him. The author recounts the incident in the following chapter, "'What happened? Why was the music teacher screaming?' 'Wouldn't you scream if you saw a man slitting a boy's throat?'" (90). The fleetingness of beauty and love in this story capture the quote. The music teacher never truly loved his family. The never loved him back either; the only love was between the boy and the teacher. However, this love is unattainable, as the boy is sucked from life with one stroke of a knife. As Sam states, "Master Mohan loves this child as if he is his own son and after the Great Sahib hears the boy sing and decides that no one deserves to hear such a beautiful voice except for him, Imrat’s throat is slit and he dies. Master Mohan is devastated and his love is destroyed, exemplifying the fact that love is unattainable." The love that Imrat and Master Mohan share is fleeting and truely unattainable. They share it for a while, but as with all other things along the river Sutra, it is just passing and can not stay. The irony of the quote is the fact that the mother still believes her beauty and love with her daughter can be returned. The daughter was kidnapped by a famous bandit and the mother thinks she can get her daughter back at a temple along the river Sutra. However, what she does not realize is that love and beauty are always passing along this river. The daughter's beauty will eventually fade, and eventually the time away will cause her love for her mother to as well. The irony comes from the fact that the mother thinks she can escape it and keep her love and beauty. The sad truth is she can not; everything is fleeting on the river Sutra.
ReplyDeleteThis quote represents how in all of the stories something good happens but does not last. This is seen in the story of Imrat the young and talented singer. The during the story the career of Imrat as a singer begins and it seems as if Imrat will be able to make lots of money and make people happy with his beautiful singing. But sadly this does not last as the Sahib kills him. This is seen again in the story with the young girl who is taken by the bandits. She is very humble but a great singer and people love her. The mother then says on page 170 "And then, sir, my life somersaulted." Her daughter is then taken by the bandits. As Jesse quoted from the Outsiders, nothing gold can stay
ReplyDeleteBeauty and love are delicate little flowers. They bloom once a year, but when the season is over the beauty turns brown and dead and the love withers away. Beauty and love come and go with the cycle of life. Therefore they are not eternal. “…Beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment.” The first part of this quote “beauty was a passing thing” is relatable to the young blind imrats story. A music teacher named master Mohan found himself in a difficult position. A young woman sought out the help of any respectable man who would care for her blind brother imrat. Master Mohan decides that imrat should stay with him and his family. He later discovers that the boy has a talent that master Mohan had lost once in his earlier life. The jealous wife of Master Mohan sought to make a quick rupee off of the young blind boys voice. She forced the boy to sing at a shady rich sahibs house. His voice pierced the silence with a beautiful melody, but an unfortunate ending silenced the boys music.” ‘Wouldn’t you scream if you saw a man slitting a boy's throat?’” and as Bailey said earlier ”But when the boy is killed, that beauty is taken away and Master Mohan's love goes with it.” Another vignette in a river sutra explains the second half of the quote. A mother kept her daughter safe from dangers outside of the walls of her property. Her daughter was safe until one day a wanted murderous man kidnapped her. After a series of unfortunate events, the girl discovered the love that both her and the capture had experienced in there past lives. Each life had ended there love before they could be together long enough to break the cycle. Love was never attainable for these two. They caught a glimpse of love only to loose it as soon as they attained it.
ReplyDeleteThe quote "..beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" (165) connects to many parts of the book, A River Sutra. As Sam says "The quote itself is describing that beauty is a passing thing, therefore it does not last and even the most beautiful things will not be beautiful forever." I agree that the quote is interperted as nothing beautiful can last forever. This quote represents that beauty and happiness is flowing just like a river. And just like a river, beauty and happiness will eventually pass by, just like the vignettes that make up the book. An example is chapter four, The Teacher's Story. Master Mohan was a music teacher. As a child, Master Mohan was a singer that and his father was a music teacher that helped Mohan's train. However, when a recording contract was offered, Master Mohan's voice had "broken". Master Mohan's wife says "Your family has the evil eye. Whatever you touch is cursed, whatever you are given you lose." (56) This quote supports the idea that beuaty and happiness flow like a river, constantly coming and going, passing by in life. Master Mohan, as a child, experience happiness and the beauty of his voice. Later on Master Mohan experiences the pure voice of a child causing his eyes to tear up. He then takes Imrat as a pupil. Althought Master Mohan ends up abusing the child and Imrat dies at the end, this story reminds us that life is not filled with just happiniess, but sorrow and tragedy as well. As Jesse refrenced from the Outsiders, "nothing gold can stay" one cannot expect happiness all the time and that "bad things make the good things more special."
ReplyDeleteIn the book, A River Sutra, we can see throughout many of the chapters and stories, people gain and lose love in such a way the author is trying to convey a message. In the first story, the monk at first loves his newfound philosophy of being a jain monk but soon after his ceremony, finds it to be not as he expected. The second story about the music teacher, Master Mohan, has a more prominent theme of love and loss in the form of the child singer Imrat. The child has a voice that said only to appear once a century. The Music teacher takes the boy in as his pupil and falls in love with a boy because he is like a son that he never had. Tragicaly, the boy's life is cut short by the great Sahib when he fears the boy will take away his fame. The music teacher is heartbroken and kills himself out of grief. In the executive's story, we find Nitin Bose, a tea plant manager, to be desperatly in love with whom he belives to be a plantation worker. The lonliness of the estate drives him to feel emotions towards this mysterious woman who makes love to him almost every night. When Nitin returns after a vacation type absence, the woman turns out to be the godess of Narmada and has possessed him. Such love and loss plays a major role in the book's overlying theme.
ReplyDeleteThe quote, "beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" in the book A River Sutra can be seen throughout each vignette included. The beauty of the Jain monk's life before his renouncement passed, the voice of Master Mohan faded, and the life of Imrat ended. As Jesse says, the Narmada River relates to the quote as well, as the beneficial things the river brings, flow and pass like the river itself. This quote is so significant as the idea of happiness, wealth, and good things are proven not to be everlasting in every story the narrator is exposed to. In each story, the characters experience happiness and beautiful things, but there is always a touch of tragedy or hurt that is present. But the same way beauty in happiness passes and flows by, the hurt or bad things that follow do too, allowing the beauty and happiness to return. This can be seen specifically in the monk's story. He leaves the beauty and wealth from his family to become a Jain monk. He thinks to himself, ". . . I am paralyzed by fear. This is the last time I will embrace my children, or laugh with my brother. (37)" This quote, along with what the monks chant to him about his future of being insulted and an outcast, shows the seemingly bad things that he will come with his renouncement from the world. But, even with that, the monk says, "Giving up the world was no sacrifice for me." His story shows that the monk was able to give up happiness, go through a hard time, and then find it again, as all of the labels of "happiness" and "sadness" are not concrete, and always flow like the river.
ReplyDeleteThe quote, "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment." (page 165), could be used to sum up the entire book, A River Sutra. The stories told through out the book have two things in common, the Narmada River and the reoccurring theme of love. Through out the book the Narrator continues to hear stories from Tariq and about the Narmada River touching the hearts of the people living around it. The theme of love is told in every story to the narrator in one way or another. Sometimes it is love resulting in a tragedy, like in the story about Master Mohan the music teacher and Imrat the blind boy. Master Mohan was once an amazing singer but had his dreams crushed right before his record contract because his voice was broken. He was never the same again until he met Imrat the blind boy. As soon as Master Mohan heard the blind boy sing he immediately fell in love and cared for the boy. Master Mohan loved the boy like it was his own child. "Master Mohan could hear his wife cursing. He did not know his own screams echoed the blind boy's as he screamed and screamed and screamed" (page 89). When the Sahib killed the boy, Master Mohan was almost disconnected from life. I think he finally had enough and couldn't take any more disappointment. The theme of love throughout this book is something always trying to be attained, but seems to always be "beyond attainment", never truly being reached. This is just one of the many stories containing the theme of love. Another story is the one of the mother and her daughter who is kidnapped. The mother continues to have hope for the daughter, and truly believes they will be reunited someday. Sam Prue makes a great point when she says, "This love becomes unattainable when her daughter is kidnapped, in the mother’s eyes, now there is nothing that can help ease the pain of a cruel world." Master Mohan the musician and the mother both have horrible things happen to them, both resulting in the lost of love. The first quote connects all the stories in A River Sutra because it explains how life can often be very cruel, and beauty and love will always be changing hands and never truly attainable.
ReplyDeleteThe quote, "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment", is a recurring theme in A River Sutra. It describes the fact that beauty will never last, and love is near impossible to achieve or maintain. This theme has been apparent in each of the stories told in the book so far. The monk's story is the most unique in regards to this theme. While other characters in the book lose the beauty and love in unexpected and sorrowful ways, the monk seems to have a greater understanding of the fleetingness of beauty and love. The beauty of money, sex, and success is initially a major part of the monk's life. Perhaps realizing that these are all fleeting pleasures, he gives them all up and moves on in his life, becoming a monk.
ReplyDeleteThe characters of the other stories realize the fleetingness of love and wealth in more tragic ways than the monk. The music teacher realizes how quickly beauty can disappear twice in his life. First, when his own voice deepens and loses its beauty, and second, when the boy who he has apprenticed and grown to love is killed in front of him. Nitin Bose discovers the fleetingness of beauty when he clears his mind and fully observes his lover: "At that moment the spell in which Rima held me was broken....Her limbs were squat and ugly in the light of dawn."
Irony is rampant in the story of the woman and her missing daughter. The daughter who the woman loves so much and tries so hard to find doesn't in fact love her when they reunite, having fallen in love with the very man who tore the women and her daughter's love apart. To add to this irony, the love between the daughter and her captor was short lived and died when her captor died.
This quote can be connected to every story in the book. Each story contains an element of beauty or love that is lost or never reached. The woman who lost her daughter to the kidnappers was described by the narrator to maybe once have been pretty, but not anymore. This supports that beauty is a passing thing. The quote can also be connected to the woman losing another beauty of hers, her daughter. As Jocelyn said, the quote is ironic to the story because love and beauty are taken away from her when her daughter is kidnapped. And although they were reunited, the mother fears that they will again be separated. But this woman also contradicts the quote because of her love for her daughter. She has definitely attained love for her daughter because she is about to risk her life in a dangerous part of the country to find her. The woman also shows loss of beauty when she describes the changes her town went through as she grew up, "Where there used to be gardens now we have factories. Our gracious old buildings have been torn down to be replaced by concrete boxes named after politicians" (167). Destruction of beauty is also seen in the music teacher's story. The music teacher takes Imrat to perform for the great Sahib, and in the middle of Imrat's sining, the Sahib kills him. What is seen as a great opportunity for Imrat turns out to be the evil doings of a greedy and powerful man. The man destroys the boy and his beautiful voice because of his selfish personal desires. Another place where the quote, "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" is represented is in the executives story. During his time at the tea estate he built, and eventually lost a relationship with a mysterious person in his dreams. However, he was never able to fully attain love for this person because of some things that she told him. These things disgusted him and he ended his meetings with her. Their relationship was only a passing thing and love was never attained between them. But after losing these things he cleansed himself in a river ceremony to regain his sanity and he was able to move on with his life.
ReplyDelete-Danny O'Dowd
In every story in a River Sutra, the connection between love and beauty is displayed. For example, in the very first story, the monk left what was considered a prosperous life for a life of simpleness. During a grand celebration, the soon to be monk experiences a new feeling. He says "I told the old monk of the sudden, unexpected compassion that had overwhelmed me" (35). The monk replies "The human heart must conquer many hurdles to recapture that vision..." (35). Once the main character of the story appreciated the beauty of the world, love for the human heart came next. He forsook his old life and learned to love the people of the world and not the ways of the world. He came to understand that where beauty is found, love resides, but it is difficult to hold onto that beauty. In the second story, Master Mohan loved Imrat, the blind boy with a heavenly voice. However, Master Mohan's life was shattered when Imrat was murdered by a sahib. As a final testament to his love for Imrat, Master Mohan jumps in front of a train to end his life. In Chapter Five, Tariq Mia says "Perhaps he could not exist without loving someone as he had loved the blind child. I don't know the answer, little brother. It is only a story about the human heart" (91). As Imrat died, his beauty was taken out of this world, and Master Mohan could not live without that love. Again, this shows the idea that love is difficult and nearly impossible to hold onto. As Trysten said "Beauty and love come and go with the cycle of life." These stories display the correlation that beauty and love follow a never ending cycle of brief triumph and separation. It is ironic that the story of the mother and daughter contains the quote "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" (page 165). Although the daughter sacrifices herself to the waters of the Narmada, her beauty has not perished. Her life was sacrificed for love, keeping that love alive. Although the mother must live without her daughter, her love for her daughter has not decreased in anyway. So when the quote says "beauty was passing" and "love beyond attainment" it does not pertain to that particular story.
ReplyDelete~Miclyn
The quote “Beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment” expresses a theme that runs throughout each vignette in A River Surat. The superficial splendor of of the Monk's previous life, Master Mahon's love for music and Imrat along with the beauty of his childhood voice, and the beauty and reverence Nintin feels for Rima. These all are ended before the final word in the story could be told. All these characters had worldly pleasure and attachments that they lost or let go of. Even if any of them had managed to hold on to the beauty and love in their lives, they would have been left behind while the persons passed on (or reincarnated) and they would have lost it either way. Perhaps the best representation of the moment when beauty and love are shattered comes from the tale of Nintin Bose, for when he realized that he was in love with the wife of a coolie “...Waves of disgust engulfed me and I wanted to vomit with shame. At that moment the spell in which Rima held me was broken” (130). His reaction to his loves association with something he cannot bear to admit permanently broke illusion he had been under. It is under this rule that the irony in the mother's situation becomes apparent. Even if beauty and love are temporary things, and therefore don't matter in the long run, she is not willing to give up those qualities in her daughter. Even though her daughters beauty will fade and the mother's love will dry up she does not give up and in there lies the irony.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe book, A River Sutra, represents a significant aspect of life which is how good and beautiful things do not always last, as stated in the quote, “...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment.” This is an intricate and ironic concept, as things in life can seem so filled with happiness and love, yet can be taken away so easily. This concept is woven into each story of the book, showing how people from all walks of life can experience both loss and pain stemming from the same source. As Min Lu stated, “This quote supports the idea that beauty and happiness flow like a river, constantly coming and going, passing by in life.” It is in this concept that people are able to experience happiness and love throughout life, but that loss and suffering are always included. Nothing in life is perfect, and even the good things only last for a short time. In the first story, the decision that the Monk makes to commit to Jainism is bittersweet. He sacrifices the people he loves and his possible future life, for that of a different path. It pains and scares him to do so, but he knows this course of life is only temporary and his life as a Monk will bring him more happiness. The second story tells how Master Mohan grew up with immense love and happiness because of his singing abilities. Once he loses this ability, the beauty both literally and figuratively, was seen as the ‘passing thing’ of happiness. This is shown on page 56 in the quote, “Sometimes Master Mohan tried to escape his wife’s taunts by reminding himself of those four years of happiness that preceded the moment when the golden bowl of his voice had shattered and with it his life.” With the passing of his happiness, his life continued in the complete opposite direction. He attains then loses happiness again when the young singer, Imrat, is killed. In the fourth story, the woman treasures and does all that she can to protect her daughter from the horrors of the outside world. Her daughter is the literal beauty and happiness of her life. After protecting her for so many years, she is taken away from the woman the one time she brings her into the real world. This shows again how love and happiness can be experienced but never kept or attained. This is ironic in this story, as the mother experienced happiness through her daughter’s love and beauty, but it disappeared once her daughter was kidnapped. The mother truly believes this happiness will be restored once her daughter returns, but what she does not understand is that she can not attain that same love and happiness forever. It is just the way of life, as shown throughout this book. Nothing is absolute as things always change, and the true treasures can not always be kept forever.
This quote is very relevant to the different stories that are told throughout the book. It describes beauty as a “passing thing”. In every story, beauty does not last. It is eventually taken away by something or lost. In “The Executive’s Story”, Nitin Bose finds beauty in the woman Rima, who he meets while working as a tea-picker. Her beauty is taken away though when Nitin finds out that she is married, and he is disgusted with the things he had done with her. On page 130, Nitin says, “Waves of disgust engulfed me and I wanted to vomit with shame. At that moment the spell in which Rima held me was broken.” When he finds out that Rima is married, he feels shamed that he slept with another man’s wife. Something else that contributes to the shame that Nitin feels is that Rima is the wife of a “coolie”, or an unskilled native laborer. Nitin had beauty in this story, but it did not last, which is why it relates to the quote on page 165. To quote Sam, “even the most beautiful things will not be beautiful forever.”
ReplyDeleteThis quote explains how beautiful and happy things do not always last, and can be followed quickly by sorrow and pain. Gita Mehta weaves this theme throughout her book A River Sutra in the many vignettes that are within the book. As Caroline stated, "in the Monk's story, a wealthy man gives up his entire life to become a jain monk. He gave up on his wife, children,father, and wealth just for this faith. Although the monk is happy, sorrow and anger falls over his family." The monk gave up his entire life and saw this as a beautiful thing but his father did not see any beauty in his decision at all. This theme can also be found in the story in Chapter 3 where Imrat, who is a fantastic singer, accomplishes so much with his voice, but it killed by the Sahib. Master Mohan,who took in Imrat, was detatched from reality when Imrat was killed. The book says "Master Mohan could hear his wife cursing. He did not know his own screams echoed the blind boy's as he screamed and screamed and screamed" Something so innocent and beautiful was destroyed, signifying that nothing beautiful can truly last forever, and Master Mohan understood this but was truly saddened by this. In the fourth story, with the mother and the daughter, the mother does not realize that happiness and beauty cannot last forever. She did all that she could to protect her daughter from the outside world, and when she finally brought her to the outside world. To the mother, the daughter was the beauty in her life and she lost it. This is ironic because the mother truly believes that her happiness will return someday when her daughter comes back. She does not understand that "beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment."
ReplyDeleteThe quote "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment." Can be used as the theme of the book. Throughout the book there is a main theme of love, and that is shown by the stories told by the many characters and is shown by the Narmada river. One character named Tariq, always talks about how the river touches everyone and everything that comes in its path. Sometimes the stories that are told end in happiness or tragedy. One story that ends in tragedy is the story about the blind boy, Imrat. Master Mohan is a teacher that sadly lost his voice right before an important contract. Basically Master Mohan is reliving his life through the blind boy. He has a very strong connection to him because of his voice. As soon as he opened his life he instantly loved him and felt very connected towards him! He treated him as if he was his own child."Master Mohan could hear his wife cursing. He did not know his own screams echoed the blind boy's as he screamed and screamed and screamed" (page 89). The Sahib had slit the blind boys throat and killed him instantly. Since the master was so close to the boy, it killed not only the boy, but him inside as well. Also he was only really connected to the blind boy because of his voice, and without it Taylor feels like he just kind of gives up. Like Jessie said,"when the boy is killed, that beauty is taken away and Master Mohan's love goes with it." This shows that he just simply had enough and with the boys death he had nothing to live for anymore. Master Mohan later on in the story commits suicide. His suicide just simply shows that a human being cant live without living for something such as a loved one or a religion. Since the boy was murdered this crushed Master Mohan and took everything that he was trying to hold on to (such as his voice when he was a child) away from him, which resulted in his death. Similar to what happened to Master Mohan, the same thing happened to the mother who had lost her own daughter. The mothers daughter was kidnapped two years ago and she has held on to the feeling that she will someday reunite with her. She will not give up. Since she does not have her daughter as her companion any longer, she also seems unattached from the world and doesnt have anything to look forward to. Her daughter meant everything to her and without her, she just simply is missing a piece of herself. Both the mother and Master Mohan have the lack of love in common. They both had someone they loved deeply taken away from them.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Behn
As many have said before me, like Jack Facey and Mitch Hale, this quote, "beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment." (page 165), summarizes the whole book and all its stories. It connects to the Narmada river, which is a continuing theme in all the stories. The river can be beautiful beyond belief, but it only last for a short while, because the river must continue to flow. This quote emphasizes and shows that. The beauty WAS a passing thing. "was" is the key word in the sentence. The quote also fits in with the story of the courtesan's story. The daughter was very beautiful and grew more and more beautiful as she grew older. The mother had a great love for her as well, even when she was taken. The daughter had her beauty all the way until she killed herself by jumping off the cliff into the Narmada River. The only thing i see that does not fit into this quote is that the quote says that the love was, and is not anymore, where in the book, the mother still loves her daughter deeply, even though she is gone. another place this quote could fit is in the relationship in between Rahul Singh and the daughter. When Rahul Singh was killed by the police, his beauty died, and at that same time, the daughters love for the world and everything in it passed, just as the quote describes. This quote connects in many other ways to the book. Andrew Huyck
ReplyDeleteThe quote from the book “…beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment” is significant and plays an important role in what the river Sutra represents. The quote basically means that beauty is something that cannot stay, it stays for only a short while and even the most beautiful things will not last forever. Many of the vignettes in the book express something beautiful, and then are just as quickly taken away. What Jessie Concannon said is relatable “beauty is found, love ensues, and yet it can be taken away just as quickly” beauty is not something that can be kept forever, and one should treasure all the beautiful things in life for as long as they can for you can never be sure when it will be taken away. One vignette that explains fleeting love and beauty is the story of the music teacher. The music teacher takes in a blind boy who has the ability to sing like an angel. The boy is taken to sing before the Great Sahib and after he hears the boy’s voice he decides that no one deserves to hear a voice that beautiful except him. The Great Sahib slits the boy’s throat and he dies. On page 90 it describes once again the love that Master Mahan had “’What happened? Why was the music teacher screaming?’ ‘Wouldn’t you scream if you saw a man slitting a boy’s throat?’”(90) Master Mahan loved the child as if he was his own son, and when the boy died Master Mahan was horrified. Love that strong and beautiful was then proven to be unattainable and just a passing thing, something that should be held tightly. The quote is ironic because the river usually brings happiness and the story of the woman and her missing daughter is the opposite, the river didn’t bring happiness at all. The beautiful daughter was kidnapped, showing that beauty and talent like all things is just passing and these attributes will fade, along with everything else. The love that the mother feels for the daughter is unattainable once the daughter is missing, and nothing but being reunited with her daughter will fill the void that her daughters love brought her.
ReplyDeleteThe quote: “beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment” is a major, reoccurring theme in A River Sutra. The book is many short stories, all connecting back to the river, in particularly the part of the river that the narrator resides. The basic meaning of this quote is that all forms of beauty cannot last forever, and will eventually fade. The narrator keeps on meeting characters, which not only are connected by the river, but this theme as well. Toward the beginning, we are introduced to an aspiring Monk, and his father who is a miner. It could be looked at as beautiful that the son wishes to be a Monk, and it is for many right reasons. But this beauty passes when we find out the father wants to use this for his own selfish reasons, and is an unfair man. He does not support his son becoming a Monk, which takes away from this beauty that comes from the Monk. A second, more obvious example of this theme is the bind orphan boy, Imrat, who was a talented singer. A successful music teacher, Master Mohan, sees potential in Imrat, and takes him in. We begin to see beauty again they boy’s life starts to get better. On page 78, it is said that Imrat and Mohan are “going to make a record and make lost of money”. At the peak of Imrat’s singing career, he is asked to sing for a king. At the end of the blind boy’s performance, his throat is sliced and he dies. That is the end of the beauty in the orphan’s life. The meaning of “love beyond attainment” is that love is not achieved, but instead experienced. An example of this is Imrat’s relationship with Mohan. Mohan begins by seeing some potential in the boy, so takes him in, but throughout their relationship, are falling in love. Mohan falls in love with Imrat because he gives Mohan meaning in his life. Imrat falls in love with Mohan because he gives Imrat’s life some joy and success. When Imrat is killed, Mohan cannot simply move on. His life no longer has meaning. If Imrat made Mohan “achieve” love, the meaning in his life would remain after he was gone. But since Mohan loved Imrat so much and his life meant much less now that Imrat had died, Mohan killed himself.
ReplyDeleteThe individual stories in A River Sutra have the common theme of beauty and the possibility of love in one's life, and then having it taken away. The quote, "...beauty was a passing thing, and love beyond attainment" (Mehta 165) shows that a person should not depend on these things for happiness because they are fleeting and unsustainable. Each character in the book either lost an element of beauty in their life or were in search of love that they could not obtain. In the monk's story, he says "I treated (my wife) with corresponding courtesies," (Mehta 29) conveying that he wasn't able to find love in their relationship or become emotionally invested in his home life, so it was easy for him to turn away and choose a new path as a monk. In the teacher's story, Master Mohan had a beautiful voice and was originally dependent on it to make a future for himself, but he had lost his voice and was left without a sustainable plan for the future. This fleeting element of beauty within his life was eventually replaced by Mohan's discovery of Imrat, who had an even more beautiful voice than Mohan's, and who Mohan mentored. Mohan trained Imrat and got him a record deal so that Imrat could support his sister and himself. But, this element of beauty in Master Mohan's life proved to be fleeting as well, Imrat's throat was slit and the beauty of his voice and life was taken from the world. In the executive's story, Nitin Bose was enchanted by Rima, and even though he has enchanted by her, he could never love her. Rima eventually reveals that her husband is a coolie and Nitin Bose accounts that "at that moment the spell in which Rima held me was broken" (Mehta 130). This quote is a perfect example of why love is unattainable, we have too many expectations of love that it cannot fulfill, and we can never achieve this ideal concept of love. This theme is especially prevalent in the courtesan's story, where the woman's life was completely dependent on her beauty, and because beauty does not last forever, her life will eventually lose the meaning that it now holds. The irony of this quote is held in exactly what Sam says, the woman was taught at a young age to teach princes that love is unattainable and that beauty should be appreciated subtly, yet she blatantly praises her daughters beauty and says that her beauty and "angelic" qualities touch other people and allow them to acquire and appreciate love within their own life. Her daughter was kidnapped and her beauty was not able to save her, even though she believes that her daughter's beauty was able to save others.
ReplyDeleteAs stated previously by many other sutdents, this idea of beauty and love is a prevelant theme throughout every story told the the narrarator in "A River Sutra". This sentiment refers to the terminality of tangible luxor, a theme ever present in each of the novels's vignette's: Every gain or benefaction in each of the character's lives is threaded with loss, not indifferent to Jamal's life in "Slumdog Millionaire". As the quote describes "...beauty was a passing thing," it means to convey the idea that beauty, a lesser form of the later discussed "love" was something that could be acquired for a short time, while it says "...love beyond attainment" meaning love could never truly be attained. In other vignettes through the novel, this theme is touched upon in the Monk's loss relieving of his luxurious life, Master Mohan's loss Imrat and later his own life, and Nitin Bose's loss of the perplexing idea of Rima, whom when finally revealed to him he felt sick. The Courtesan remarks that her daughter was proclaimed an "Angel", she was considered a great beauty: and unlike other elements of beauty in "A River Sutra", she too is lost. The irony lies within the mother's reluctancy to give up these qualities regardless of her loss. Tariq Mia, to explain to the narrarator the reasoning behind Master Mohan taking his own life states "Perhaps he could not exist without loving someone as he had loved the blind child" (91). This beckons back to the idea of unattainable love. Sean Pollio stated "These all [beauties] are ended before the final word in the story could be told. All these characters had worldly pleasure and attachments that they lost or let go of".
ReplyDeleteTaylor Aspinwall
ReplyDeleteAll of the stories in the book so far can connect to this quote, but the story that would serve as the best example for the meaning would be the story of the teacher. The reason the story of the teacher is the best connection to the quote is that in the beginning when the teacher finds the young boy and starts to hone his vocal skills. This event represents the first part of the quote and how all good things must come to an end and are simply passing by. The second part of the quote comes into play with the story when the boy sings for the sahib and is killed. This shows us how the teacher can never have the full everlasting happiness because true happiness is beyond attainment. All of the stories in the book start out with people fairly happy but it is only passing and none of the characters can obtain true happiness in the end because it is unattainable. This quote also applies to the latest story of the courtesan especially because the daughter is beautiful and is kidnapped. Eventually she learns to love her captor but their love is beyond attainment. In the end Love is beyond attainment due to the death of the captor causing great depression in the daughter which eventually leads to her jumping off a cliff. Page 187 “my grief was too great to sustain the life within me.”
The context of "...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" (Page 165) was referencing the impossibility of permanent beauty and the ungraspable idea of love, and also on how these things were commonly underestimated and taken for granted. The largest irony in this statement reveals itself several pages later when the woman explains “So jealously did I guard my daughter’s reputation that I succeeded in creating an aura of awe around her until she became famous not just for her beauty but for her modesty.”(Page 169) In this, the mother covers how beautiful, gracious, adored, and ideal her daughter is. Through these words, the woman also explains how much she loves her daughter, and to what end she will go to save her. The irony behind her words is she is hinting towards true beauty that she previously claimed to not exist, and truly loving someone, also previously claiming it could not be actually done.
ReplyDeleteAs Alex Carlson stated, “Every gain or benefaction in each of the character's lives is threaded with loss,” near perfection will be met with unfortunate events and occurrences. The book has thus far shown us in each of its vignettes that as something approaches so form of perfection, there will be a force going against it, in effort to impede its reaching that perfection. This is true in both Imrat’s tale and the courtesan’s tale, and lead to the general theme of the book: Perfection is a dangerous goal, and will always lead to hardships and downfalls.
This quote relates to each story in A River Sutra. Love and beauty are present in all the stories, but eventually fades away. Neither exist forever. The cycle of love and beauty is changing, similar to the Narmada River. The stories taking place on the Narmada River is appropriate because it is a setting where things are always changing and nothing is concrete. This includes beauty, love, and sadness. An example from the book is when the music teacher took in the blind boy with amazing singing talent. Everyone who heard the boy sing in the park admired his voice. Imrat’s voice was beautiful, until the Sahib slit his throat. The author explains the incident on the first page of the following chapter, "'What happened? Why was the music teacher screaming?' 'Wouldn't you scream if you saw a man slitting a boy's throat?'" (pg. 90). This explains how beauty passes and cannot be attained forever. I agree with Jesse when she quoted the Outsiders and said “nothing gold can stay”. This is only one example of the stories told in A River Sutra that deals with gaining and losing love. Irony is present in the story of woman and her missing child. The daughter had fallen in love with the person who kidnapped her. The woman loved the girl very much but they parted soon after they reunited. I agree with Bailey about the difference in the mother and daughter’s beauty.
ReplyDeletethroughout the book A River Sutra, this quote constantly relates to the different vignettes. The whole book is about how gold wont always glitter, or how things cant stay beautiful forever, and that is represented by the different stories told in the book. Jesse jay's comment put this is perspective very well.She stated " If the beauty is running through the river, then it will pass areas and bring great happiness and beauty to that area. However, since the river is flowing, the beauty cannot stay, and will just pass by." this was very well put. the second part of the quote beckons that love cannot be reached. this is prevalent on page 130 when he states "waves of disgust engulfed me and i wanted to vomit with shame at that moment the spell in which rima held me was broken." Previous to this quote he had found that he was sleeping with other mens wives. at one point those women made an oath to love and cherish. however sleeping with another man goes against true love to one person. Which leaves a question. Had they ever actually found true love? the quote brings out a perspective that says the woman couldn't have loved the men and no woman could ever actually find love in just one person or love at all. because love is beyond attainment. Dylan French
ReplyDeleteThis incite on beauty and love pertains mainly to the story of the Jain monk. The mother in this story associates love and beauty together as fleeting possessions of our human minds. The irony inlays in the mother's own telling of the story of her daughter. Her daughter is no longer there to hear the words of her mother yet she still holds her daughter in the highest reverence and respect. By passing word of her beauty and talents, the mother is keeping such beauty and talents thriving and alive and very much not fleeting. Many other stories in this book share similar themes of irony relating to love and beauty, such as the monk's story. The monk had the capacity to achieve great wealth and power yet still strove for more. His life was full of material objects thought to bring any man happiness and love however, he still resented the idea of allowing wealth to become him. The monk reveals " ... I had felt an undercurrent of fear that inheriting my father's business acumen I might also inherit his inhumanity. (26) " The son ached for a more meaningful life, as we all do, yet realized one could not find such an existence through beauty and worldly things, as many of us fail to do. This animosity toward possessions and material happiness lead to the question what makes us inhuman? If his father's wealth and power made him emotionless and unable to view other humans as such (25), then what in our own lives rid us of humanity? If beauty and love are fleeting, then what have we left?
ReplyDeleteThis quote is extremely important to the book, A River Sutra. Its importance is a big concept in the book, although it is not clear from the beginning. The quote by itself can be interpreted that beauty will pass over time, although love can be everlasting even after beauty is gone. This can relate to the river because it is said that the river will bring beauty to the areas that it touches, although it will not stay because it flows on. When a woman recalls the area that her grandmother used to work in chapter ten, it shows an example of places that used to be beautiful and now have been changed and are now ugly. One example of beauty being short lasting is when Master Mohan takes Imrat into his home to help him get better at singing. Master Mohan loves him and his voice, but this book quickly emphasizes the concept that beauty will fade when Imrat is killed.
ReplyDeleteOn page 90 you can see the love that Master Mahan had when it quotes “What happened? Why was the music teacher screaming? Wouldn’t you scream if you saw a man slitting a boy’s throat?” Because Master Mohan’s love is gone, it shows once again that beauty is impossible to get. It is also shown in the story of the Jain Monk, where he gives up his privileged life to renounce the world. He gave up his wealth and family, which he sees as the right thing to do. However, the loved ones he leaves behind are sad and left behind, and even though they loved him, they couldn’t have him in their life anymore. This is also ironic to the story of the woman and her missing daughter. When the mother and the daughter were separated, the mother never stopped loving her daughter, but the daughter ended up loving the man who kidnapped her. Because of this, the mother and daughter never truly reconnect. Also, the daughter on the outside has beauty, but on the inside she has no love, which is the opposite of what the river supposedly brings with it.
The significance of the quote “...beauty was a passing thing, and love beyond attainment” (165), regarding the book, The River Sutra, is highly important through the vignettes. The topics in each story have their own sense of happiness that is follows by struggle. In the quote is says beauty was a passing thing, it was, it man stories such as when the little boy brought such joy with his amazing voice the struggle included him being killed. Regarding the missing daughter, this is ironic to “…beauty was a passing thing, and love beyond attainment” (165), because love and beauty are both taken away. Saying that beauty was a passing thing is like a delicate flower drifting down the river; it brings happiness to the people who see it, but it soon goes away and that happiness fades. As Caroline states “He gave up on his wife, children, father, and wealth just for this faith. Although the monk is happy, sorrow and anger falls over his family." This is another example of how that delicate flower fades after a time of happiness. Throughout the novel it shows how hard it is to get that equal balance of love and beauty that stays, it always has its moments but continues through the different people that the narrator and Monk encounter.
ReplyDelete"...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment" rings true throughout the plot and sub-plots of A River Sutra (165). In every story throughout the book, the storytellers speak to the narrator about stories of loss and woe. There has been a happy ending yet for any of these stories and they all seem to connect to themes of beauty, in one way or another, and desire, or passionate love. The most significant of these stories is Nitin Bose's story about how he was possessed by a goddess that made love to him every night and then teased him into falling for her trap of desire. He has been haunted by the desire brought on by her, but has been un-attained since the incident as well as the high pedestal of beauty he had placed her on. Similarly, but not as concrete, the story of the teacher, Master Mohan, who relives his dreams of becoming a famed singer and musician through a blind young boy with the voice of an angel. In the end, the blind boy, named Imrat, ends up getting murdered by a great sahib and Master Mohan commits suicide no sooner after. While this may not say much about beauty and desire, but when Tariq Mia, the man who told the narrator the story, asked if he would like to listen to Imrat's voice again, having one record of the boy's singing. The narrator is appalled by this to which Tariq Mia reacts saying, "You mustn't be so frightened of love, little brother" (91). Hinting to the fact that Master Mohan had indeed fallen in love with the boy or his voice in one way or another due to the fact of the voice's beauty. It shows how the beauty disappeared through the death of the boy and his voice, symbolized by slitting the throat and that with all the love gone, he ends up killing himself. There was no more love or care in Master Mohan's life so he couldn't live anymore as his life was dependent on some type of love which he found in the boy, of which he did not receive from his family. All the stories in "A River Sutra" are interwoven with these themes of some desire, usually pertaining to love as well as beauty in the passing or impermanent manner of these states of being and mind. At the same time, this does remain ironic in the story of the older woman and her daughter, where, after the older woman's life surrounded by desire and beauty, she finds it again in her daughter who she believes to be somewhat of a reincarnation of her grandmother. Then, her daughter is taken away from her by a bandit and the woman has not seen her daughter in years. This is ironic in how she saw her daughter as eternal to her when this woman's grandmother, the original item of beauty and a person that she desired to be, had passed away and then the same person re birthed in the woman's daughter. The irony lies in the fact all is very much like a slap in the face where the woman believes that there is nothing to take away the beauty in her life and that love will always remain there, but that all changes when her daughter is taken away leaving her with practically nothing of beauty in her life. It is a true shame how this translates to the real world and through literature like in the famous quote from S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders' "Nothing gold can stay", but fact remains fact and this novel makes it quite evident.
ReplyDeleteI answered in the wrong blog :\
ReplyDeleteThe quote from A River Sutra embodies the message which the author is trying to portray as well as the significance of the Narmada River. As we see through the the various stories, the Narmada River means something different to everyone, but it brings peace and holiness to all. However, just like the quote states the beauty of the river is passing or forever flowing. Nitin Bose seeks the river to undo the spell of which the goddess Rima has placed him under. While at the tea estate, Nitin Bose is happy and able to avoid the temptations of women and alcohol, however, this does not last. He soon gives in to his desires and is visited by Rima. He admires her beauty for a while, but when he returns to the estate her beauty is gone and he no longer desires her. As a punishment, Rima places him under her spell. The teacher, Mr. Mohan, takes in a young blind singer named Imrat as a student. Mr. Mohan is mesmerized by the boy's angelic voice and did not believe anything could sound so beautiful. Everyone can hear the purity and clarity in Imrat's voice, however, his wife's greed costs Imrat his life. The rich sahid demonstrates the meaning of the quote through murdering the boy and destroying the beauty and love which he brought. The mother comes to the Narmada in search of her daughter. Her story is ironic in relationship to the quote. She describes her grandmother and daughter's love as eternal and she truly believes this to be true, which contradicts the quote. Even though the police have given up on the search for her daughter, the mother refuses to let her go. She continues to hold onto her daughter, forever searching for unattainable love.
ReplyDeletein the book A river Sutra the author makes it very clear that love is the point and purpose of this book.the quote adam gave us are very simple to get. in the storie every person is chacing love and good times. as life has taught us "what doesnt kill us makes us stronger". this quote matches that of the books message. it is saying bad things may keep us down but there will always be a bright sun the next day and it is only making the person stronger.the jaid monk has givin up his whole life in order to chace after love and love is beauty. the reason the quote is ironic is becasue the mother use to be pretty but nothing will every stay and the daughter is begining to look more like a women. the little girl gets kidnapped and then falls into a deep love with the guy and misses him when he passes away. at the end of that story the mom and daughter are reunited and the mom loves her child alot but her child also misses her lover. the moms love is proved when the police stop looking but she still thinks she is alove and well its just a matter of time before they find her.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of this quote is important throughout the stories.each story has its own happienss and great struggle. the missing daughter is ironic to the quote, because love and beauty are both taken away. Throughout the novel it shows how hard it is to get that equal balance of love and beauty. this is shown with all the people that the narrator meets.
ReplyDelete-Geoff Tuthill
"...beauty was a passing thing and love beyond attainment." (page 165) is a quote that is represented in many parts of A River Sutra. This quote means that nothing can stay beautiful forever and love is incapable of being felt in its fullest form. This is shown in the story where the young boy gets his throat slit after filling the world with the beauty of his voice. The beauty was literally a passing thing because it can no longer be had after his death. The irony behind the mother loosing her daughter is that there is nothing beauteous about the situation but the love being expressed between the mother and daughter is quite abundant. On page 171 the mother says "please, sir, do nothing until i hold my daughter safely in my arms again.". Just before that, the mother had said "You may think it is only the opinion of a mother, but truly, sirs, my daughter was an angel, giving love to all who met her as a child gives love to those who have cosseted and spoiled it because it does not know there is harshness in the world, or ugliness." (169) Which shows her extreme love for her daughter and her belief that the emotion of love can solve problems because it is an emotion everyone can relate too easily. Eventually the daughter and mother a reunited and the love felt after that was stronger than before because of what happened. Although the child missed her lover, she had the love of her mother.
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