Slaughterhouse-Five

As Billy Pilgrim travels through time, the novel explores mental and emotional conditions a specific soldier experiences after war. His constant retreat to childish mannerisms and strong desire t0 be comforted suggest that his character is essentially weak. He warps from past to present to future and even to nothingness after his death, yet Billy rarely seems to form a genuine attachment to anything. His continual displacement in time taught him to accept the things he cannot change (as from the serenity prayer hanging in his office), and since he believes that he isn't in control of life, he must accept everything and know he can change nothing. Billy's repeated saying "so it goes" reflects this consistent acceptance. The saying always follows deaths mentioned in the novel but could easily relate to how Billy views life in general, accepting things for how they are and avoiding any strong emotional ties to the subjects. Events Billy has experienced such as the bombing of Dresden and traveling to Tralfamador have sculpted his character; they have made him both a strong character and a weak one. Billy is strong in the sense that he knows to accept parts of his life that he cannot change instead of battling and losing. However, this strength could also be viewed as stubbornness and apathy. In other words, weakness. On Tralfamador, the Tralfamadorians have convinced Billy that his life is predetermined and whatever he does is already destined to happen and he therefore feels no motivation to change his life and is not compelled to make any effort. Clearly whether Billy is strong or weak is a matter of perspective. One's character may appear strong in one point of view but entirely frail in another.

Beloved

Beloved is a novel largely based around love. Beloved loves Sethe, Denver loves Beloved, Paul D loves Sethe. The novel circulates because of the love that fuels it. In that love, I see a lot of strenght and serious weakness. The characters are strengthened by healthy love but are weakened when love hurts them. Beloved experiences vast extremes of both. Before the novel even begins Sethe has murdered Beloved so she has no chance at life until she comes back. Beloved is forced to confront the pain of knowing her mother murdered her yet her desire to be a part of Sethe. Similarly, Denver and Sethe experience this strength and weakness bred by love. Denver loves Beloved deeply, yet is rejected by her when Sethe comes on the scene. Sethe has dealt with fierce rejection as well, having to deal with the insanity and possible death of her husband and the new man in her life. She has to accept that her previous actions are affecting her current life and cannot escape her past. She loves her present life but is constantly suffering because of what happened before. For my big question, the claim I could make is that mankind is both strong and weak, but the amount of love they have and the condition of that love determines this.

The Stranger

Wow. This book makes this question seem irrelevant to be honest. When I look at my question, whether mankind is strong or fragile, I try to analyze strengths and weaknesses in characters. In this novel, I have to first get inside the mind of Meursault, which is a trial in itself. Meursault appears simple- not having many thoughts, not doing too much with his life, but that apparent simplicity is what makes him so interesting. Meursault understands life. Probably better than most of us... in some ways. Meursault is accepting that he cannot change the past and cannot control the future and therefore doesn't bother trying to do either. In this respect, Meursault is strong. He can live almost entirely in the present and not be affected by his wrongs or his future, until the end of the novel. At that point, he realizes life is precious. This is where his strength begins to falter and he is almost surrendering himself to weakness. But in this novel, it seems that weakness isn't necessarily a flaw. When Meursault enters this fragile state, he becomes aware that life has meaning and the only thing that matters is living life. He recognizes the loss of freedom he now has and how he took it for granted before. Not to say that he is completely changed, though. Meursault still believes that the past is the past and therefore has no intention of trying to alter it, but he has a realization that he could have lived his life differently (whether or not he would have or even wanted to). I guess that I can't really answer my question definitively with this novel. Yes, mankind is strong, yet it is also susceptible to frailty. The difference this novel makes is that being fragile isn't always a fault; it can simply mean being open to the world instead of putting up walls and resisting growth. Mankind is strong, yet sometimes it is best if it would take a moment and embrace being fragile.

Crime and Punishment

Raskolnikov goes from being confirmed in his beliefs about murder to completely shaken by its ramifications. Initially he is justifying his murder but then becomes paranoid and uncomfortable with his situation as a result of his actions. Raskolnikov is frail until the end of the novel. Dealing with the guilt, uncertainty, and paranoia of his crime turned him into a character who could crumble at any moment. He is entirely frail without a resource to fall back on. By the end of the novel, we know that through Sonia, Raskolnikov finds faith and realizes something out there is bigger than himself. Raskolnikov is a fragile man until he finds God. Crime and Punishment reveals that what determines whether a man is strong or fragile is having something to rely on. Without support, a man will collapse, but support enables a man to be strong.