As I was writing my paper, I began to consider the death of Alex's grandfather. I was trying to decide weather or not he died in peace or not? In his last letter he was calm and seemed to be at a sort of peace; however, isn't that commonly true for people committing suicide. From what I know about the tragedy of suicide, people are usually very calm before they actually kill themselves. However, they are doing it because their life has generally spun out of control and they feel they have no escape. While I know I am quite ignorant on the subject thats what I have always thought and if this is the case was grandfather truly very unhappy. Then again was his death his way of making up for Hershcel and now he can be in peace. My questions keep going in circles and I really don't know what the real answer is. If you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them.
I thought about the same thing when I read Eli's suicide letter. In way, it seems that he does die in peace. He says that he is "complete with happiness." So, why does he kill himself? I convinced myself that Eli chose to commit suicide because of the fact that he WAS happy. Over the course of the novel, we saw the suffering that he endured, especially when Trachimbrod was taken over. At the point when he kills himself, I think that Eli must have been content with what he had done in his life. Maybe, he thought that if he were to live any longer, his current happiness would be compromised if some other unfortunate event would occur. Perhaps he chose to kill himself in order to protect himself from future suffering?
ReplyDeleteI think that a major part of Grandfather's decision to commit suicide had to do with Herschel's death. On page 145, Alex writes to Jonathan, "Grandfather is not a bad person, Jonathan. Everyone performs bad actions. I do. Father does. Even you do. A bad person is someone who does not lament his bad actions. Grandfather is now dying because of his."
ReplyDeleteGrandfather is weighed down by the guilt he has, and releasing that burden would seem like an attractive option. However, he waits until Alex is okay on his own before he does kill himself, as he is proud of Alex and knows Alex will support his family without his father.