19)#102-1. Demystifying “The Sound of Silence”?

The Sound of Silence.. This song has left a deep impression on me. The reason for that is even now I cannot wrap my head around on what it means exactly. It is quite frustrating :/

Since the meaning of the lyrics is ambiguous, I thought I would just elaborate on how these lines made me feel when I heard them the first time. This way, I hope to understand Benjamin, the protagonist of our in-class film The Graduate, a bit better.

In the beginning, the song made me feel like I was all alone. I was in the dark where no one else could reach me. I felt slightly sad. In the middle, my loneliness progressed in an unexpected way. Unlike the beginning of the song, I knew that there were many people around me; however, I could not relate. Random people passing and speaking with muted words was replaced with the soft and rather melancholic melody of the music. It felt like I was floating amongst the crowd. From the outside, I looked like just an ordinary person, but my soul was rebelling, rebelling for freedom..I wanted to be different just like Benjamin wanted. Unfortunately, my soul could not break away. It wanted to reach others that were drowning, but it couldn’t.

Finally, the sound of silence..

Of course, this is just what my emotions appeared to be when I heard The Sound of Silence. There is neither right nor wrong, so please feel free to add your own impression of the song. I’m curious about other people’s views: DDD

3. To Ignore or Not to Ignore? -> That is the real question!

As the title suggests, which I credit the structure of to Shakespeare, the real question is, “To ignore or not to ignore?”

In “The Enormous Radio” John Cheever portrays the seemingly ‘perfect’ American family. However, as time passes, we notice that this is not so true. Irene and Jim Wescott have problems just like everybody else, but they supress these problems by listening to classical music till their ears bleed, if I may say this in a rough manner. Basically, they ignore their problems by using the radio.

Unfortunately, as Irene learns the tenants’ dirty little secrets, she finds it hatd to ignore all the things that are wrong in the world, specifically in her own. Her restlessness eventually ticks Jim off, and they come to a point where they cannot ignore anymore.

In my opinion, one should never run away from his/her problems. Running away, which is ignorance, only causes more trouble, and it results in something much worse than the original problem itself. Ignorance is the equivalent of cowardice. Furthermore, just like a tiny snowball that builds up to be an avalanche, what you’ve been avoiding gets bigger and bigger to cause a huge disaster that might even ruin your life! If you need an example, just look at the Wescotts. We know that their marriage is never going to be the same. Moreover, if they lived in the 2000s instead of the late 1940s, their marriage might have ended with a divorce eventually!

Credit(for the picture): http://lailalalami.com/2008/the-enormous-radio-in-radio-form/