I first read through The Book and found the twist at the end, that this beautiful book the narrator was holding was bound in human skin. I thought this was such an interesting idea because it made me think of fur coats and leather seats and why humans think it is a luxury to wear another dead animal’s skin. The line “I stared and a horror grew, which was, which is, how beautiful it was until I knew.” Really stood out to me, because this is such a universal human experience. We all have relationships or ideas that are beautiful and we out blinded by the fantasy and beauty until we see the horror underneath. Whenever I eat meat I think of it as a tasty meal and not some cute creature running around and than murdered for my supper. Humans have a tendency to just focus on the beauty and ignore the ugly. I thought this poem was pretty straight forward with the message. I also noticed that skin was mentioned a multiple of times and was heavily focused on.
I looked up human skin bound book out of curiosity and found this http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0411_060411_skin_book.html although I don’t think this is what the poem is referred to I still think it is morbidly interesting.
Wow! Super interesting picture!
ReplyDeleteReally great thoughts on this poem too. I think you've captured the feeling the author is trying to convey.
I really like how you saw the poem i never even though about fur coats and such. "We all have relationships or ideas that are beautiful and we out blinded by the fantasy and beauty until we see the horror underneath. " that is such a great line. I think that is so true and applicable to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Terra I never thought of the fur coats idea. I thought about it more as like a war item. Like this item was so beautiful to hima and meant everything to him like a journal but then in the end seemed so evil. Like it could be a child or a women or a commrade, and he had kept it. I also liked the picture you posted do you know if it was real human skin??
ReplyDeleteI liked how you related it to the fur coats and leather seats. It made it easier to relate to modern day, and how he first saw the book as beautiful. I'm not sure if you saw the last stanza as this or not, but I took it as knowledge can be desructive. This contradicts what we're taught growing up, but in a certain light, makes sense.
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