Bobby Goodman
English 121
Mr. Casey
29 November 2006
The Idea of Reality
Truth, memory, vision, hearing, touching, smelling, sadness, happiness, and ideas are all combined into one humanistic idea; reality. Most people view reality as where there present day life is taking place. This for many, would include themselves working, studying, or retired. With this comes family, money, and basically all that can be seen around them. Reality in everyday usage means “everything that exists.” The term reality in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether it is observable, comprehensible, or self contradictory by science, philosophy, or any other system of analysis. Reality in this sense may include both being and nothingness, where as existence is often restricted to being compared with nature (Wikipedia).
In Alice Walker's, “Everyday Use,” a scene in the story depicts two sisters ( Maggie and Dee) who are deciding what they should do with a quilt in which there Grandmother carefully made while she was still alive. To Dee, the quilt should not be used as everyday use because it is special and symbolizes sentimental family value. However to Maggie, the quilt should be used and not kept untouched because there would not have been meaning or reason for the Grandmother to make it. This scene illustrates that in Dee's reality of the quilts usage differs from Maggie's. Even though they are both related and live in the same house hold, they view ideas and philosophies differently. This indicated that Maggie is more of the “hard working” individual compared to Dee who was more of the fashionable one. “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands...I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog” (Walker 266). Alice Walker's “Everyday Use” simply depicted how two sisters do not see eye to eye on the world around them. Each sister's view of reality is completely different from each other.
In Walt Whitman's, “The Death of Abraham Lincoln,” the reality of death is very difficult to grasp. When someone dies, weather it be Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, or close family members, the idea or reality of someone like that actually dieing is so painful; it's incomprehensible. It's almost like their reality has simply shattered in front of them. “I repeat it-the grand deaths of the race-the dramatic deaths of every nationality-are its most important inheritance-value-in some respects beyond its literature and art-(as the hero is beyond his finest portrait, and the battle itself beyond the choicest song or epic) (Whitman 174).
In the movie “The Matrix,” the main character, Neo, is taught exactly what is and what isn't reality. His whole life, he had felt things weren't right and the movie depicted how right he was. The film portrays him receiving signs from an unknown source to simply “follow the white rabbit.” When he sees a tattoo of a white rabbit on a woman's shoulder, he then follows it and the secrets are later reveled to him. Neo is thought to be “The One,” so the real world as well as the real reality is shown to him. The reality depicted in the film seems at times so far fetched and made up that most would not believe in this so called reality.
These three works illustrate one main concept; reality. Although each work show different kinds of reality, it is purely how humans view ideas, concepts, and to many, what appear to be “the real reality.” Dee and Maggie view their Grandmother's quilt as having different meanings. Dee feels the quilt should not be used and should be looked at as a token of Grandmother's hard dedication and effort. While Maggie feels the quilt should be used for everyday necessities. The reality of the quilt to the sisters are completely different. As where as the concept of death is a universal view in which it almost seems unreal and so incomprehensible. To this day, many people are so awe struck by death that it has a universal effect on everyone. “The Matrix” is a film produced in Hollywood in which it is supposed to make one think if what they see is really there or what they touch is really touchable. Perhaps there is more to life then what we see right now, but for the individuals living in this time and on this world, reality is simply how you view ideas and concepts as well as what can be seen, touched, smelled, and hear. Reality is simply all that exists and nothing more.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. 2005 U.S.A.
Whitman, Walt. Death of Abraham Lincoln. 2005 U.S.A.
The Matrix
“Reality.” Wikipedia. 2000. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality>.
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