Throughout the life of Oedipus, we see the evolution of one a man who was born into a position of power. This fact that he was going to be a future king merited him an "insider" position. However, once the curse that Apollo created was put force, Oedipus immediately lost this position because he represented a threat, thus becoming an "outsider" position. An intriguing aspect of this situation is that Oedipus hadn’t yet even been able to make decision for himself. He was an insider and outsider without actions. As Oedipus lives life, he gradually (and with some luck) becomes an insider once again, but this time trough his own actions of solving the riddle. He leads a strong kingdom while king and represents perhaps the epitome of an "insider" to society. This lifestyle is seized in an instant after it is revealed that the king had indeed completed the curse and married his mother and killed his father. Just like that, the powerful king descends to rock bottom of the "outsider" role. Things that can be learned from Oedipus' story is that perhaps what make one an insider or outsider are generally not actions taken by an individual, but destiny and luck rather that determine one's presence in society.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Why this question?
This summer after reading The Shipping News, I started to ponder why Quoyle was such an outsider, particularly while growing up? I wonder whether or not people are just born naturally as being "part or the crowd" or "against the grain." Throughout the novel, Quoyle started developing more social skills and he eventually almost becomes the head man at his business. However, Quoyle was still known as being fat, weird looking, and odd. So this causes the question to develop into whether or not people become an outsider based on looks or personality. I am looking forward into digging deep into this whole concept of being an insider an outsider throughout the school year, and hopefully by the end of it I will have a grasp on this big question.
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