Jerry places a poster in his locker that says, “Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?” At first, he doesn’t understand the meaning of the poster; he just likes it. At what point in the novel does it appear that Jerry is beginning to get the meaning of the poster?
5 comments:
Jerry seems to realize the meaning of the poster as he suffers from the actions of the vigils. At first, he likes the poster very much because it reminds him of what he is doing, and the fact that refusing the chocolate takes strength and bravery. He also feels proud of himself because he believes that he has given other students strength to stand up to the vigils in school. However, the vigils decides to take some actions to show him what the refusal of the chocolates can result in. They disturb Jerry’s life by tackling him during a football tryout, calling his house all day and night, and breaking into his locker to snatch his homework. At this point, Jerry finally realizes what it means to disturb the universe. What the poster tries to show is that there are certain physical or mental consequences one would have to face when he decides to disturb the universe based on his belief. Based on the poster’s intention, I look forward to see how Jerry would react to the vigils.
At beginnig of the story, he did not know what is the meaning of the poster, and kept disturbing Brother Leon and Vigils. His action is from ignorance that he did not realize what is right choice for better school life. HIs ignorance made him think he is the best, he can win Vigils and point out an error of school, but his power is too weak to stand against teacher and vigils. However, he realized it too late. It was not until vigil's advice that he realized what he is doing. Vigil's actions, for examples, Breaking his locker, tackling him at football games and phone call, make Jerry lose his courage. Reality is different from what he think: Real life was too tough for him. From Jerry's progress of realizing the poster's meaning, Author shows that Jerry's defiance is a wild dream, and universe does not change easily from mild power.
Jerry begins to understand the meaning of the poster as he is isolated from other students at school. After Jerry's refusal on selling chocolates, students ignore and attack Jerry by pushing him from the behind on stairs. Then Jerry starts to recognize the meaning of the "universe": rules made by Vigils that students are expected to follow at Trinity. The poster implies Jerry that by disturbing the "universe", which is fighting against Vigils, he would have to face difficulites that would hurt him mentally or phsycially. If anyone such as Jerry denies Vigils' assignments and orders, he/she would be punished for their misbehaviour. Jerry therefore is threatened by not only Vigils, but other students as well.
At first, when Jerry looks at the poster, he just likes it. He feels nothing but a mere confidence that he can do something that is not to be treated as an underdog. Without clearly understanding the meaning of the poster, Jerry expresses a strong objection to the mighty power of the Vigils; Jerry refuses to be involved in the chocolate sale. With his strong determination and endurance, Jerry seems to disturb the power of the Vigils, and stays strong against the Vigils. Also, being the only person that expresses objection, Jerry gains confidence that he can do something that others cannot do. However, Jerry realizes the true meaning of the poster as the Vigils directly abuses Jerry. The Vigils, annoyed by Jerry’s refusal, starts to punish Jerry by beating him up. As the punishment becomes more and more harsh, Jerry starts to realize that it is too much for him to deal with the Vigils; then, he understands the meaning of the poster. For Jerry, it is impossible to handle the massive power of the Vigils, and it is to dare the universe. Without Jerry wanting to accept the harsh reality, the Vigils is the barrier that he should live up with. In reality, it depicts an image of human trying to conquer the natural disasters. Although natural disasters are catastrophic to human kind, people cannot do much to stop it. Instead, people should deal with it as it is, and people do not have power to disturb it.
Post a Comment