What is this World?

     Have you ever wondered how the world came to be? Or how you knew so much about the world around you? Yes, it is miraculous how much we know about the world around us so naturally and can describe and depict aspects of the world around us so effortlessly.

     In his novel "Being There", Jerzy Kozinski narrates the life of the protagonist, Chance, who has lived as a gardener his entire life. All Chance knows is the garden! Could you imagine being confined to a small area like a garden your entire life without any contact to the real world? I sure can't. Because this main character is not at all connected to the outside world around him, he is essentially clueless to what society is. But there is one thing that educates him and teaches Chance how society functions.

     That's right! Television. Chances TV serves as his epistemology, or the way someone knows the world around him. Through this language of interpretation, the protagonist learns the world and society around him through the TV. Take yourself into his shoes and imagine yourself in this scenario. Chance is walking through the garden and then “Then he disconnected the sprinkler and walked back to his room. He turned on the TV, sat down on the bed, and flicked the channel changer several times. Country houses, skyscrapers, newly build apartment houses, churches shot across the screen. He turned the set off. The image died; only a small blue dot hung in the center of the screen, as if forgotten by the rest of the world to which it belonged; then it disappeared. The screen filled with grayness; it might have been a slab of stone” (Kozinski 28). Without being exposed to the natural world outside of his garden, Chance uses his TV to learn social customs, rules, and culture. The shows and pictures on his television are Chance's perception of the real world and what he expects the world to be.

     Poor Chance! I cannot imagine being confined in one small area my entire life and only be able to perceive what life is really like, rather than see what reality really is. Throughout this novel I have learned that perception versus reality is a main conflict that is evident not only through the entire novel, but in our world today! Turn on the news and you will see all the over exaggerated stories on almost every news station!

     Stay tuned on my blog to read more about this fascinating novel!