A sketch from 'Powerhouse' from Ray Bradbury's collection of short stories from 'The Golden Apples of the Sun'. The main character of this story, and unidentified woman who "simply did not have a pew-shaped spine", meaning she was not a church goer, religious or spiritual person in general, has an out-of-body experience that transcends her reality of experience up to that point in her life.
6 comments:
OK brother ... interesting story here. How about you comment first and we'll see how our thoughts about this story line up?
No doubt about it, Bradbury was NOT a church-going sort.
There are several of his stories that deal with what would generally fall into the realm of "natural forces" which he seems to imbue with an animistic intelligence. Of course the only one i can pinpoint at the moment is "The Wind," but I stand by my assertion.
The out-of-body experience is very similar to that of Cecy in The April Witch (c.f. www.shadowbent.com/2009/06/april-witch.html) and as elsewhere described as that character travels out of her own body as one of the Halloween People.
Should we read any Christian message into the story, since The Woman (an Eve antitype, certainly) speaks of herself as having no Church or religious feeling? I suppose we might... the author clearly was not coloring her as a Hindu, or a Jew, or a Muslim. So what to make of it?
I think such reading is left undisturbed. Trying to read an overt Christian message out of Bradbury is like arguing with a drunk relative on Thanksgiving: it gets you nowhere and will only leave you frustrated. might there be an unintended message for the perceptive reader, a message unintended and unknown to the author himself? Certainly... but then again, perhaps it is but a pebble of quartz (c.f. Robert Frost, "For Once, Then, Something" www.bartleby.com/155/4.html).
Thanks for the comments!
Great observation on the similarity with 'The April Witch' story which we read previously and I look forward to reading 'The Wind' in the future to see how these stories relate.
Ray Bradbury may not have been a church going sort, but at least it seems he does not have an aversion for those who are ... at least in this story. The woman in the story respects Berty, her husband, for his religious worldview; though she admits she doesn't understand it.
I agree with you. I don't think we could pull any overt Christian message out of this story and it would not be fair to the author to read anything into the story he did not intend. But I would like to offer some Christian worldview based criticisms in response to how Bradbury portrays the "bigger picture" in this story.
My main bone of contention is that the woman perceives that her world is a balance of both good and bad. For every joyous event, there is an equal and opposite sad event. This idea goes well with the theme of electricity in the story and the laws of physics in general. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Or, matter can not be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. But if this mechanistic worldview were true, would we not be merely robots? It seems to me that this point of view does not allow for freedom of choice and subsequent consequences. If there if freedom of choice, then there is the possibility of more people choosing self over their neighbor. And the more people chose self, then the more other people suffer. I would argue that that in fact is what is wrong with our world since the Fall and why there continues to be pain and suffering in the world.
I don't want to be too critical of Bradbury here. He's such a great writer. And who knows, is it not possible for an artist to reveal something of a greater truth that he or she is not personally aware of at the time the art is created?
The Muse flows through artist unpredictably and inspires them to create. I'm not sure it's necessary for them to understand what is going on when that happens.
You are correct that the truly gifted author is merely the vehicle for his or her inspiration, and that the inspiration comes from beyond, from the Divine. This is the central tenent of the case for the accepted canon of the Bible, that certain books are inspired while others are not.
Overall, all "musing" aside (Ha!), this was not one of my favorite Bradbury stories.
Dear Author www.shadowbent.com !
Yes, really. All above told the truth. Let's discuss this question.
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