Top Ten Tuesday (November 17, 2015)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. ~ Opening line from One-Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Two moments later she was kneeling by her bed and weeping silently into the worn cover. She should rather have prayed? But she believed she was praying. ~ Narrative regarding Sarah from The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles

So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I’ll be able to make people read my books now. ~ Claudius from I, Claudius by Robert Graves

All the seven deadly sins are peccadilloes but without three of them, Pride, Lust and Sloth, poetry might never have been born. ~ Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

A World is supported by four things…the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing…without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. ~ Dune by Frank Herbert

…there never were greed and cunning in the world yet, that did not do too much and overreach themselves. It is as certain as death. ~ David Copperfield from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep… ~ Philip Marlowe from The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

…the Cross that took away indignity from suffering and made pain and poverty a means of fellowship with Christ. ~ Bishop Jean Marie Latour from Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

All he did was smile and say, “Take care of yourself, Denver.” But she heard it as though it were what language was made for. ~ Narrative from Beloved by Toni Morrison
Wanderer's Commentary:  It IS what language was made for.

Only those who still have hope can benefit from tears. But to those without hope, like Homer, whose anguish is basic and permanent, no good comes from crying. ~ Narrative from The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve. ~ the Priest from AFarewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

And in tiny little font, so I don’t seem too emphatic, and too fussy, but I want to point out these are quotations, not quotes.

Greatest hero and heroine - The Classics Club Meme Reboot

Who is hands-down the best literary hero, in your opinion? Likewise, who is the best heroine?

I’m going to assume we’re talking classic literature because otherwise the answer is obviously Batman.

Barring the Dark Knight, I concluded there are no “hands-down” winners. Which is fine, because it gives me an excuse to write about the dilemma and how I made my choice.

I came up with four Heroines: Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, Denver from Beloved, Scarlett from Gone with the Wind, and Ma Joad from The Grapes of Wrath.

I liked Scout; she was funny and lovable, but hardly heroic, until the very end. There is a particularly poignant moment, after Boo comes out; he asks Scout to lead him home. The adult narrator Scout recalls the incident.

Will you take me home? He almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark.

I put my foot on the top step and stopped. I would lead him through our house, but I would never lead him home.

Mr. Aurthur, bend your arm down here, like that. That’s right sir.

I loved her for that. She treated the odd, reclusive, man-child, Arthur (Boo) Radley with respect and dignity and saw to it that HE escorted HER.

And then there’s Denver. I didn’t like her early in the story, though I pitied her. But by the end she rose to the terrifying challenge and forced herself out of her own understandable phobias, all to protect her mother.

And Scarlett. She might seem an odd choice. She was spoiled, vain, and selfish. But in the flight from Atlanta, and subsequent struggles at Tara, the poor little rich girl, who had never known responsibility in her life was truly heroic in saving herself and others.

But I have to admit, these choices are probably influenced at least a bit by my admiration of feminine beauty: the beauty of innocence in Scout, the blossoming beauty of a girl becoming a woman in Denver, and of course, the full womanly beauty of Scarlett (especially envisioning Vivien Leigh).

But if I force myself to a more platonic ideal, I choose Ma Joad as my ultimate heroine. She had complete and tireless devotion to one single thing – her family. It was a battle she was slowly losing, that perhaps was hopeless, but her devotion was undaunted.

So now the heroes, I narrowed it to three: Samwise from The Lord of the Rings, Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities, and Alyosha from The Brothers Karamazov.

If you’ve read much of my blog, you know how much I love The Lord of the Rings. That might make Frodo the obvious choice. I did consider him; he saved Middle-Earth after all, but I think he was more or less trapped into his role, almost fated to it, whereas Sam went out of love and devotion to Frodo. Oh, I know the narrative depicts he is forced out of fear of being turned into something unnatural, but over the course of the epic, his true motive and devotion shines through.

Sydney Carton. What do I need to say: an act of pure, unconditional, sacrificial love.

And while Sydney made the greater sacrifice, somehow I still loved Alyosha more. Alyosha’s brother Ivan, recites his famous Grand Inquisitor poem, all in attempt to outrage devout Alyosha. At the end, Ivan asks, will you renounce me for that?

Alyosha got up, went to him and softly kissed him on the lips.

Spiritum Christi Alyosha, Amen!

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Veteran's Day - NOVA this week (November 14, 2015)

Observations from my weekly wanderings, usually in Northern Virginia (NOVA).

Yeah, NOVA is usually on Saturday. I imagine the reason for the change from the regularly scheduled programming is obvious.

I’m a veteran. I’m certain many reading this will thank me, and I will be humbly appreciative, but TRULY it isn’t necessary. My country doesn’t owe me anything. It was a privilege to serve.

My adjutant and myself at my retirement, May 2007.

As a very small token, to thank those who served before me, with me, and after me, I offer the following image of The Prayer at Valley Forge painting by Arnold Friberg.

I am grateful that during my time, I served under a few leaders who, like General Washington were known to commend…the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them into His Holy keeping.

During my career I was privileged to serve in several multi-national command (in strict military lingo these are Combined Commands): NATO and NORAD. I am thankful for the service of foreign colleagues, but most specifically acknowledge my Canuck comrades. For them, I offer the poem High Flight by British-American John Gillespie Magee Jr. who died serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

This poem is often read at services for downed airmen.

High Flight

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -

and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -

wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.

Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along

and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.

"Up, up the long delirious burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,

where never lark, or even eagle, flew;

and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

the high untrespassed sanctity of space,

put out my hand and touched the face of God."