Chapter 2 Towards the Hometown of Art (2)--First Trial
The arms of the Statue of Liberty stretched out to the clouds, and Karl was filled with infinite admiration when he saw her for the first time.At this time, when he first arrived in the United States, he didn't realize how unattainable the goddess was, but he couldn't help saying in his heart: How tall!Everything that happened later confirmed that his intuition was very accurate.Terrible Goddess, you've made Cal suffer so much!We will see that Karl is walking towards freedom step by step, towards this strange experience.His experience told him: freedom is the horror of being alone and helpless, and freedom is the thrill before falling from a cliff.For freedom, everything in a person is a burden, and everything is to be lost.
Carl's suitcase and umbrella were the first to be lost (though they were later recovered, but pieces were lost again).These two things are warm memories brought from his hometown, a little sad and nostalgic. He once guarded them hard, but he lost them accidentally, just in response to his father's joke: "See if you can put it How long is it kept? "His father was, of course, the kind of man who could see through his son for what he was. He saw the child's free-spirited nature, and that's why he decided to send him to wander in America. He was a prophet who never appeared.
What Carl lost next was his compassion and sense of justice - the legacy left to him by his hometown.He meets his fellow stoker on a ship.The fireman, who lives a miserable life, complains to Karl.After hearing his grievances, Karl mistakenly believed that he had an obligation to do justice (he completely misunderstood the meaning of the fireman), and went to see the captain with the fireman.In the captain's office, Karl joined the fireman's complaint in an attempt to change the fireman's situation.When he had finished defending the fireman with passion, even a little smugness, he realized that he and the fireman had lost everything.Their failure has nothing to do with their defense, but directly with a certain delicate atmosphere, some immutable institutions and principles, which cannot be said but felt all the time.The huge captain's office is the embodiment of this atmosphere.Standing in front of those big glass windows is like standing in the sea.With her destructive power, the sea constantly infects the helpless and insignificant human beings, making them understand the futility of their efforts.The fireman is someone who has experienced it and knows the meaning of his actions. He has never had the kind of hope that Karl had for his actions.Appealing to the captain was but an impulse of his nature, an outburst of life that met directly with the highest principles.He didn't mind the result, because the result was predetermined long ago.Only Karl was kept in the dark, and the influence of his hometown left him with a whimsical problem.He always felt that his and the stoker's defense should have a result. Don't people even understand what is right and proper?The stoker has been wronged, and the people should correct their mistakes!
The development of the matter was completely unexpected by Karl, but within the expectation of the fireman.The fireman said that when the docks change, so will the manners on board.Carl has arrived in the United States—a strange and ideal place where previous morals and judgments no longer work.No matter how much he claims, the ending is still lost.No one needs his sense of justice and compassion.If he is not a narcissist, he has to give up temporarily.So he gave up, and the giving up caused a howl.The cry was an emotional farewell to his past as he was about to set foot on American soil.The encounter with the fireman was the first stop on his quest, and the main events at this stop were a series of losses.The fireman, the captain, and his uncle all help him start his own transformation.This kind of transformation is the sanction of the rigorous scientific spirit symbolized by the United States against the loose, weak, and irresponsible romantic sentiment. It is harsh, harsh, and completely impersonal.Unwilling to fall, Karl unknowingly accepted the transformation of him by the United States.A long life of misery befalls him from then on.
From the stoker's defense process, it can be seen how impossible it is for a man to speak before principle (or God).All narration with all its strength is nothing but a restlessness of desire, an expression of passion, which is utterly useless to substantiate.Even so, the fireman spit out all the bitterness in his stomach.Why did he do this?Of course, he did not appeal out of a sense of justice like Carl.What works in this boat is not the kind of empty and childish justice, but principle.The motivation of the stoker to appeal is the nature of human beings to express their existence—to speak out what they have suffered.Of course, there is no doubt that Karl's instigation also played a big role.He complained, and the captain listened to him, and the matter was done, and the final judgment had nothing to do with his efforts.He was fascinated by the process of this matter, and also by the friendship Karl showed towards him during the process, and the captain's brief attention to him.Of all the people on board, Carl is the only one who cares about the outcome of the matter-he is an outsider.