A Fraction of the Whole
Books that Changed Me: A Fraction of the Whole, Steve Toltz
HERE IS A FANTASTIC PIECE of literature. It’s been featured previously in this space. The novel manages to hit upon all of the recurring themes rattling around inside Your Montag’s head, and clinging tenuously to the pages of this blog.
Question Everything:
“People always complain about having no shoes until they see a man with no feet, then they complain about not having an electric wheelchair. Why? What makes them automatically transfer themselves from one dull system to another, and why is free will utilized only on details and not on the broad outlines–not ‘Should I work?’ but ‘Where should I work?’ and not ‘Should I start a family?’ but ‘When should I start a family?’ Why is it that we don’t suddenly swap countries so that everyone in France moves to Ethiopia and everyone in Ethiopia moves to Britain and everyone in Britain moves to the Caribbean and so on until we have finally shared the earth like we were supposed to and shed ourselves of our shameful, selfish, bloodthirsty, and fanatical loyalty to dirt? Why is free will wasted on a creature who has infinite choices but pretends there are only one or two?” [290-291]
What if you had the wherewithal, the freedom and the means, to choose a life outside of the spectacle? How might such a life change you?
Stump Lane 