Tuesday 20 March 2012

The Symbol Eyes

A quick list of attributes on the symbolic meaning of eyes:
 The Runa and Jana’ata differ from humans in many ways. One of the most frequently mentioned differences is their appearance, and most notably, their eyes. Both the Runa and the Jana’ata have what are described as beautiful eyes with two iris’. Eyes can be symbolic of many things and are attached to many different stories. In The Great Gatsby there is a billboard with eyes on it that watch over the Town as a symbol of God’s omnipresence. I think that the same could be said for The Sparrow. The eyes of the Runa and Jana’ata were so beautiful, but the intentions behind them were never truly understood, just as God’s “intentions” may not be understood. Emilio especially, felt betrayed by God by the end of the novel. He had so many terrible events happen to him that ultimately made him question if he even wanted to believe in the existence of a greater power. I think that ‘eyes’ in this novel symbolize the open-minded and naïve belief that travelling to a new planet and meeting a new species would be a simple task. The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” rings true for the Jesuits. They assumed that based on appearances, that things were a certain way, when really things weren’t actually as they seemed to be. The Runa were no more than domesticated pets. They were used as food, entertainment, and work slaves. The Jana’ata was a race of beings that worked sort of as typical human beings do. Humans are unethical beings in the sense that we too, eat animals, and kill them brutally without remorse, and yet own pets. We too take advantage of our neighboring countries and are only concerned about our own well being. Within “our own”, we are only concerned for our own race, or our own religion, or our own gender. Every man is for himself. No one cares anymore on Earth than on Rakhat. I think that is what was so complex about the whole voyage. Emilio realized that God is either not present in our affairs, or does not exist at all, but he is always watching.
--Seth White

Focus
Clarity
Vision
Prophesy
Omniscience
Presence
Intelligence
Perception
Observation
Opening
Awareness

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