Be Here Now
Narrator
Jenna
"Those brief moments of connectivity with Jenna grounded me, and for the first time in
my life I felt the pull between where I was and wasn’t."
Never had I understood the soldiers and aid
workers better, even if we were opposites, they impatient to change things while I rushed
to capture things before they could be changed
I check my email. I’m relieved and disappointed there’s nothing.
I know I won’t be able to sleep. I know by experience that it takes at least a week to
negotiate the limbo between this world and the one I’ve left behind.
Usually, as now, I
say it’s jet lag.
Every day we fool ourselves, though some of us are more deserving of
illusions.
I
did; but I have somehow retained, or maybe formed, a memory of standing on that rock,
holding my grandpa’s hand.
Asian American
(Internment camp)
Jealousy
Shit talks Monica for taking pictures -> Irony
They’re perfect pictures from an imperfect life. Isn’t that
the truth? Every time we pose for a camera we’re making a wish without knowing it. […]
Its a perfect life compared to the narrator's photos
About 2b married to the narrator
Themes
Everything is so distant
Point/use of point of view
Stella is tired from work.
Kenza is now in a relationship with Phil.
Stephanie thinks sanity is overrated. […]
On Fran’s wall, Elmer has posted a picture.
"She has 4,200 friends. Had. Has."
Gets angry at Facebook
Struggles to adapt
Nameless
Identity crisis -> nameless
Puts up a facade -> Gets angry at "fake" pictures on Facebook = irony
He's a photographer, and its a shit photo
Pride in his work? Or sadness that he has to photograph such shit in war?
Went to a muslim coutnry presumably
A group of boys hiding behind mothers and sisters dressed in niqabs, the women’s eyes expressive against the expanse of black cloth. (ll. 56-57)
Middle east
Struggles to re-adapt to life
Possible theme? How war affects you
One's life gets changed, once you experience something brutal/traumatic
“It’s good to be home. Even if home is unfamiliar.”
Feels guilty
Perhaps because he lives a normal life compared to the people living in wartorn countries
I know I won’t be able to sleep. I know by experience that it takes at least a week to negotiate the limbo between this world and the one I’ve left behind. Usually, as now, I say it’s jet lag. Every day we fool ourselves, though some of us are more deserving of illusions. (ll. 64-68)
Motif = visual art(?) or just techonology
Theatre
Photo
Computer (YouTube, facebook)
TV
Hollywood
Even though I had been on those streets only hours before, the quotidian horrors – the toddler with his feet blown off, the stacked bodies almost made anonymous (…) all felt as if from some Hollywood flick recently seen at the theatre. (ll. 45-48)
A longing for home
Was "pulled" home by Jenna
Those brief moments of connectivity with Jenna grounded me, and for the first time in my life I felt the pull between where I was and were I wasn’t. (ll. 35-36).
But when he gets home, he does not feel "at home"
Mental scars
Skype
Is the reader
Reader identifies with constantly checking Email, FB, YT etc.
His time in the war gave his life meanign
"Somewhere beyond my thrill of being so alive in a place of everyday death, beyond the adrenaline, beyond the confidence of a noble cause, ..."
"
Takes pride in his work
omewhere beyond my thrill of being so alive in a place of everyday death, beyond the adrenaline, beyond the confidence of a noble cause,
"Noble cause"
Could that really be true if you need to declare it? Is it less true if you need to memorialise it before it’s gone? They’re perfect pictures of an imperfect life. Isn’t that the truth? Every time we pose for a camera we’re making a wish without knowing it… (ll. 113-115
Mundane life
Building a facade
Readaptation
The war has taken a toll on him
His word-use
Happy Sunday, she declared. She stood at my bedside with breakfast on a tray. I said I was still too jet-lagged and I turned my back on her. I heard plates and glasses crash in the kitchen sink. We didn’t talk all day.” (ll. 165-167)
The story is told by a first person narrator.
closer bond between the main character and the reader. We, as readers, are allowed inside the mind of the narrator and see the situation through his eyes:
stream of consciousness.
When he sees old stuff -> he explains them (what he remembers when he sees them)
Helps reader identify with the emotional instability in the narrator
Is possibly a photohgrapher
But acts as if he has been a soldier in war
says he "shoots" pictures ( i know u actually say that but stay with me)
Or surface
Aint the whole story -> not the truth
Sees his job as noble
His obligation?
Gets angry when photos are misued (on Facebook)
Photographs are noble or some shit
What is she trying to say by sharing such pictures publicly?
Look, everyone, I’m happy!
Look, folks, life has treated me well! (ll. 110-111)
Social media in everday life
Interpretation
Critique on how we use social media
We are addicted
Creating fake perosnas
too much power
Commentary on how the west doesn't appreciate their life compared to waht it could be
Ignorance is bliss?
looking the other way”:
t is possible to interpret the role of Jenna as a symbol of this. She is calm and giggly and we are told how she sleeps sound at night. She gets upset when the movers don’t come and she dreams about Bali while flipping through wedding magazines. The narrator feels distant to this way of life because he has seen what kind of horrible things that are happening simultaneously somewhere else.
But how ca we live a good life, if we constantly have to consider that the earth is a shithole actually
death is all around fucklas
What Narrator and Jenna symbolises
Jenna
Narrato
The ignorance of the west
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A westerner learning, that other people have it much wrose
A westerner traumatised by what others experience daily
= The west is so used to their lives, that war-life is a whole nother world
Narrator = photo?
"While I rush to capture things before they could be changed
His life changes in the war -> he becomes a "changer"
The war makes him appreciate life:
L. 50
Profitting off others suffering
"I've grown into a vulture
"Be here now"
Live in the moment
Ending of the short story
"I was wondering why you weren't with me"
They are now living in the moment
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