Monday, February 1, 2010
The Accident
What do you gauge from the reactions of the bystanders at the scene of the accident in "The Accident" by Gao Xingjian? Read the last two paragraphs and comment on them. Also, what are the implications in the sentence "For the man to have sacrificed himself for the child was indeed noble, but in fact the sacrifice had been entirely avoidable", on page 1384?
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After the discussion in class I realized that like the bystanders in the story people in real life show more concern for how the accident occured versus the victims themselves. While the accident can be deemed noble it was also pointless to loose a life when it was completely avoidable. Not only by the biker but also the bus. I don't remember reading the bus slowing in speed only that the driver kept honking his horn. Over all after the discussion it did make me realize how important it is to us to know every aspect of everything in our world.
ReplyDelete-- allison mapoy
After reading "The Accident" by Gao Xingjian, I thought the reactions from the bystanders was what would be in any situation like that. When something bad happens like a fatal accident most people talk and start to make up their own stories of what happened. Also people talk about the what if's, like the narrarator did on page 1384. I think that how the man sacrificed himself for his son was very noble. However, if he were just paying more attention to where he was going and looked before he set out to cross the road then he might not have had to sacrifice himself. In the story it also said that the man was crossing the street diagonally which if he crossed at a crosswalk then cars would have seen him more clearly and been able to stop. I think the truck driver could have tried a little harder to avoid hitting the man, in the story it says how he honked his horn, but this did not get the mans attention therefore he should have tried to brake or dodge the man. This story is another reminder about how short life is and that you should be thankful for the time that you have and to never take anything for granted!
ReplyDelete~Nicole Treschitta~
I think the sentence is implying that yes it was brave and noble for him to save is son instead of himself but if he had just rode more carefully it would have never been a issue
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, after reading and discussing “The Accident”, I realized the story had a lot more moral than I thought. I realized the bystanders served as an important role in the story rather than my initial view of them as a prop, serving no purpose. Like Dr. Pruss had stated, the plot is an “artistic arrangement of the story”. The bystanders mentioned in “The Accident” serve as a sort of decoration in the text making it see more interesting. They serve as the common man, and his thoughts and actions regarding a situation such as this. Some seemed shocked, some were sad, and some simply made up stories of their own, blaming others for something they hadn’t even witnessed. This is a perfect example of man in a state of trauma.
ReplyDeleteThe last two paragraphs in the story were very significant. It clearly states the probable reason for this accident, and why the man did what he did. However, regarding the quote, "For the man to have sacrificed himself for the child was indeed noble, but in fact the sacrifice had been entirely avoidable" (1384), yes, the man was noble for pushing the infant out of the scene of the accident, but he noble in how he did it? In my eyes, the story can go both ways. The child might’ve seen his father die. How can one live witnessing such a thing? Was this nobility? No. But the fact that the father did NOT let the young boy die was in fact noble. I can agree. Obviously the man had time to avoid the whole situation. He could’ve swerved the bike, or simply pedaled faster. He could of gotten off the bike and ran. Also, the driver could’ve put his emergency brakes on, and even turned the bus’s direction. The point is the accident COULD have been avoided on both ends. In my eyes, the man and driver are both at fault.
-Tahliah M. Davidson
The bystanders, like most passerbys were curious and that in and of itself can undo people. Someone could easily have yelled for the man to stop or for him to do something, but everyone just looked and watched as the accident occurred. The death of the man could easily have not happened if one of the bystanders had taken action. The story is written so craftily, that the reader does not know, cannot know, whether it is based in fiction wrapped with reality, or based in realition wrapped in fiction.
ReplyDeleteThe author makes a comment in the last paragraph, "And it can provide the raw material for literature, when it is supllemented by the imagination and described in a moving narrative." This seems to suggest that this accident is based on an actual accident butt he way it happened and the extent of the damage and what not is true fiction, simply made to resemble reality.
The implications in the sentence "For the man to have sacrificed himself for the child was indeed noble, but in fact the sacrifice had been entirely avoidable" are many. First that the man had no care for the child and was acting out of sheer intuition. Second it implies that the man never had to die. He CHOSE to cross when he did and not move faster or slower and get out of the way. Maybe he was deaf, and did not hear the bus, but he could not have been blind and not seen it as well for h was riding a bicycle. The narrator seems to be impling that the father had a choice to die or not to. Sounds Shakespearian...
Sam Ziembicki
after the discussion the professor gave during Mondays class i believe that the accident has many key point to pay attention to. Such as how people today tend to not care as much for the fact that someone just lost their life but more as to how it happened. People are so focused on the details and on who is to blame in the story that no one seems to shed a single tear for the man who in fact died.
ReplyDeleteas for the last line on that part i agree with what allison said, in the story it is made clear that the buus driver honks his horn repeatedly but there is no mention of breaking or even him slowing his pace. to get more into it why was the bicyclist trying to beat the bus? couldn’t he wait?
-samantha kulmann
The various bystanders in "The Accident" all tried to connect in some way to the incident. However, none of them showed empathy for the victim that died. All of the bystanders made the accident a conversational topic by avoiding the inexplicable concept of death.
ReplyDeleteThe Author states the accident may have been avoidable because there were many factors that had to all occur at the same time for this accident to happen. This event was in no way inevitable. It was an unnecessary sacrifice.
-Michael Iamiceli
In The Accident, all the bystanders reactions were that no one cared about what just happened, but as to why it happened. It was not so much a horrific accident but an investigation to them. I think that is so because no one wants to talk or think about death. Death is something everyone fears in their life at one point or another and to talk or think about it scares people and makes them upset.
ReplyDeleteThe quote implies that there could have been a much happier and safer outcome if the driver and the man made different choices. It is a sad outcome and at least in one way avoidable but you cannot change the past.
- John Zanella
The reactions of the bystanders in The Accident was completely selfish. The people surrounding the accident were mostly concerned about how the accident happened and who was the blame. They started discussion who's fault is was, only to push blame away from themselves. I personally think that people do this to shed the guilty feeling for not doing anything about the situation to help. I think since the accident was avoidable, that it is not heroic. If no lives could have been lost, then none should have. It does not matter that the man saved the child and sacrificed his own life, he should of saved both of them and lived.
ReplyDelete-Carolyn Kazmer
After reading The Accident by Gao Xingjian, I saw the bystanders reactions as a way of avoiding the fact of death. I beleive that it is hard for many to focus on death because no one really wants to think that it can happen at any given point in time. When everyone was coming up with their own theory as to what had happend, I saw this as a contientious effort of the bystanders to disregaurd the fact that someone had died. The last two paragraphs of this short story talk about how death is unavoidable and we may never see it coming until it hits us and we are gone. It may not be "our time" to go, but every life has an end. Whether it is unexpected or inevitable, death will come knocking on our door. The sentence on page 1384 is basically saying that what the man had done for the child was in no doubt noble, but the man did not have to die in order to save the life of the baby.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to this story reminded me of the game telephone. It started out at one story, which was the truth, and as it kept going form person to person the story changed a little bit. By the time story got to a civilian they were enraged that the son didn’t try and save the father, when the son was just a little baby. They acted like the son was an adult.
ReplyDelete“For the man to have sacrificed himself for the child was indeed noble, but in fact the sacrifice had been entirely avoidable” implicates that the bystanders tend to show more care towards the fact that an accident happened rather then who was involved and if they were okay. At this point in time the fact that a man has died should be the main concern. The fact that an accident happened and that it was in their neighborhood is the topic of interest instead. It just seemed like something to talk about for them. They didn’t care about any of the victims. The fact is that a man died for his child, yes it was an accident that was very easily avoidable but the man still gave up his life, and that is very brave. The author had the bystanders make up stories, which is very usual in a situation like this unfortunately. People love to embellish and when a couple people do it the accident becomes false and more like a story then an event. The whole story in itself is a bit ridiculous and these days an incident like this is very plausible. That’s what makes the story interesting. The accident could’ve been avoided so easily. Both the biker and the bus driver were doing things foolishly. An accident caused by foolishness happens quite often these days.
-Erin Sawyer
The reactions of the bystanders were somewhat surprising and others expected. The people who were there at the time of the accident surprised me from how they reacted. I looked at it in a psychological way, a way that Frued describes people. "All people are selfish and destructive." I don't like to look at people in such a negative prospective but the passer byers make this statement a hundred percent true. One old man claims that the young child was selfish for making the father risk his life for the child. I ask myself how in the world is that selfish of the young innocent child when it was the father's fault that he rode his bike in the middle of the street with an on coming bus.
ReplyDeleteThe people's reactions who came along after the mess was cleaned up was not surprising to me at all. They didn't know the actual story so they made it up, they felt no empathy because they weren't there to witness anything or see the damage. To them it was just an average day with something new to hear about. They had no one to blame and it seemed like he did a good deed by sacrificing his self for the child.
As I read the story I don't feel like the man was completely noble or that the accident was avoidable. From reading what had truely happened then he wasn't noble at all. He didn't need to sacrifice his self if he didn't put him or the child in danger. I don't understand why you wouldn't be careful when you have such a young child with you. He simply crossed the street, obviously had not looked or believed he could race the bus before it came. The driver continuously beeped the horn but he did not show any reaction to get out of the way but only to speed up. The accident was completely avoidable if he just waited on the other side of the street and crossed when the traffic had stopped.
The bystanders were mainly concerned with who was at fault and no one wondered if the man was okay or went to check at all. They watched him push his child out of the way to save their life and allowed himself to be killed. He was more concerned for the safety of his child than his own life. Meanwhile, everyone else was concerned with the "How's" & "Why's".
ReplyDeleteThe reaction of the bystanders at the scene of the accident was quite expected. People have a tendency to react suddenly without thinking of its consequences. Here, the bystanders were quick to judge the scene and pass insensitive comments. But at the end of the day, the loss is only to the victim's family. The rest remain unaffected and unaware.
ReplyDeleteThe reaction of the bystanders at the scene of the accident was quite expected. People have a tendency to react suddenly without thinking of its consequences. Here, the bystanders were quick to judge the scene and pass insensitive comments. But at the end of the day, the loss is only to the victim's family. The rest remain unaffected and unaware.
ReplyDelete