Friday, August 28, 2015
Jeff's Fate
Escape from Spiderhead ends with a bittersweet note. Jeff had an enormous sense of guilt over his crime, to the point where the only thing that could bring him any solace was the assurance that he could never kill (or even hurt) anyone ever again. I believe his decision to kill himself stems from the realization that it's the only feasible option to attain the solace he desires. The entire flying scene was a visualization of the relief he had just attained. He didn't have to worry about who was getting the Darkenfloxx, or if he still possessed the capacity to kill. He was free, above it all, as shown by his flight with the birds. Is any of this really happening? No. In reality, he's probably laid down in the Spiderhead, Verlaine giving him CPR while he slowly dies. It's rather depressing, especially when one considers that the euphoria that Jeff is experiencing will slowly fade away to be replaced by... nothing. Which I guess he preferred to being alive and miserable, experiencing brief but convincing bursts of love before having it ripped away again. Most don't have the courage to take matters into their own hands like that.
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I think Jeff believed in some sort of an afterlife instead of nothing because he seemed to see death as the start of something better than his previous life rather than a way to escape life altogether. The quotation "for the first time in years, and forevermore, I had not killed, and never would" showed Jeff's commitment to a future without being violent, but also a future without remorse for killing Mike Appel. Jeff was comforted by the idea of being with new people who were unaware of his past mistakes, which allowed him to be happy and optimistic as he died.
ReplyDeleteVery good points, I didn't really look at it like that until I read this. The flying scene really is symbolic of how he feels. I agree that he felt free to an extent even though he wasn't. Thanks for analyzing further into Jeff's point of view.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this, I only thought about the joy that Jeff experienced after he set himself free. You say that eventually he will feel nothing, but isn't he already dead while he's describing his trip with the birds? Maybe the author wrote this based on the differing views people have on death. Do people believe in the after life because they are scared to accept that death is their finite ending?
ReplyDeleteI think that you did a great job capturing this scene, understanding that the anguish Jeff felt had to be resolved, and that he made the right choice (or what he personally believed to be the right choice) by taking his own life. I completely agree that the flying scene where Jeff looks down at his own body while soaring through the air represents the attainment of his nirvana. The ending, as you said, is quite bittersweet.
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