In a past lecture, Dr. Ogden spoke about how the novel, Hey Nostradamus! is broken down into four sections. He claimed that they are: Heaven, Purgatory, Limbo, and Hell. By doing so, Dr. Ogden surely caused some sort of disagreement among students. Some students that I spoke to felt that he should not have had religious translations of the novel while others thought that he was simply interpreting Coupland’s work. Personally, I believe that Dr. Ogden needed to discuss religion because Coupland refers to it several times throughout the novel. However, although Dr. Ogden provides the class with an clever interpretation of Coupland's work, I don’t think that he should have gone as far as to say which character is in hell or in heaven.
First of all, according to Dr. Ogden, Reg is in Heaven. This is proved by Ogden as he finds this quote: “Heaven must be like this” (242). In this case, Reg is experiencing what heaven must be like from his point of view. However, this does not indicate to me that he actually is in Heaven on earth because of they way his life is narrated. Specifically, Reg spends some part of his life regretting his mistreatment with Jason and wishes he could have taken back his words. This does not indicate that Reg lived a joyous life full of peace and happiness but rather a life full of denial and regret. These are not feelings one experiences in Heaven.
In addition, Dr. Ogden tells the class that Cheryl is in Purgatory. He provides evidence of this: “Here I am in the calm dark waiting to go to the next place” (13). In my opinion, there were not enough examples to prove this point. Besides, I think it is unfair to say where Cheryl ended up going after her death. No one really knows where she ended up going.
Furthermore, Dr. Ogden states that Heather is in Limbo. This is true for Dr. Ogden due to this quote: “people vanish and they don’t give you a clue” (154). Here Dr. Ogden says that since Cheryl has no way of connecting to anything it means that she must be in Limbo and is damned. Again, I didn’t find much support in the novel to prove this point as being true for me. Just because she's frusterated does not mean anything. Many people are frusterated, does that mean they all are in Limbo?
Finally, the lecture closes as Dr. Ogden says Jason is in hell. This was hard for me to take in because during lecture Dr. Ogden says that the name Jason means Jesus and that “Jason was God coming down” (215) just like Jesus. He further says that Jason happens to be the same age as Jesus was when he died. Then in a past lecture Dr. Ogden had said that Jason was in hell due to his suffering and that he “sees hell on earth” (57). It doesn’t make sense to me how Jason can be first compared to the holy prophet Jesus and then he is considered to be in hell. Even religiously speaking it does not make sense because prophets are not in hell, they are in Heaven.
After the lecture had ended, I know my mind was full of questions and concerns about what I had just heard. I also know that many other students felt the same way. Who knows what Coupland was really trying to get at in terms of religion in the novel. However, I feel that there could be many different interpretations and that different things can be true for different people. Perhaps I may be wrong as well, but it’s the questioning that's important in order to promote uncertainty and who knows I might be right!
First of all, according to Dr. Ogden, Reg is in Heaven. This is proved by Ogden as he finds this quote: “Heaven must be like this” (242). In this case, Reg is experiencing what heaven must be like from his point of view. However, this does not indicate to me that he actually is in Heaven on earth because of they way his life is narrated. Specifically, Reg spends some part of his life regretting his mistreatment with Jason and wishes he could have taken back his words. This does not indicate that Reg lived a joyous life full of peace and happiness but rather a life full of denial and regret. These are not feelings one experiences in Heaven.
In addition, Dr. Ogden tells the class that Cheryl is in Purgatory. He provides evidence of this: “Here I am in the calm dark waiting to go to the next place” (13). In my opinion, there were not enough examples to prove this point. Besides, I think it is unfair to say where Cheryl ended up going after her death. No one really knows where she ended up going.
Furthermore, Dr. Ogden states that Heather is in Limbo. This is true for Dr. Ogden due to this quote: “people vanish and they don’t give you a clue” (154). Here Dr. Ogden says that since Cheryl has no way of connecting to anything it means that she must be in Limbo and is damned. Again, I didn’t find much support in the novel to prove this point as being true for me. Just because she's frusterated does not mean anything. Many people are frusterated, does that mean they all are in Limbo?
Finally, the lecture closes as Dr. Ogden says Jason is in hell. This was hard for me to take in because during lecture Dr. Ogden says that the name Jason means Jesus and that “Jason was God coming down” (215) just like Jesus. He further says that Jason happens to be the same age as Jesus was when he died. Then in a past lecture Dr. Ogden had said that Jason was in hell due to his suffering and that he “sees hell on earth” (57). It doesn’t make sense to me how Jason can be first compared to the holy prophet Jesus and then he is considered to be in hell. Even religiously speaking it does not make sense because prophets are not in hell, they are in Heaven.
After the lecture had ended, I know my mind was full of questions and concerns about what I had just heard. I also know that many other students felt the same way. Who knows what Coupland was really trying to get at in terms of religion in the novel. However, I feel that there could be many different interpretations and that different things can be true for different people. Perhaps I may be wrong as well, but it’s the questioning that's important in order to promote uncertainty and who knows I might be right!
3 comments:
I completely agree. I was also very confused after Dr. Ogden said that Jason represented Jesus, especially since he had just stated previously that Jason represented "Hell".
Although his Jesus-Jason idea kind of convinced me, I'd have to say that I disagree with Ogden's idea that Jason can be BOTH Jesus and Hell. I don't believe that he provided enough evidence to convince me that Jason represented hell. He spoke about the quote where Jason thinks, "that I didn't recognize the media's smear job of your fine nature is a stain I will take to the grave” (109). Dr. Ogden said that this represented Jason in hell because he is in doubt and blames other people. However, the main theme of the book is doubt, and I think that all characters express doubt. That does not necessarily mean that they are in hell.
Also, I felt that Reg represented purgatory more than Cheryl did. In Reg’s section of the book, he is miserable as he self-reflects on his own beliefs and actions. He starts to realize that maybe he was wrong afterall. Dr. Ogden even spoke about the quote on pg. 239 where Reg thinks, “I said that marriage was until death- this from a man who went for a decade not communicating with his wife. Such a hypocrite”. Ogden says that this is where Reg admits to his own failure. Does that not represent purgatory?
Another weird thing: I looked up the word purgatory and other synonyms were limbo and hell.
When Dr. Ogden explained his theory of the four sections of the book representing the four stages of the after life I was very impressed. It may not be true, Coupland might have a completely different explanation of why the book is divided, or no explanation at all, but isn't that what studying fiction is about? Aren't we supposed to be thinking critically and forming ideas and opinions about the books we're reading? Based on that I suppose questioning theories that come up is just as important.
As far as Dr. Ogden’s theory goes, I also think his proof in the text was a little weak but I also think it’s a really interesting theory. When he explained why Reg is in Heaven, I interpreted it as though Reg was so selfish and convinced of his own holiness that in his mind he was in Heaven. When every other character (and rational person for that matter) had beliefs or opinions, they always looked at both sides are realized that their ideas and may not be truths. In Reg’s case, he truly believed that his way of thinking was the only proper way, so because of his close-mindedness and stubbornness he was in Heaven and no one could convince him he was wrong.
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