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!
