Zev Blog

Jewish Film and Literature
October 14th 2009

Sir Michael Philip “Mick” Jagger once sang:
“Pleased to meet youHope you guess my nameBut what’s puzzling youIs the nature of my game”
(Rolling Stones. Sympathy For the Devil)
These lyrics from the song Sympathy for the Devil concisely sum up the discussion held in class about pages fifty to one hundred in Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted on the Voyage. True the discussion was held in more depth and detail with multiple opinions being stated but the gist of the argument falls along the same lines as the songs message. That is to say, Lucifer (or Lucy in the novel) is not always the evil greedy menace and danger that western society has painted him (or her) to be. A point was made about how there is a need to question the preconceived notions that we hold about the devil and to analyze where these notions come from. Mr. Kaplan brought up the case of modern religion as we know it, being conceived and shaped during the downfall of the Roman Empire. As a result characters such as the devil began to take on characteristics that would keep people obedient, and willing to go to church, or pay the tithe. This devil has horns, prods people with his trident, and tortures sinning souls for eternality in the fiery depths of hell. It was mentioned that this view of hell as personified by Satan, is deeply removed from the original Jewish view of purgatory, which is in fact a place to remove ones sins so that their soul can rest in “heaven”. It is clear that this novel begs the question why the view changed to such a negative image, and if this image makes sense to those with logical, modern viewpoints.

Usually Lucifer is the antagonist in biblical stories; however Timothy Findley has cleverly chosen a biblical story in which Yahweh appears to be the antagonist and so Lucifer, in fulfilling his role as the antithesis to the holy of holies comes out as the hero of humanity. In these pages it hints that Lucy is there to try and prevent the destruction that she/he knows is imminent. When this was discussed in class it came up that in order for Lucy to be the opposite of Yahweh but still good, it has to mean that the Yahweh of the novel has very different qualities from the G-d portrayed in religion. Yahweh has a human appearance, and he appears to not be omnipotent, or omnipresent, or omniscient but rather a cranky old boss who is tired of constantly being merciful and decides to go on a meaner streak. This can mean two things, it could be that G-d of religion and Timothy Findley’s Yahweh are completely inequitable, or it could be that the image of Yahweh is meant to defy tradition and offer a radically different viewpoint on what so many take for granted. This is a bold question in an era of unquestioning faith.

Other topics that were brought into discussion included the use of dragons and faeries as an example of balance in nature, the mighty dragon brought down by seizures induced by the slightest of creature. Mr. Kaplan hinted that this may or may not be a recurring theme or motif within the novel. So far the dragon example and the balance between Lucifer and Michael Archangelis appear to be among the illustrations of this idea.
The final thing that was discussed was the story of Japheth turning blue and what that meant symbolically. Sharna kindly pointed out that it represented his emotional scarring, and that the stain being permanent signified his own loss of innocence being permanent. Other discussion sprang up about when stealing is immoral and when it is moral. It was said that stealing can be moral in situations where one is not harming others by doing so (i.e. Robin Hood). Thus even if it is said that the Ruffian King was only eating humans as a last resort, he is still extremely immoral and evil because his directions harm others in the most serious and literal meaning of the word. Finally discussion on the book and its controversial view has begun to pick up, and have made the book easier to digest and interpret.