Ryan Cordero Friday Post

Barnes opens Part Two rather pessimistically, or realistically depending on how you look at it, explaining that hard work is not rewarded with rest, specifically, “…the reward of merit is not life’s business”. I first read this as a pessimistic tone, but I think in the context of the novel so far, Barnes states this from the viewpoint of a realist. Mostly because what he is saying true, people like to think that everything they do as a reward and people who work hard and accomplish a lot believe that reward is earned not given. However, in the grand scheme of things, metaphorically, after you become successful no one is going to knock on your door and give you a pat on the back and say nice job. The only reward you are given is the one you give yourself, depending on what it is you value. I think Barnes is trying to empower people with this statement. Barnes makes a point that I do not think is accurate, while discussing people looking forward he says, “What you fail to do is look ahead, and then imagine yourself looking back from that future point”. I disagree with this statement, I believe that most, if not all, people reflect on their actions and know that they will end up regretting their actions later in life. Everyone advocates to live without regrets, but I believe this to be an impossibility, because it implies embodying perfection, which is impossible, because perfection is a subjective concept by nature. I think a better statement would be that people do look ahead and imagine looking back from that point, but fail to change their actions based on how they feel they are living.