Not to sound like a numerologist, but if you were to add another 6 to this post, you’d have the number 666. And then, on page 666 (a number not without significance), our hero finally reaches the end of his story, too (more on that in a minute). Because 666, of course, has always been interpreted as man’s final number, Satan’s final deception, and the earth’s final chapter. And since we’re on the numbers kick – at the end of the “Second” Millennium where the very phrase “the second coming” is not only, by implication, the very basis for the date itself (since you can’t have a “second coming” without a “first coming”) – it’s also second to none in terms of world eschatology (okay, maybe I’m pushing the numbers thing a little bit too far on that one – but it is true nevertheless). So, to get back to what I was saying: our hero’s denouement at the very end of the book, at the very end of his life – concludes with his personal modus operandi, apropos to the aforementioned (we’re getting into some pretty heavy hitters here on the literary front – Yeats and Eliot in particular – and you don’t talk “Bronx” when you’re talking about those boys).
So, with that in mind, let’s proceed. Like, what am I getting at? Well, for one thing, this is where he finally ties in all the other loose ends as is fitting for great epics – not to mention all the paintings you’ve been subjected to for the last 700 pages (700? But I said the story ended on page 666, didn’t I? [the remaining 34 are unnumbered pages of the paintings]). Because up until now, they (the paintings and drawings) have, for the most part, been merely counterpoint or like background music in some big production (although occasionally lapsing into some good old American over-the-top-musical extravaganza), but for the most part, more like the wallpaper your little old grandmother’s got plastered all over her parlor with the pink and blue trees all over? That’s usually a rip-off of some French impressionist that was bought around 1910. So yes, as is fitting, his newly inspired approach to his art now becomes his newly inspired approach to his life:
“ much like I do with my pastel, I guess… where sometimes I have to work from the top to the bottom… so the loose ‘stuff’ doesn’t fall all over what I finished…. this way, the top sets the standard for everything below.. or like life itself I suppose… where the goal sets the standard for everything you do… and all the stuff that’s going to fall down anyway doesn’t get in the way.. ”
“Stuff?” As you can see – our boy doesn’t exactly speak Henry James either, even though everything else has changed. Because to contrast the end of the story with the beginning, our hero’s take on life now is just the opposite of what it was at the beginning. E.g.: if there is no ultimate order in the universe – an anarchist, an iconoclast, a cynic – can’t lose! But rather than illustrate this with examples from this book (which may be far too radical for some of you or at least what might be considered out of your daily vernacular) or anything else that might be considered out of your daily norm, let’s take the common denominator in our society today – the simple reporter! Forget the wise guy whom we already expect cynicism from or the more elegant Tom Wolfes of the journalistic world who makes it interesting even when it’s not – but the bearer of our daily news, which is at present our simplest source of information and method of communication. With me so far? Because even if you’re a simple, generic, good-hearted cub reporter and the news fits you’re Pollyanna prose – great! – people will eat it up! But! if it’s bad? (earthquakes, wars, famines, pestilence, etc.) – you – the mere news reporter – still can’t lose! Everyone else may lose! – but not you – that’s your bread and butter, remember!? – reporting – even if it’s bad – especially if it’s bad – “NEWS FLASH! – nothing happened today! No earthquakes, wars, famines, pestilence, murders, robberies… ” No, from the simplest form of reporting to the most sophisticated – other than the moon landing (which was when?) – it’s all about breakdown, disaster, conflict (or the termination thereof – World War 1 & II).
If anybody had any hopes for a rosy future where we’ll all sing Kumbaya together, the 20th century would have clinched that little pipe dream, so let’s face it! -“things fall apart!” Because let’s just take that one line alone – which was taken from Yeat’s most famous poem, “The Second Coming” – getting back to the Second Coming and how it relates to all this too (in case you wondered how that fit in and where all this is going):
For example, let’s start with the novel called Things Fall Apart by Chenua Achebe. Because this isn’t just any novel. This is a novel by Africa’s most noted novelist. And lest we minimalize his importance by isolating him to just Africa – Achebe is to Africa what Shakespeare was to England, or Cervantes was to Spain, or Flaubert to France, Pushkin to Russia, Dante to Italy, Goethe to Germany, Shikibu to Japan, Xueqin to China – Kalidasa to India, and need I go on? Because most important of all – for our discussion – Things Fall Apart deals with breakdown! Albeit on a very local level (tribal even), it has universal relevance. For example, the very title itself was taken from the third line of Yeat’s greatest poem, “The Second Coming” (numbers again), which, by the way, goes way further in its apocalyptic vision (the end of the Christian era to be replaced with what?). And from there, that poem alone has spawned too many spin-offs to even mention (other than the 60s classic of youthful dissatisfaction – Didion’s classic of “New Journalism” – Slouching Towards Bethlehem, the very title of which in that case too was taken from the last line of “The Second Coming” [more numerical relationships again – “second” and “last”]).
With me so far? Okay, all this may sound diffuse and desultory, but stop for a moment and connect the dots – because all the dots go back to Yeats and that one poem, “The Second Coming.”
And yet, why Yeats?
— and why THAT poem?
Because surely he wasn’t the first one to make that observation or even espouse that idea.. or was it because half the critics of the 20th century thought Yeats was not only the greatest poet of the 20th Century – but one of the most influential literary artists of all time! The other half thought it was Eliot. And this is the point:
T.S. Eliot insisted there is a “Still Point” in “the turning world” (Four Quartets), Yeats did not! In Yeats’ “Second Coming,” after the line “Things fall apart” he goes on to say “the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world!”
As previously mentioned, the Second Coming is second to none in terms of eschatology at the end of the second millennium. E.g., the two greatest poets of the 20th century! Two opposing points of view: is there a “still point in the turning world?” Or is it “mere anarchy?” (ever unraveling “turning and turning in a widening gyre” towards what?)
Okay – hold that thought. Now – back to Confessions because it raises the same question. Order? Or anarchy? Because our hero, being no exception, of course, thrives on it – if for no other reason (ironically) than what better defense mechanism works quite so well when it comes to life (see the first half of the book – but mainly the first 100 pages – Portrait of an American Wiseguy).
“Masking his talent with a wise guy facade, he finds more justification creating chaos out of order than order out of chaos.”
Okay – now hold that thought too – because now back to our world: because let’s face it – whole sections of our population thrive on it too: comedians, journalists, demagogues, anarchists, of course – it’s a cottage industry for the usurper – “What are you rebelling against Johnny?” “Whadaya got?” (Brando in The Wild One)
Or better yet – let’s go back to where it all starts in the first place: THE CLASS ROOM! Yes – we can all identify with that! For example, any teacher who emulates Mr. Rogers is doomed from the start, right? But – an Eddie Murphy? Or a Robin Williams? A Chris Rock? A George Carlin? – who even says in his most famous comedy album Class Clown – “That’s what it’s all about!” (see all of the next 100 pages – Portrait of an American Christian). Because somewhere along the way, our hero is forced to follow all this to its logical conclusion (see the rest of the book). Which is what?
Things fall apart? (go back to the beginning)
True – but is that all? (go back to the end)
Or is there a still point? (go back to the beginning AND the end)
Because it all leads to the one question we all have to answer: the one question all of the arts have raised since the first storyteller – the one question asked so often, in so many forms – that by the time we hear it today – in perhaps the greatest play of all time – written without a doubt by the greatest writer of all time… – it’s almost meaningless. And, of course, what is that question? Because you know the writer…. – but do you know the question?
“To be or not to be? – that is the question.” because if it is “to be” – then why? What is your reason for existing one second longer? Because how you answer that one question will determine your life from then on.
And that’s where our story ends. Page 667 has yet to be written as his new vision of what to paint has yet to be painted.