I seem to enjoy each new book more than the one from the previous week. The Keep is going to be a tough book to knock down from the top position. I was unfamiliar with this title before this class, but I really enjoyed everything about it.
In terms of the themes we looked at in class, The Keep is obviously full of ideas concerning the human connection to technology. The various technologies of the modern age find a hub in the character of Danny. He is the center of a technological universe. A universe in which he is both connected and distanced from the people around him. The traumatic experience has changed the way he can shape interpersonal relationships. Now, he is satisfied by walking down the streets of NYC knowing everyone, and not really knowing everyone. He keeps a buffer zone so that he cannot feel a strong connection to anyone. However, he needs a technological connection, or “something terrible would happen: his head would explode, a room would fill up with water, a big spinning blade would start sawing away at his spine”(40). He is the information age.
I can’t exactly say what Egan’s whole message is. Obviously, writing and real human interaction are important in the scope of the work.Technology’s role is almost like the allegory of the cave. People who use it as an end in itself are merely seeing the shadows of reality, the ghosts if you will. However, when one probes internally, and uses their own mind, they can see through the marbled glass of our cells, and bring the images outside into focus. Human interaction (Holly and Ray, Holly and her family, Danny and Howie) are the real bonds that matter. Danny only makes a break through once he has turned his back on technology drowning in the pool of imagination. The firewall that Danny has put up between himself and his real feelings is torn down only when he emerges from the cave with his real human friends in tow. When he emerges from the cave, the things that really matter are brought into focus-making amends with his friend whom he abandoned. This emergence is shared both by Ray and Holly through different paths, but towards the same end—–self-realization and clarity.
Another one point Egan may be making is connected to how information is transmitted to an audience. Unlike the technological dependency Danny has, the story of the castle has been transmitted through interpersonal means. It was lived by Danny, written by Ray, and rewritten by Holly. Ray wrote the story, but it was not complete. It was then taken, and restructured by Holly. The information passes across several lines of communication outside of the means of technical connectivity. The people are the lines of the network.
I think Egan is not totally opposed to the concept of technological connectivity as long as it is a means to a true connection (such as Holly finding the castle in hopes of finding Ray). However, she is wary of the loss of individual connection. With the fate of the book in mind, Egan might be endorsing the clarity we develop when we dive into something like a pool, or a book. One-to-one connection is essential to satisfying our human needs and wants. Technology has distanced us from reality. We are like the Baroness. She holds onto ghost connections, and has lost perspective on reality. While Danny is tied to a world of technology, she is tied to a world of ghosts. She has cloistered herself within the keep. Modern man has cloistered himself within wires of the network. However, a human network can exist, and can be driven by imagination and true human contact.
P.S. Let’s give it up for the NY Giants. They gave NY and NE fans one of the best Super Bowl games ever. Even if you don’t like football, at least be happy Boston doesn’t have another win this year!
Probably one of the greatest Super Bowl plays ever:
In conclusion,
God Bless the Giants and especially this: Strahan’s million dollar smile:
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