Characterization New Criticism Theory

argument is that the universe is absurd, i.e. that there is objectively no meaning in the world. “The absurd depends on man as on the world. For the moment it is all that links them together. It binds them one to the other as only hatred can weld two creatures together. This is all I can discern clearly in this measureless universe where my adventure takes place” Camus 16. The writer find that Camus’ argument on the absurd can be summarized as follows: Between myself and the universe, there is such a gap in meaning, so great that one must ask, “How could it be possible for any meaning to exist?” From his quotation above, it is clear that Camus believes that this principle of absurdity, that there is no meaning in the universe, must follow from the two terms and the understanding of their relationship Teachout 2. Nagel contrasts his sense of absurdity with Camus. There are two main differences between Nagel and Camus. Nagel’s absurdity is constituted by our failure to find objective reasons to justify the concern central to our lives. The doubt that arises from consciousness of the objective perspective collides with the commitments of the subjective perspective. Until this objective consciousness awakens in us, we are not absurd, for the conflict is not present. For Camus, absurdity is a feature of our confrontation with the external world and consciousness is not an essential part of absurdity, but is only a way to recognize absurdity that exists regardless of this awareness. Thus Nagel holds that there is no possible world in whi ch human’s existence would not be absurd, while for Camus absurdity comes about because of the world that we by chance find ourselves inhabiting Randles 35 digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id Nagel’s states in his journal „The Absurd” to describe and understand absurdity as a feeling. “Most people feel on occasion that life is absurd, and some feel it vividly and continually. 716”After noting the near universality of this feeling, Nagel’s effort is to offer an explanation of why we have this feeling. Nagel distinguishes between the feeling that accompanies absurd situations and the feeling that human life as such is absurd. In ordinary life a situation is absurd when it includes a conspicuous discrepancy between pretension or aspiration and reality: someone gives a complicated speech in support of a motion that has already been passed; a notorious criminal is made president of a major philanthropic foundation; you declare your love over the telephone to a recorded announcement; as you are being knighted, your pants fall down. 718 With this conception of absurdity in mind, Nagel argues that there are grounds for supposing that there is a general and inevitable discrepancy between pretension or aspiration what we think should be happening and reality what really is happening, and thus that our lives are absurd. The absurd conflict is apparent. “If life itself is absurd, there has to be a universal philosophical sense to absurdity, a way in which pretension and reality clash for all of us” 719. Nagel argues that this condition is supplied by the collision between the seriousness with which we take our lives and the perpetual possibility of regarding everything about which we are serious as arbitrary, or open to doubt. This collision is between two ways of viewing, which both are unavoidable. On the other hand, there is the particular viewpoint from within our lives, in which we attach worth and importance to the things we do. digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id We cannot live human live without energy and attention, nor without making choices which show that we take some things more seriously than others. From it, we have a point of view outside the particular form of our lives, from which the seriousness appears gratuitous. These viewpoints collide in us, and that is what makes life absurd. It is absurd because we ignore the doubts that we know cannot be settled, continuing to live with nearly undiminished seriousness in spite of them 719. Nagel sets himself two tasks in defending his sense of absurdity: “This analysis requires defense in two respects: first as regards the unavoidable of seriousness; second as regards the inescapable of doubt.” 719 Seriousness and doubt, the conditions for absurdity, are for Nagel inextricably intertwined with two perspectives that are essential parts of human person hood. According to Ran dles „Nagel maintains that neither of the perspectives can be eliminated, and thus, neither can the resulting seriousness or the doubt’ 14. As a result, absurdity cannot be eliminated. Nagel argues has another reasons that make human life is absurd they are; circumstances and personal relation. „Many peoples lives are absurd, temporarily or permanently, for conventional reasons having to do with their particular ambitions, circumstances, and personal relations’ 718.Absurdity in human life depends on human situation itself. The sense that life as a whole is absurd arises when we perceive, perhaps dimly, an inflated pretension or aspiration which is inseparable from the continuation of human life and which makes its absurdity inescapable, short of escape from life itself. digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id digilib.uinsby.ac.id