In my opinion, after reading the first story on Merlin, I feel that merlin was just misunderstood by the people around him. He suffered a major loss in his opinion when one of his friends, Rhydderch. After going through a period of grieving Merlin retreated to the woods. And everyone viewed him as crazy because he did this. Before he had moved to the woods Merlin lived in a town where he was fairly high up in the caste system there and very involved with the wars and protecting the people there and what not. This could not be a stress free job. Anyone in a position like Merlin was in would be under tremendous pressure. So by retreating to the woods to live there, merlin was getting rid of this stress in his life. he did not want to fight anymore but to just make peace. As someone mentioned in class, it is very PTSD like. If someone was to return from war today, and because of what that person had been through, retreated to live by themselves in a house in the mountains and live off the land (just an example), would we view them as crazy or do they have every right to do so? Merlin wanted to live in peace, somewhere he does not have to worry about war. Is that too much to ask for? It is very different from how we live today but is it not easier? For those of you who have read To Kill A Mockingbird, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” So is it actually that weird that Merlin wanted to be alone? Merlin just wanted to do Merlin but everyone else wanted Merlin to do what they were doing. They wanted him to conform instead of being different. As different as it was, he was happy.
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I loved the book To Kill A Mockingbird! Anyways, I agree with you. Merlin was put in a horrible position and his reaction to the situation was normal even though no one else saw it to be normal. He lost friends all around him and he could do nothing about it, every soldier that goes into battle experiences this type of trauma at least once. I do not think people should just assume one could snap out of distress and depression after war. Although living in the woods seemed strange to the towns people, many soldiers now a days end up going homeless or run away. Merlin is an early example of what soldiers do to seek comfort and answers after a great deal of stress.
ReplyDeleteWay to pull the Ol' Atticus card! Nice :)
ReplyDeleteI totally see what you mean. Merlin was completely misunderstood, but I also think he was indeed a looney.