Introduction to Digital Humanities

Kurt Vonnegut explores a few themes in his short story “Unready to Wear”: Humanity, progress, and fear rank among the most prevalent. However, he also explores the idea that the human body is holding humanity back, that a consciousness free of flesh would finally be free in the ultimate sense of the word. I think that this sentiment is shared by most major religions. Hinduism considers salvation to be becoming One with deity and losing sense of self, including ones body. Most Christian sects believe that in the after life, humanity will liberated from death and disease by being separated from their bodies, believing that ones body is the root of these pains. This is (as far as I understand) also the case in Islam. Our doctrine differs. We believe that bodies can be consecrated and perfected, and (more importantly) that having a body is an integral part of what makes us who we are: children of God. After all, bodies were created for Adam and Eve before the Fall, and after Christ’s resurrection he explicitly states that he is not a Spirit, but has flesh and blood. “Unready to Wear” does not reflect this optimism about the human body. Amphibians are portrayed as kind and thoughtful, while those who refuse to embrace the wonderful change are shown as fearful, desperate, and angry. Importantly, Vonnegut also consistently shows that a body overrides ones own conscience: amphibians find themselves in conflict due to the tensions and limitations introduced by the body they inhabit, be that hunger or hormone. Whether or not a body is holy or a hindrance, then, comes down to how we view our suffering. Is suffering an insurmountable obstacle brought on by our physical form and over which we have no control, or is suffering primarily a psychological or spiritual torment? I think that pain would exist regardless of our form. Even in a perfect body, God weeps. What is important is how we respond to pain. Rather than escape it as a spiritual amphibian, we can embrace it in faith (and not in fear, like Vonnegut’s enemies) and find meaning in it.