“A true suicide is a paced, disciplined certainty. People pontificate, “Suicide is selfishness.” Career churchmen like Pater go a step further and call it a cowardly assault on the living. Oafs argue this specious line for varying reasons: to evade fingers of blame, to impress one’s audience with one’s mental fiber, to vent anger, or just because one lacks the necessary suffering to sympathize. Cowardice is nothing to do with it—suicide takes considerable courage. Japanese have the right idea. No, what’s selfish is to demand another to endure an intolerable existence, just to spare families, friends, and enemies a bit of soul-searching. The only selfishness lies in ruining strangers’ days by forcing ’em to witness a grotesqueness. So I’ll make a thick turban from several towels to muffle the shot and soak up the blood, and do it in the bathtub, so it shouldn’t stain any carpets. Last night I left a letter under the manager’s day-office door—he’ll find it at eight A.M. tomorrow—informing him of the change in my existential status, so with luck an innocent chambermaid will be spared an unpleasant surprise. See, I do think of the little people”
Quote by David Mitchell
Work
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is a complex and ambitious work that weaves together six distinct stories, each narrated by a different character. These narratives span a wide range of historical and geographical settings, from the 19th-century South Pacific to a dystopian future. The novel explores themes of identity, fate, and the interconnectedness of human lives, with each story influencing and enriching the others. Mitchell's writing is both lyrical and thought-provoking, challenging readers to consider the nature of existence and the impact of individual actions on the world. more
Author
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