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Thank you. Maybe some other time, earlier in the day. I feel so foolish, but it's one thing reading in a book, where you can actually skip parts. I remember goats from petting zoos. It's so irrational, I know.
I don't think it's irrational.
Before you sleep - enter sub-conscious activity (which is very powerful) it is good to fill your mind with positive thoughts.
I also was bothered by that scene, because I've worked with farm animals & came to care for them.
Anyway, from what I gather, the book includes more - so maybe you haven't missed much.
The story that involves symbolism is the main treasure.
I read the book when it first came out, but did not remember much. Very late last night I started watching it on tv, but turned it off right in the beginning when the father tied the goat to show his son a lesson. I do eat meat but for me it's a necessary evil. I hate watching innocent animals die - not so much people, though. I also did not want to go to sleep with that visual in my brain.
I can understand your wanting to avoid the visual. Here's what director Ang Lee said about the scene:
Quote:
Right before that scene, you hear the line, "You don't know the strength of your faith until it's been tested." It's about disillusion, coming of age. In many movies I do, there is a loss of innocence — I would call it the bar mitzvah scene. The zoo to the boy is a paradise; he's innocent. He has all this imagination and all these stories and spiritual things in his head. And then he is thrown into the ocean, where he can't rely on organized religions, he is faced with the abstract idea of God. So the journey begins with that early disillusionment.
A sense of wonder may not keep you alive ...
Without that disillusionment, he wouldn't have survived. ... All stories about the tests of faith start with that: Before you can take a leap of faith, you have to doubt. ...
I don't think it's irrational.
Before you sleep - enter sub-conscious activity (which is very powerful) it is good to fill your mind with positive thoughts.
I also was bothered by that scene, because I've worked with farm animals & came to care for them.
Anyway, from what I gather, the book includes more - so maybe you haven't missed much.
The story that involves symbolism is the main treasure.
I was raised on a farm as well...and I believe in this day and age, including myself, we have humanized animals to a degree beyond what we honestly should. My uncle who trained and showed horses, always told me, never, ever let your guard down, these are animals, they cannot reason, and the moment you let your guard down, is when something can happen, b/c these animals are big and powerful. You never know what an animal is going to do, and without prey animals, (and I watch Nat Geo Wild) all the prey animals would mutiply and probably have to go after humans to survive. So, it is natures balance....realistically.
They didn't actually show the tiger grabbing the lamb....so, no worries....
and yes, the book does include more of the spiritual content.
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