Einstein’s Dreams Group 3 Presentation (pg. 42-60)

1. Einstein’s Dreams Group 3 Presentation (pg. 42-60) Jordan Francis Caylie Connelly Ryan Hess Nicole Minkina Chris Kateyiannis

2. An Explanation of Time

3. 8 May 1905 • The world will end on 26 September 1907 • People know this fact and their behavior changes • 1 month before the end • Businesses close • People reconcile • Everyone is polite • “A world with one month is a world of equality” • One day before the end • Everyone is happy • “What do their past stations matter? In a world of one day they are equal.” • People atone for misdeeds • One minute before the end • Everyone gathers and holds hands in silence

4. 8 May 1905- Connections • Quentin • Knows that he has one day left to live • Tries to put final affairs in order • Doesn’t focus on himself • Doesn’t care about getting arrested • Changes behavior around others • Shifts towards humility • What do Quentin’s actions on his final day say about him?

5. 10 May 1905 • Things get “stuck” in time • “In many ways, it is a town of one piece and a whole” • People get stuck as well • “The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy, The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.”

6. 10 May 1905 -Connections • Quentin- • Lives regular life, but is “stuck” in the past • Obsessed with Caddy • Distances himself from people because he is stuck “alone” • Benjy- • Stuck at various moments in his life • Since he is the only one experiencing this, he is also alone • What is different about the ways Quentin and Benjy are stuck in time? (Why are they stuck/ what moments are they stuck in?)

7. 11 May 1905 • In this universe, everything orders itself as time progresses • “When waves of water splash against the shore, the shore rebuilds itself.” • Life would be a boring string of non sequiturs without a tendency towards order • “History would be indistinct, like the mist gathered by treetops in evening.”

8. Connection to Sound and the Fury • This section mirrors Quentin’s ideal perception of time • everything is organized neatly and arranged properly as it should • the absolute lack of thought that people give towards time contradicts strongly with Quentin’s all-consuming obsession • The springtime ritual in this universe evokes Caddy’s escape of time • Do you think that our world is a progression towards order (i.e. our technology and industrialization is improving rapidly) or towards disorder and chaos (i.e. the Arab spring and the sovereign debt issue)?

9. 14 May 1905 • Time is modeled by concentric circles • in the center, time does not move • time moves faster as you move farther away from the center of the circle • Center of circle – center of time • 2 groups of people who want to go to the center of time: • parents with children • lovers • “The beautiful young daughter with blue eyes and blond hair will never stop smiling the smile she smiles now, will never lose this soft pink glow on her cheeks...” (54) • “The loved one will never take his arms from where they are now, will never give back the bracelet of memories...will never place himself in danger in self-sacrifice...” (54-55) • Benjy • This connects to Benjy – stays in innocent state forever even though he grows physically older • “It kept on making it, and I couldn’t tell if I was crying or not, and T.P. fell down on me laughing, and it kept on making the sound and Quentin kicked T.P. and Caddy put her arms around me and her shining veil, and I couldn’t smell trees anymore and I began to cry” (Sound and the Fury, 40)

10. 14 May 1905 • Once people leave the “center of time”, they lose touch with reality and have a difficult time acclimating to the real world once they return to it • Lifetimes have passed. They move in a world they do not recognize...They become jealous even among strangers say hateful things to each other; lose passion, drift apart, grow old and alone in a world they do not know” (56) • Quentin: • Last paragraph on page 56 • This connects to Quentin – he wants to stop reality and return to a state of innocence (relating to Caddy). Because this is impossible, he chooses suicide, to guarantee an eternity in hell (where he will be at the “center of time”) • “i wasn’t lying i wasn’t lying and he you wanted to sublimate a piece of natural human folly into a horror and then exorcise it with truth and i it was to isolate her out of the loud world so that it would have to free us of necessity” • How does the "red light" mentioned in the May 14th passage influence the discussion regarding the center of time ?

11. 15 May, 1905 • In this universe, there is no time, but rather just images and things that are felt by the senses • In this universe, time is completely non-existent and the world is defined by what is seen, felt, and heard • It seems that without time in this universe, there is no organization, but rather chaos. • These images that dominate this universe vary widely, from emotional moments to the sight of random things, such as a pepper stand and the Matterhorn, and certain smells as well • “Imagine a world where there is no time. Only images…” • These images that are presented in the universe vary in simplicity as well- one such image is just an open drawer, while another describes a train crossing a bridge and all the imagery surrounding it • “A mother on her bed, weeping, the smell of basil in the air. A child on a bicycle in the KleineSchanze, smiling the smile of a lifetime. A tower of prayer, tall and octagonal, open balcony, solemn, surrounded by arms.”

12. 15 May, 1905- Connections • This section is very closely related to the Benjy section in the Sound and Fury • The Benjy section also did not have a linear progression of time- the events in the Benjy section were introduced with the different sensations that Benjy perceived • Benjy essentially lived outside of time as his days were filled with reliving the past that came with certain stimuli • What would our lives be like today if there was no omnipresent factor of time in our daily lives?