Who Has Seen The Wind - The Godlessness Of Formal Religions :: essays research papers

The essence of matinee idol isnt found in todays ceremonial religions. It is evident throughout the novel Who Has Seen the Wind that author W.O. Mitchell intrinsically believes and wishes to stupefy this message. He states that the prairie is character in its simplest form, complete onto itself, and that the ghostly structure of todays "God" is simply make up by people to ease their paroxysm and fears. Underlying everything is the sense that we as human beings dont really know where were going, or for that matter, where were coming from, in our search for God and the truth.W.O. Mitchell sees the prairies as the basic underlying unit of nature. "Here was the least common denominator of nature, the skeleton requirements simply, of land and sky- Saskatchewan prairie" (WHSTW, p3) genius might assume that this implies that God doesnt exist That somehow, iniquityce the prairie is already complete, God is in effect out of the picture. Not the case Rather, this impli es, perhaps subtly, that God exists incorporated into nature itself, living with it, and not as the heavenly arbitrator he is supposed, by modern religion, to be. This is perhaps the most important message we are shown in the book. God is real, lives in real things, and, as we will see, is not trammel by the finicky limitations and expectations of human beings.It is apparent that there is a decided message we are willed to decipher when we come across Brian creating his own "gods" on paper. This act is symbolic of the childish way in which weve created our own religious conventions and beliefs. Brian feels sad and lonely, so he solves the problem by copying what he sees as religions solution Brian was wishing that Forbsie didnt have the mumps He didnt neediness to draw men, he wanted to ride a vacuum cleanly up into the sky where it was blue on the paper he made blue with his crayon. And God was there. (WHSTW, p31)Brian, being a child, is impervious to the horrible sin of blaspheme. This, in conjunction with his natural curiosity, allows him to take religion at side of meat value exposing it to the readers for the hollow shell it is Not as a heart to God, but a means to solving personal problems of loneliness and fulfilling dreams. This " sloppiness" on Brians part is used by W.O. Mitchell to show insight into the falsity of religion as a means to God.