Response to Peer Comment

I agree with Juan’s comment in the sense that I was excited to read about motorcycles, not about some man’s experiences in long, dull, motorcycle trips with his friends. I would also agree that I find it hard to believe that one can find peace and meditation while riding a two wheeled animal that at any moment can end your life. To add to his comment on how ridiculous this is, I would like to say that my experiences on motorcycles have all been fast paced, adrenaline pumping and the furthest from relaxing possible. I do believe however, that Juan has been too quick to judge the novel because we have not experienced the narrator enough to be certain that his ideas are ridiculous or that his thoughts are shallow and meaningless as Juan implies. Like Talia, I disagree with Juan that the novel has not taught us anything. It has opened up the narrators mind on what life is really about. Additionally it has demonstrated a controversy that I was unaware of on how to cope with technology. I can honestly say that I did not know there where people who attempted to run away from technology as the novel states. 

The Narrator and His View of Technology

In the first chapters of this novel, I have discovered that the main character I the type of person who enjoys the simple things in life. It is obvious that he does not care about living an extravagant lifestyle because he realizes that with more money comes more problems. He is joined by a group of friends who share this type of lifestyle however they believe that all technology is harmful and they try as hard as they can to escape it. The narrator, on the other hand takes a different approach to this. He believes that the best way to handle technology is not to escape from it, but to learn to control it. This is clear in his desire to maintain his motorcycle himself rather than letting others do it for him. His companions however try to use the motorcycle to escape from technology. This of course creates considerable irony to the situation because they are now using technology to escape from technology. The narrator supports his belief by recounting a story from a previous trip where he was forced to end the excursion because of his lack of skills in motorcycle maintenance, and in a more general sense, his lack of preparation in dealing with technology. In addition, the narrator has provided several examples, using John, as to why it is important to take control of technology and not let it stop you and/or slow you down. Slowly, we can see the narrator trying to convince John of his belief and I think that through examples he will be able to change John’s mind. 

Response to Peer Post

I agree with Talia's blog post and how she noticed that the story shifts from nature appreciation to criticisms of other people by the narrator. I realized the same things after the first few pages. The narrator of the story is portrayed at the beginning as a man who appreciates nature and wants his son to see the wonders that the world presents them with. He continuously points at the red colored blackbirds to show his son how amazing and beautiful they are. In addition he mentions how the local roads and less populated highways are the best routes to take as they provide the bikers with the most incredible scenery, with birds, marshes etc.
At a certain point though, the narrator shifts his focus from nature to criticisms of others. In conjunction with Talia, I also noticed how he mentioned that the cars "slip by" the scenery, and the people inside them are enclosed in a compartment that prevent them from enjoying the road. The narrator's comparison between him and John on taking care of their motorcycles to Catholics and Protestants on birth control caught me by surprise. I agree with Talia that the comparison is "extremely out of proportion". The narrator does seem to think that he does everything better than others and is stubborn with his remarks. I am eager to see the narrator's attitude throughout the rest of the story.

An Introduction filled with Nature and Arguments/Complaints

Through the first few pages of the book I thought that the entire plot of the story was going to be filled with nature appreciation and nothing more. A group of friends riding their motorcycles down local roads looking at nature and enjoying life. However, at certain points in the story I felt that some of the characters, especially the narrator, weren't in complete peace with life as the first few pages demonstrated. He often criticizes others that do not follow his way of life. An example is John and the way he deals with his motorcycle maintenance. While the narrator likes to take care of his own bike, John prefers leaving it at the hands of an experienced mechanic. When they get into an argument about what's best John always tries to change the subject but the narrator keeps the argument going, its as if he likes arguing.
One aspect I enjoyed about the story so far is how it describes riding the countryside with a group of bikers. I often see them on the highway when I travel and never got to experience what it is like riding in groups. It gave me a brief description of an experience I haven't lived through yet but hopefully have the opportunity to do in the future.

My Reaction

Although we have been taught to never judge a book by its cover (or title in this case), I went ahead and did just that. I thought the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" would be an instructional book, teaching the reader how to maintain a motorcycle and reflecting on life while doing so. Unfortunately, I was wrong. While this book is about meditation and motorcycles, I have not learned anything from it thus far.

Up until the end of chapter two, the novel has revolved around the narrator's many thoughts and opinions as well as his description of what it is like to ride a motorcycle. The narrator finds his peace of mind while on the road, which I think is ridiculous. Motorcycles are extremely loud and it would be hard to focus and meditate with noise like that in the background. Furthermore, his thoughts and opinions are bothersome, and I find him annoying. While it does not bother me that much of the book has been him reflecting upon one thing or another, the things he says are not wise, or intelligent, or deep. I would enjoy the book were he to speak about meaningful ideas, but the narrator just goes off on  tangents and begins to speak about something like the time his motorcycle seized and he took it to get fixed. After a mechanic broke some parts on his bike, he analyzes the situation and concludes that all  of the mechanics did not care about their job. His rational: they were listening to music. To me this seems to be a slippery slope argument, and like the other things he talks about, I find it pointless.

Juan Pino

Relation to Narrator's Experiences and Generalizations

                The first thing I noticed when reading this book is that the narrator is never named. Although it can easily be assumed that Pirsig himself is the narrator, he never decides to mention it. I can’t find or understand his reason for doing so, but I found his method interesting.

This book can at times be very difficult to read. In other words, following the narrators thought process is not an easy task. His train of thought is constantly shifting from one subject to another and I’m yet to grasp what Pirsig is trying to say through his writing even though I can relate to some things he says. For example, my father loves taking secondary roads and going through empty streets as well. On our vacation to Spain, he took me on a long drive through these secondary roads trying to teach me about culture and the way his life was when he lived here.  I was younger back then and can see myself acting like Chris, bored, not thinking much of nature. In a similar manner, the narrator relieves his memories when driving through these streets. He states that the blackbird has a direct correlation to a childhood experience, something his son is missing because he hasn’t lived through it.

When the narrator begins to speak about Chautauqua, I became very confused. I looked up the term and it meant adult education movement, people who brought entertainment and culture to forgotten areas. By stating that the Dakota’s are known for having nothing, I think the narrator thinks of himself as a Chautauqua. He believes his book and his presence throughout these prairies will teach his son and his reader’s new things. Then he begins to blame the destruction of these Chautauqua’s on things such as the radio and TV, which by the end of chapter 2 began to make sense to me. These technological advances have made the 20^th and 21^st century faster. People are always in a hurry and when this happens, they forget the importance of what it is that they are doing.  However, I don’t agree with the narrator when he uses this to blame John for having a different motorcycle maintenance mindset and for assuming that this mindset is caused by all technology.

Jose Novas

An Unexpected Change

       By the way the novel commenced, I thought it was going to be more about the enjoyment of nature and appreciating what no longer gets its necessary appreciation. Yet with the turn of a few pages, the novel changed to criticism of different people. Through the narrator the author begins criticizing the generation of people who do not appreciate nature but rather, just let it “slip by” them. He says that cars condition us to ignore what nature really is where as motorcycles but us right in the middle of nature and make us appreciate it.

           The author goes on to criticize those people who do not do certain tasks themselves. For instance, he becomes critical of John for not correctly reading the instructions on how to fix a part of his motorcycle. Unlike the narrator, John prefers to give things to a mechanic and the narrator says that they disagree upon this as do Protestants and Catholics on birth-control. I find this comparison between a motorcycle and something so grandiose as religion to be extremely out of proportion. I do not believe that a simple disagreement between friends is a large as that between two religions. The narrator irritates me because he seems to elevate himself and his own beliefs. Upon noticing John’s faucet has been dripping for an extended period of time he goes as far to say that had the faucet not been dripping Sylvia would not have screamed at her kids. He attributes this inability to fix the faucet to John’s neglecting to fix things himself. Of course since the narrator does things himself instead of going to a mechanic something like this would not happen in his home and so I find the novel to be utterly ridiculous in its sayings thus far. 

- Talia Akerman