COLUMN: The Tree of Knowledge

From Peter Morrison's, "Think For Yourself," Fall '95 From Peter Morrison's, "Think For Yourself," Fall '95We sat around a long table in Williams Hall, room 28, discussing Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia. Fifteen freshmen in the room had just read the work over the summer as part of the Penn Reading Project and were now attending the subsequent discussion about the piece. The talk started slowly as a few blank stares bounced off the opposite walls and nervousness fell over the room. The discussion leader was pulling teeth initially for answers. We talked about Garden of Eden references, debated chaos theory and determinism, and delved into as much about the play as possible in the hour and a half meeting. The discussion fascinated me. Just a few weeks earlier I had seen the play at Lincoln Center and was so overwhelmed by its profound quality I bought the text so I could read it and experience the play again. And as a group organizer for the reading project, I was allowed to sit in on one of the groups to try to peel away layers of Stoppard's dense play. Sunday's discussion group cemented my belief that his work was truly brilliant and contained fitting messages for not only freshmen students, but all members of the University community. Stoppard's play takes the reader back and forth between centuries, focusing on the same house in two distinct eras. Some scenes take place in Sidley Park, a large country house in Derbyshire, in April 1809. Other scenes take place in the same house 180 years later. The characters are exclusive to their own eras. The work's density can be frightening and frustrating, but a close, concentrated reading can unlock a sea of deep meaning. The play's backdrop is an allusion to the Garden of Eden. Richard Nokes, the gardener, constantly shapes and molds the garden throughout the play serving as a visual reminder of man's futile struggle to recreate the Garden of Eden. When Adam ate the apple, man's punishment was mortality -- life became finite -- and Eden's charms were lost forever. So, Stoppard asks, if man is doomed, if when we are born we are all dying, why bother? Why participate, why study, why worry? In the play, why should the character Bernard study Lord Byron or the character Valentine study grouse, especially if life is short and meaningless? Hannah's dialogue explains why. "It's all trivial -- your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter?If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final." That message summed up by Stoppard's character is invaluable. The answers to life itself will never be found, not after Adam's time. But what gives life meaning despite its unavoidable conclusion is our desire to learn, our "need to know." A thirst for knowledge, a deep desire to experience is what makes life exciting and interesting. We will never find all the answers that we are looking for. We will never find our Eden. But we must develop a love of learning, a craving for enlightenment, to give our lives fulfillment. Stoddard's theme should be paramount for college students. College is the perfect place to develop a desire to learn and participate. Experiencing does not include just academic knowledge, but also athletics, art, music and as Stoppard puts it, "carnal knowledge." Today starts the last year of my college career, a realization that makes Stoppard's message really hit home. I have one year left in which to submerge myself in all the benefits and opportunities provided by both the University and the city of Philadelphia. But freshmen have four years ahead of them in which they can squeeze a maximum amount of pleasure and excitement out of everyday. They have eight semesters ahead to engage their studies, challenge other academics and learn from thousands of other bright people around them. It is a time of opportunity, a time to develop a "need to know." Some of my peers have never and will never understand this spark, this excitement. Involvement and sharing is too costly for them. But students who internalize Stoppard's insight will experience four wonderful years. Our destinies are already determined, but the paths we take to get there is what makes our lives meaningful. In the story, a character named Septimus living in the 1809 era says, "When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore." Translation: We do not want to find all the answers to life anyway. If we had all the answers, life would be monotonous, boring. Our struggles and our curiosity is what adds heat to lives that ultimately grow cold. The text itself is short, but its meaning is endless. Take the time and effort to push your mind, expand your boundaries while you are here. As far as the remainder of Stoppard's masterpiece, I'll leave that to you. If you haven't read this work, get a copy and interpret its meaning for yourself. Satisfy any curiosity that I may have piqued. Satisfy your "need to know."