David Swan tells the story of a young man who is heading to Boston. He is asleep while waiting for the coach. When he slept, there were three major events that could have changed his life.
First, a young couple passed him and saw him. The lady wanted to bring him to make a fortune with him, but the gentleman had doubts because he didn't know him. So they decided to let him sleep alone. It happened that the couple were very rich and could give him some wealth, but he missed it because he slept.
After the couple, a young girl walked on his way and marveled at his youthful beauty. Maybe the girl's father is looking for a young man like David. If only David can introduce himself to himself, then he could have become her father's staff. This is another wealth he misses.
After the girl left, a group of gangsters came to him and threatened to kill him if he woke up because they were taking away some of his property. The man succeeded in accepting David's business. Fortunately, David did not wake up, so he would not die in the story.
When the man left, the coach passed and David woke up. He took all his hopes for Boston into the coach and never knew what was going on while he was sleeping.
analysis:
In this story you can see the natural forces of binary opposition or opposition, which help to develop the meaning of the story. These are the following:
Good or bad. from
We can see this in the changes that happened when David fell asleep. Two of the three vicissitudes are good, wealth and love, and the other is death, which is obviously bad. This means that both good and bad opportunities are equally forgotten and/or taken for granted that we travel in life.
Ignorance - consciousness. from
David knew nothing about what happened while he was asleep, and even after he woke up, he had no clue. All those who passed him knew that he was asleep, had no feelings, and would not remember anything after he woke up. These binary oppositions tell us that all opportunities from us know us, but we don't understand them. If we take, reject or ignore them, these opportunities just wait for our response, not to mention not paying attention to them.
Opportunity - Choice. from
David chose to rest and later fell asleep, so losing a few chances might determine his final outcome. Life is both a choice and an opportunity. All these opportunities from us are the products of our choice. We make choices, and like dominoes, we see the chain of opportunities.
These are just two binary opposites that are always the case in our lives. Whether we sleep or wake up, they always play an important role.
Orignal From: Nathaniel Hawthorne's David Swan: An Analysis of Binary Opposition
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