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Paul Thurber's dilemma in 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird is a metaphor for the human condition and how it relates to God. This is the first in a series of brief essays and application questions designed to stimulate thought in those people who also find themselves on board a doomed flight in seat B26. Welcome aboard! Like it or not, you're on Flight 1220.
Chapter One of 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird finds Paul Thurber, a young white knuckle flyer, on Flight 1220 as it takes off from Miami International Airport heading for Rio de Janeiro. Paul's parents have treated him to this special vacation. As in life, it is our parents who are at fault for bringing us into this intolerable situation - life - to begin with. Paul's parents put him on this plane from which, apparently, there is no safe landing. Such is life.
It wasn't meant to be that way, you know. In the beginning Adam and Eve had it made, or so the Bible says. Read Genesis 2:15-17 and you'll find it reads:
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Every need provided for. Just one rule. Man could not follow it. Why? Genesis shows us that sin is the problem and the two most important facts about sin are that a perfect God cannot overlook it and it causes death. In a nutshell, sin is disobedience to God or unlikeness to God.
Wallace Stevens's poem is about the fear of death which is why it fits well with this story. Fear of death is not just an impulsive response to the horror of death. Fear of death is a result and evidence of sin.
So back to Paul Thurber's conundrum. He finds out that the plane is going to crash and he cannot do anything to change it, according to the Being. This is a direct order from a Being who makes the sound go away on a 767 as it's taking off. What or who might the Being be, then? Control over sound waves is a rare ability. Add to that that the Being is able to talk without other people hearing him. Of 149 passengers and crew, only 4 can hear Him, our four survivors. This Being is not just a minor phenomenon. He has knowledge about the future that nobody else has. He has power that is impossible for humans to have. Figure it out yet? The Being is God.
What happened in that Garden long ago when the first people violated God's Word the first time is still going on. We hold onto the physical plain of our existence pretending that the spirit is just a part of it and yearn for the deception to strengthen our resolve that the truth that we have heard is just a dream. That sounds complicated but it's not an easy picture; our Creator speaks to us and we argue, He warns us and we ignore Him.
In Chapter One, Paul receives his first warning from the Being. The plane will crash but he is to be one of four survivors. "Be happy with that", the Being orders. This raises the question, "Are you REALLY happy with that?" A plane crash is sort of a death in itself. To a person seriously injured, as two of our survivors will be, an instant death might have been easier. Is the Being asking us whether we would be happier choosing our death - as even the survivors will eventually die - or that we should be happy regardless? Perhaps we should be happy when God talks to us. He is the only one with eternal life guaranteed. Should we listen to Him...even if we don't like what He's saying? Shouldn't we always consider what He's saying? Indeed Paul is in the majority of all people who have ever lived, and belongs 100% to the group that hasn't had or recognized that they had an encounter with the Almighty. Paul is us, and as Paul the Apostle said, even those who know Him and believe are "seeing through a glass darkly".
Character of the Chapter
In summation of Chapter One, Paul meets the Being through the man we will know later as the nameless Federal Air Marshall. The bureaucrat in seat C-25 is a typical worldly authority. He is required in all cases to be vigilant but often complicates the simple execution of justice rather than fulfilling it. There is a deliberate irony in that he is assigned the task of keeping an eye on the white-knuckle traveler after he is used by the Being to stir up the young man. He is described as being older than Paul - perhaps 20 years (graying hair) so Paul sees him instinctively as an authority figure. Sonia Petra does not have the same respect for this man, and we'll see that June Montoya has less respect still. The nameless bureaucrat represents worldly authority. It is placed there by God to "punish sin and reward righteousness" but is a conditional authority.
Before answering the following questions, read Genesis 2: 8-9 and 15-16 and Genesis 3: 1-15.
1) Has there ever been a time in your life when God was speaking to you? How did you respond?
2) How do you feel about your parents? Do you agree with the decisions they have made that affected you?
3) Has God ever let something happen in your life that you couldn't understand? Something that was profoundly unacceptable and wrong? Write it down and don't hold back.
4) Adam and Eve appear to be without sin, until they disobey. What do you think of their deference to the serpent at God's expense?
5) Would you react the same way that Adam and Eve did? Explain. Answer using the pretext that you had never read the Bible.
6) If Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, would they have needed to eat the fruit to know the knowledge of good?
7) Why do you think Adam and Eve really wanted to try the fruit?
8) Do you think you could ever be equal with God?
9) Are we smarter than Adam and Eve? If not, in what ways are we similar? If we are smarter, explain why.
10) What doesn't make sense about Genesis 3:15, "he will crush your head and you will strike his heel"?
11) Will the one who crushes the head of sin be the offspring of Adam?
12) If the serpent strikes the heel of the offspring (a male) what does that mean for the male offspring? Would he live to brag about his feat? Why is it apparently backwards?
13) In your opinion, what or who is the serpent? Do you think it's a what or a who?
14) How would you define the duties of a Federal Air Marshal on a flight?
15) Under what circumstances would you ignore political authority?
16) Let's say you're in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina. You're starving and there's a closed supermarket, with no electricity to keep the food from spoiling, across the street. Would you break in?
17) Explain why you answered Yes or No to the previous question.
18) If someone attacked your friend in front of you, would you strike at them or ask first under what authority they are acting? Explain your answer.
Write a verse-by-verse synopsis of what is happening in the Scriptures you were assigned and relate them to the story "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird".
