I stare out the window and reflect on the similarity between writing and saving a life and the inevitable failure of one's imagination and one's goals and ambitions to create a character or a life worth saving.
Miriam ToewsRead
When a person becomes a legend, the very thing that makes them human and knowable is killed off, so it's like being killed over and over and over again, for all eternity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how legends are often dehumanized and stripped of their relatable qualities, leading to a perpetual cycle of loss.
Miriam Toews' quote suggests that once someone reaches legendary status, the aspects that make them relatable and human are overshadowed by their mythologized persona. This transformation can create a sense of alienation, as the individual is no longer perceived as a person with flaws and experiences, but rather as a symbol or ideal, resulting in a painful loss of identity and connection to humanity.
Themes
LegendHumanityIdentityLossMythDehumanization
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech reflecting on the impact of fame, one could use this quote to illustrate the sacrifices made in the pursuit of legendary status.
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A writer is always, always searching, even against her will, against all her better instincts, for the thread of a story. Everything is fodder. Everything is fuel. You can feel it coming on like the tingling of a sore throat. The brain never stops struggling to reshape every experience and feeling into a coherent narrative.
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I had a thought, on the way home from the rock field, that the things we don't know about a person are the things that make them human, and it made me feel sad to think that, but sad in that reassuring way that some sadness has, a sadness that says welcome home in twelve different languages.
Miriam ToewsRead
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