Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
What does it mean to be born? After we die, will it be the same thing as it was before we were born? Or a different kind of nothingness? Because there might be knowledge then. Memory.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote explores the concepts of existence, memory, and the nature of life and death.
Joyce Carol Oates poses profound questions about the meaning of birth and death, suggesting that our understanding of existence is tied to memory and knowledge. She invites us to consider whether death is akin to the state of non-existence before birth or if it offers a different form of consciousness, raising deep philosophical inquiries about our perceptions of life, death, and what lies beyond.
Themes
ExistenceDeathMemoryKnowledgeNothingness
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the meaning of life and death, one could quote this to illustrate the complexity of existence.
More from Joyce Carol Oates
All quotes →I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
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I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
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My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
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The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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