Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin didn't know which was worse, the drinking or the praying. As far back as he could remember, it seemed that his father had fought the Devil all the time.
Interpretation
The quote explores the struggle between faith and vice, highlighting the complexities of human nature.
In this quote, Donald Ray Pollock delves into the duality of existence faced by the character Willard, who is depicted as engaging in both prayer and drinking. This suggests a battle between his spiritual aspirations and his earthly weaknesses, illustrating a profound tension in human behavior where individuals grapple with their desires and beliefs. The mention of fighting the Devil further emphasizes the internal conflict and the continuous search for redemption or meaning amidst personal flaws.
In practice
In a discussion about addiction, you might use this quote to illustrate the inner conflicts faced by those struggling with vices.
I stand four-square for reason, and object to what seems to me to be irrationality, whatever the source. If you are on my side in this, I must warn you that the army of the night has the advantage of overwhelming numbers, and, by its very nature, is immune to reason, so that it is entirely unlikely that you and I can win out. We will always remain a tiny and probably hopeless minority, but let us never tire of presenting our view, and of fighting the good fight for the right.
I can no more reread my own books than I can watch old home movies or look at snapshots of myself as a child. I wind up sitting on the floor, paralyzed by grief and nostalgia.
If globalization is to realise its potential as a force for good, we have to look more closely at the means by which we handle our growing interdependence. We do not have a world government, but we do have an increasingly complex network of institutions that are concerned with global governance. They are central to our future and international human rights law
Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstance require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about.
It is almost irrestible for humans to believe that we have some special relation to the universe, that human life is not just a more-or-less farcical outcome of a chain of accidents reaching back to the first three minutes, but that we were somehow built in from the beginning.
What are men? Mortal gods. _x000D_ What are gods? Immortal men.
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