DEATH AND IMPERMANENCE

Death and Impermanence



Death and Impermanence

Introduction

Story of the lost son by Gospel of Luke

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a story about God's redemptive grace and mercy. It is a story of His unconditional love and forgiveness. It is about God seeking sinners. In Luke 15, Jesus tells about the youngest son coming to his father to ask for his inheritance ahead of time. The youngest son would only receive one-third of the father's inheritance in accord to the Old Testament laws in Deuteronomy 21:17. He then took the inheritance and ran away to spend it all on having a reasonable time. He had plenty of “friends” to help him spend it but quickly ran out of his inheritance funds. Then he reduced to working in a pig pen and the pigs ate better than he. For a Jew, to tend to pigs was the height of humiliation since they were deemed unclean according to the Old Testament dietary laws (Gospel of Luke, 15:11-32). He thought of his father's servants who were at least feed well and had shelter at night. The young son had reached the end of his rope and came back home. He accepted with open arms from his father. The older son was outraged. He was angry that his father had allowed him to return and no less with a rob, a ring, and a pair of sandals. Plus the father threw a feast with the choicest of the fatted calves.

Introduction

A father's story by Andre Dubus

Luke Ripley, who narrates his own experience, is fifty-four, a divorced father of four who lives in northeastern Massachusetts, near the New Hampshire line and the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently neither rich nor poor, he runs a stable, boarding and renting out thirty horses and giving riding lessons. Luke still broods over the Wednesday that his wife, Gloria, left with the kids and a trailer, some ten or so years earlier.

Compare and Contrast

In order to understand why Luke Ripley, in Andre Dubus' A Father's Story (1983), makes the moral and legal decision to cover-up his daughter's hit-and-run accident, a drinking-and-driving accident which results in manslaughter, it is necessary to examine his relationship to the Catholic Church. In his study of Dubus' work, Thomas E. Kennedy says that Luke defines the parental function as a reflection of God's fatherhood of mankind. While this assessment accurately describes Luke's own justification for choosing to act as he does, especially as expressed in his closing debate with God, Luke guards his daughter against prosecution for far more complicated reasons than these God-the-father model offers. His actions are inextricably bound to his history and status not only as an devoted Catholic but as a middle-aged man in contemporary America. While they prove his devotion as a Catholic and a father, they remain extremely self-serving, creating irresolvable conflicts for him in both roles. In the end, Luke's actions remain as troubling as they are commendable in regards to both his daughter and his church (Gospel ...