In this short story called “Katzenstein”,
Etgar Keret writes about a man that had always been compared to a person named
Katzenstein ever since high school. The
protagonist had been constantly compared to Katzenstein in high school by his
mother who would put him down if he didn’t do as well as Katzenstein had done
in a class. The main character had
always felt Katzenstein’s shadow in his yard, at work, and everywhere he went. Years later, the man gets frustrated with his
constant comparisons and decides to move away with his wife and son. The protagonist realizes that he happened to
be on the same flight as Katzenstein while leaving Basel, except Katzenstein
was in first class and had done better than him again. The man leaves his seat and is told to go back
to his seat by the flight attendant just like everyone else on the plane but he
knew that it included Katzenstein. The
protagonist opens the emergency door while in the air, commits suicide, and
finds himself in Hell. In the afterlife,
he sees that the plane he was on had crashed and realizes that if he had gone
back to his seat, like Katzenstein, the end result would have been the same.
I connected with this story because especially
in modern times, people are either comparing people to others or are being
compared to others. Wondering what other
people think of us is something that goes through all of our minds at some
point in our lives. Making judgements on
others is something that we are all guilty of and I recommend this story
because I feel that many people can relate to the main character and his fear
of being judged or compared to others by the rest of society.
I can relate this story to the
current conflict with Arabs and Palestinians because of the judgements and
comparisons that Israelis have on Palestinians and Arabs and vice versa. I think that Etgar Keret is trying to say
that nothing will change if there aren’t any efforts to try to change
anything. Relations will stay the same if
people run away or avoid the conflicts that they face.
This story, one of constant comparisons, strikes a chord within me as well. As a person who has allowed academics to define me for too many years, it is hard not to compare yourself to others. I think that it is important to always strive to do your personal best, but not to measure your success by the success of others.
ReplyDeleteIsrael is under a lot of pressure, both internally and externally. We want to be "a light upon the nations," but this is much easier said than done. Israel is also under immense amounts of scrutiny from the international community. It is important that Israeli society always be as just as it can possibly be, and do its collective best, just as individuals must.
I think this is an amazing story that shows how cruel we can be to ourselves. Just as people compare us to others, we feel we live in the shadow of the next greatest person. Its important that we focus on the individual needs of another person in order to progress as a people.
ReplyDeleteToday Israel is supposed to be a power that is look down upon for any negative actions they take. Its hard that they have to undertake such immense pressure because of their position. The focus shouldn't be on how others perceive, but how Israel sees itself. Then can we be a just nation to our own people and the rest of the world will follow.