Beneath the Wheel

and so Hans Gierbenrath perished in the river. " all nausea, shame and suffering had passed from him;"
he is a fictional character created by herman hesse in "Beneath the Wheel". after reading the story, you can't help but feel sorry for him and angry with the forces that gradually destroy and stifle his free spirited soul. these forces are everywhere around us. sometimes, they exist even within ourselves. even though Gierbenrath gave up fighting and was overcome by societal hostility, he has become one of the fictional heroes in my mind. within the story, he did not really have a choice because there was nobody out there to show him an alternative way, a different world that could encourage his "emotion, instinct, and soul." the education he went through was all about "intellect" and "ambition". when he showed signs of deviating from the uniformity, he was immediately reprimanded and scorned by his peers and his authority.

the forces;they are here. outside us, and within us. we need to fight them. in the past, i hated them so much that i would rather die than to live with them. well, the reason i hated them is because i was once very hurt by them. as i grow older, i have learnt to accept their existence. at the same time, i am also learning ways to avoid and free myself from them. nowadays, i don't want to hate them anymore.