From "In The Lake of The Woods", a terrific novel currently being studied in our English class:
We are fascinated, all of us, by the implacable otherness of others. And we wish to penetrate by hypothesis, by daydream, by scientific investigation those leaden walls that encase the human spirit, that define it and guard it and hold it forever inaccessible.
Whose leaden walls do we seek to penetrate, by whatever means? How well do we truly know those closest to us? Not knowing that otherness, can we base the extent of our self chosen revelation of our innermost self on the perceived acts of others, taking a risk that our honesty is reciprocated or respected?
An amazing discussion in our class, with an astonishing amount of participation and not much unanimity. We humans are a fascinating species......
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