THE HUMAN THOUGHTS VARY

Birds differ by the colour of their feathers and the human beings differ by the thoughts that they have in their hearts  though they belong to the basic fundamental entity of birds human beings respectively  (Saying in  Dzongkha).

To cite an example of different thoughts in different individuals of human beings - the short story, The First Seven Years give the general aspects of human thoughts. The characters of the story represent the humanity as a whole. Therefore, the feeling of different characters of the story depicts the feelings of human beings in general.

The author through his portrayals like Feld the shoemaker, Sobel the shoemaker's assistant, Miriam the shoemaker's daughter and Max a college boy gives us an insight into the inner being of different human beings.

The story reveals the secret of sentimental people through Sobel and Miriam - example of typical sentimentalists which is true and applied to human beings in general. While the other two characters Feld and Max serve as an example of people crazy for wealth. Sobel and Miriam operate at the affective level while Feld and Max operate at the cognitive level. Feld wishes his daughter to get married with at least a well placed man - educated and wealthy though she herself does not want to study further. This thought in Feld captures Max a college boy handsome and hardworking who travels to his college in any weather. Feld, therefore looks to Max as his prospective son in law. So he arranges dates  for Miriam with Max that annoys sentimental Sobel.

Story of Sobel the Shoe Maker's Assistant from the Sherubtse College days.

However, Feld fails to realize his dreams because, Miriam his daughter, an assertive who believes in independent life discovers Max to be no other than a materialist.  Max does not fit into her mental frame or mental orientation. Miriam yearns for human touch - the soul to soul relation. This desire for human touch in her does not receive proper response from Max on their dating. Miriam can well be placed with Joseph Conrad in terms of feelings who said, "Something human is dearer to me than all the wealth of the world".

As against the sentimentalist, Max the college boy is a materialist like Feld. They believe in living a wealthy, luxurious and comfortable life. It could be the probable reason for Max taking business course leading to degree in accountancy. By and large this concept is applied and practiced in this modern world.

Meanwhile, Sobel one of the main characters of the story has in his heart a sentiment which grows with passage of time - the love for young and beautiful Miriam. He is annoyed twice, once when Feld forbade him to pass books to Miriam and the second time when Miriam and Max go out for date which show to us the kind of feeling he has towards Miriam. Though old, poor, ugly and weak he has within him a personality which is a mixture of innocence, passion and sentimental heart. 

Thus, the author Bernard Malamud creates a window to the human mind functioning despite the fact that there is no art to find mind's construction.

Basically, human beings in terms of their mind functioning can be divided into two or more groups, the Coleridgeans, the Benthamites and the Hedonists.

Sobel and Miriam serves as an example of Coleridgeans who believe in the being mode of life rather than the having mode.  All human beings of Coleridgean nature have in their heart a soft corner for humanity. They are usually kind, generous and zealous.

In contrast to Coleridgeans are the Benthamites who believe in becoming wealthy rather than being kind and generous. And Feld and Max in the story "The First seven Years" are the best examples of such human beings. One can see the changing world with the population of Benthamites increasing and their craze for money and wealth.

The next categories of human beings are the Hedonists, those who believe neither in being mode of life nor having. Their concept of life is eating, sleep, drink and get married. 

Hence, it is the feelings - the thoughts that an individual has in his or her heart that differs very much. The probable reason in their difference in thoughts could be the taste of life in them.

Noto Bene

This was submitted as an assignment for the literature part of the English during my ISC - Year 12 course at Sherubtse  and  the  comment received  for this  article from Mr. Thakur  Singh Poudyl,  then  Vice  Principal  of  Sherubtse  College  and  my  English Teacher was "A well thought out response, Jigme". However, the score was only 12 out of 20 and was evaluated on 26th November 1995.