A little gift for my co-duprass member

"Reluctant Writer" certainly fits as a blog name, but something equally apt might be "Enthusiastic Reader."

Images from Cat's Cradle have certainly stuck with me, especially a scene where the nearly a whole "karass" is on an airplane flying to the fateful island of San Lorenzo.  If you are not familiar with Bokonon thought, a karass is a group of people, connected by fate or God, whose lives intertwine and whose interactions affect events in unexpected ways. The narrator describes the couple in his row as follows:

They were lovebirds. They entertained each other endlessly with little gifts: sights worth seeing out the plane window, amusing or instructive bits from things they read, random recollections of times gone by.

The couple was a "duprass," a karass of two.

When I first read Cat's Cradle, the idea that a karass was not merely an invention of Vonnegut's, but also a true and apt description of my relationships certainly seduced me. Now, twenty-odd years later, I'm a bit more jaded about the notion that the unexpected influence of friends and strangers has has any impact over the course of my life or world events.  However, the idea of a duprass, a karass of two, now seems more appealing, more manageable, certainly more comfortable than a karass.

That description in the quote exactly describes our behavior on airplanes, doesn't it, W.?  Well,  our behavior toward each other most of the time, really.

Just thought I'd share...

Comments

[eva]

That part of Cats Cradle haunted in memory for me for years. The duprass is an amazing thing to find, and its true, it can be conceited because each member knows their bond. I have one person in life i love traveling in airplanes with, we always exclaim together 'i love airports'... its magic. Its nice to know that passage stuck out to someone else too. :)

[Reluctant Writer]

Thanks, Eva. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one, too.