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The apothecary learned that "people would turn first to superstition to find meaning, to stitch together unconnected events in order to understand what was happening." What do people in the United States today look to when they seek understanding?
Why does the apothecary kill the tiger's wife? How did this shape the narrator's grandfather?
What makes the apothecary so intensely still and "steady and resigned" as he waited for his execution? What had pulled the fight out of him?
Why does Marko say, "What has that got to do with anything?" Why isn't the burial spot of the tiger's wife important to him?
40 comments:
In our culture when people don't understand something they go to the internet and to other sources of information that can help, like older/smarter people. If there is ever a question that needs to be answered Google and Bing are the places to go. If I don't understand something I go to an older person or someone with more understanding than me and I ask them for help. We as a culture are so much more plugged into the internet as a source of information over people and customs.
The apothecary thinks that the tiger's wife will "dispatch us one by one" so they decide that they need to kill her. Grandfather was close to her, and he had been taking care of her so it shaped him by making him grow up pretty fast in a short amount of time. As a younger boy he wouldn't have gone after Vladisa, but since he was almost "hardened" by the situation he took the chance and went after him. He couldn't let her be killed with out sticking up for her as best as he could, it was for the baby as well. Why would he let them take the tiger's wife and the baby?
I agree with Mariah. Today, if someone seeks an answer, the go to the internet. While the internet is a valuable resource, it can also be misleading. It would be better to ask someone who knows what they're talking about rather than getting an answer from a stranger who could be purposely misleading them.
No one knew why the apothecary seemed to have all of the fight pulled out of him, but they assumed it was a sort of self sacrifice.
The apothecary's life always seems to be one of reluctance. Almost everything he does is done by necessity or reluctance. His life also allows him to figure out how to manipulate the fears of people, but again, this is something he did out of necessity to live.
In the States, when people come across something that they cannot understand, and not find a means to understand it, they turn to religion. Mostly the Christian god. When people aren't willing to look deeply into theirselves, they turn to the supernatural.
The apothecary seemed to kill the tiger's wife out of mercy. Her life was reduced to an existence of hiding and waiting for the end. The entire village seemed ready to kill her. I think this betrayal that the apothecary committed is what instilled the want to be a doctor in the narrator's grandfather. He most likely wanted to prevent any acts like this from ever happening.
The apothecary lost the hope that the people of the village could look past their own superstitions. He lived his whole life manipulating superstitions and he couldn't stand the stupidity of it anymore.
The whole story of the tiger's wife was most likely never told to Marko. As a child, she was probably just some monster in the closet to him.
Slightly unrelated, but am I the only one that's starting to find the character verifications almost impossible to read?
One thing that baffles me is how the narrator seems to tell the legends from her grandfather’s childhood from a third person omniscient point of view. She makes a point that her grandfather never actually told her the story of the tiger’s wife, and the few people who would be able to tell the actual story are long gone (the apothecary and Mother Vera). So where is she getting this information from? We know that she is told many false and elaborated versions of the tiger’s wife tale from the villagers of Galina. But how did she find out the actual sequence of events from her grandfather’s perspective? Maybe this information is made apparent somewhere that I missed. Can anyone else shed some light on this?
I expected that the apothecary would be slick and conniving. That he would use the knowledge he gained about his patients against hem. Even though he doesn't outright show these traits, I believe they are still with him. He was raised to be that way and as much as he tried to be good as a doctor, he was still trying to suppress it.
For a global problem people in the United States first look to the president and congressmen and congresswomen, people who can do something about it. Those people solve the problems. For personal issues, people look within themselves or to people who are close them.
The apothecary kills the tigers wife to earn back the favor of the people. The reason he came to that town was to fit in somewhere and earn the people's trust. He would rather let a person go untreated than be shunned himself for treating her.
I agree with Sami in respect to her confusion over Natalia’s seemingly factual account of her grandfather’s childhood. I asked myself the same thing she asked when I was reading the novel: how can Natalia possibly know all of the details of her grandfather’s childhood, including the intensely personal accounts of Luka and the apothecary, when she admitted multiple times to not knowing the entire account herself? I decided that whether or not Natalia knew the whole story or not is inconsequential – we have to remember it is a fictional story and I believe Obreht took a bit of artistic liberty when writing her story. It strikes me as a bit odd that Obreht spent so much time describing the lives of Luka and the apothecary in order to, almost invisibly, create a network of connections between characters that span generations and tie up (nearly) all of the loose ends at the end of the novel, but would not assert that Natalia knew what she was talking about. In the end, I just accepted the story for what it was, and although that aspect of the story was puzzling, the novel was quite good. It reminds me of The Life of Pi because the narrator asserts the whole account to be factual, while the reader has to call the narrator’s reliability into serious question.
The apothecary had the right mindset when he knew that people are easily persuaded. As humans we are curious about the world around us and how things work. When coming to seek understanding people gravitate towards those with knowledge and power. The apothecary knew that with the advancement in knowledge he was able to control those around him in to believing supersition.
The apothecary knew that the Tiger's wife would not trust him so he turned to someone she could trust, Natalia's grandfather. He created a type of drink for the Tiger's wife to consume that would kill her for the good of the community. Although, he used the innocence of a nine year old child, he felt it was the only possible way of killing the Tiger's wife.
At his execution the apothecary had given up hope in his community. Since they had lost faith in him he no longer was able to instill a sense of help.
The story of the apothecary makes him seem conniving, and it makes him seem like a swindler or a con-man. I imagine he was very good at talking his way out of situations by using crafty tricks to help win over people's trust.
Nowadays, when people are looking for answers they use the internet or news programs on TV. People lack the time and patience to formulate their own opinions on things. If someone is looking for knowledge on something they will google it. Frequently, they will come across a biased report, causing them to believe what they read or hear.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife so that the community would stop worrying. She caused the village so much trouble; she was the reason the Tiger was there, she was the reason Darisa the Bear was killed, and she was the reason the village was so petrified and worried. I think the fact that the narrators grandfather helped to poison her made him grow older. It made him more mature and solemn.
Marko isn't interested in where the tiger's wife is buried because he grew up to hate her. He thinks of her as a murderous “she-devil.”
The apothecary has lived a life of doing what he had to in order to survive. When he was ten he was found by men who almost killed him. They ended up raising him as their own and he resented them. He managed to escape much later with a blind, wounded man whom he cared for. They made money off of people’s superstitions, reading body language to predict certain things about them. They deceived and manipulated for a living. When they arrived at Galina, the apothecary earned a good reputation and ended up staying, surrounded by the trust of the village. He was a great liar and manipulator but didn’t necessarily do evil things. He stayed under the radar and end up living a comfortable life; dishonest but comfortable.
I feel like if the internet or television doesn’t have a logical, believable scientific explanation, people blame God. The idea of God and religion is already unbelievable and unexplainable in itself. Why not peg something else without explanation to it?
I feel like the apothecary did it so he could earn the village’s trust back. He lost some credibility when he couldn’t stop the illness from killing all those children. By getting rid of the Tiger’s Wife, the evil witch in the village, people may trust him again. Also, she would probably be happier dead. The whole village feared her and therefor hated her and blamed her for their troubles. She and her baby were unwanted in the village. She would never be happy again there and she had nowhere else to go.
The apothecary felt guilty for killing the Tiger’s Wife. They were both from the same country, had similar pasts and he could have helped her on so many different occasions but instead let Luka continue to beat her to a bloody pulp. I think that made him not want to life the life he was living anymore. He felt like he deserved it.
The story Marko was telling was about the apothecary. The Tiger’s Wife just happened to have a somewhat significant role. Marko didn’t know about Natalia’s grandfather’s tie to the woman. Her story wasn’t important to him.
I think the apothecary kills the tiger's wife because he is the type of person that needs to have a say in things and also to be liked by people. By killing the tiger's wife, the apothecary would look like superman to the villagers. He would gain their trust and admiration back.
The burial site of the tiger's wife is not important to Marko because, to Marko and the rest of the village, the tiger's wife was a curse to them. She brought them ill fortune and scared them. He does not want to think about her any more than he absolutely needs to.
The apothecary lived a long life of necessity, he only did what he did because he no alternatives. He didn't enjoy pillaging or scamming people but he did it out of self preservation. I would think he would have ended up as a conman or a theif.
To understand why the apothecary killed the tigers wife, you need to first understand the type of person the apothecary is. He spent almost his entire life helping others. His entire childhood to adult life was spent caring for the hajduks, and after that he was preoccupied with caring for his companion blind Orlo. In Galina the apothecary spent his days healing the villagers, giving them his utmost attention. The apothecary was someone who needed to be needed. The apothecarys prominence in the village fell and people no longer sought his help, so ridding the village of the tigers wife would be his rise back to relevance. This shapes Natalies grandfather profoundly because the apothecary manipulates him into delivering the poisen, and he feels responsible for the death of the tigers wife.
To Marko the apothecary is the protagonist of this story, the tigers wife is just a detail.
The story of the apothecary explains an unknown background of the man. For someone who has such a respected career to actually have such a different background is ironic. He at first was a conman who changed and went into a complete different career.
People in the U.S mainly rely on their technology for information. If you have a computer handy, you go straight to the internet or Google for any question. If that is not possible almost everyone has a smart phone and can look up the information. I cannot remember the last time I looked in a dictionary for any information.
The apothecary killed the tiger’s wife I believe through mercy. He knew that the whole community was against the tiger’s wife, and her baby. The village kept calling the baby a devil, and wanted to "rid" the place of it. I believe he wanted to end her life peacefully and painlessly. The fight was pulled out of the apothecary because I believe he stopped caring. He knew he was giving up his life for a good reason. Almost a self-sacrifice for someone who he cares about.
People in the United States turn to many different things when it comes to seeking an understanding. Religion always seems to be the number one thing, but there are always others. People today become supersticious. They don't like ''not knowing'' so they turn to whomever seems to have the answers. With all the technology today lots of people will whip out their phones and look for answers. It really depends on how deep the situation is and how desperate they are for a sense of reason.
I think Marko didn't really have an understanding on her grandfather's relation with the tiger's wife. It wasn't important to him because he wasn't a part of the tiger's wife in a great sense. So why would the burial bother him?
The story of the apothecary made him appear as sly and a conniving man. In my mind, I picture him as someone who excels with words, which helps him out of sticky situations, and also helps win people over.
In society today, when someone is unsure of something they immediately check the internet. The internet has become such a large part of society that many people can use their phones to find the answers instead of needing a computer.
The apothecary made the decision to kill the Tiger’s wife because she was a hindrance to the community, and he realized that either he could take her life in a peaceful life or she would suffer a painful death. The apothecary hoped to regain the trust back from the people, and when he did not he decided to give up his fight. He ultimately knew he was giving up his life for a good reason, and was happy with his decision.
The Apothecary seems to be very clever and conniving and is very good at using words to deceive people, he would make a great politician.
These days whenever one is unsure of anything in these modern days we use the internet to find out. unless it is confidential or a governmental issue then we seem to just trust what we hear from the news and the government.
The Apothecary killed the tiger's wife out of pity he saw how disliked she was by the village and how much she was in pain he figured she would prefer a quick death than a slow torturous death this shaped the grandfather by making him wiser and more mature.
The Apothecary gave up on life after realizing his own errors in life allowing the tiger's wife to suffer for so long and he felt guilty that he had not attempted help her earlier.
Marko just viewed the tiger's wife as a curse and a demon and didn't want to think about her or her burial.
When they need to seek understanding, people in the United States usually turn to the technology we have available to us. They can turn to the news in all types of ways to gain understanding, such as the internet, television, and phones.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife for the good of the people in the community.
The apothecary had the fight pulled out of him as he waited for his execution because he felt guilty and like he deserved his execution.
People in the United States rely a lot on the internet and the news to find out what is going on in the world. But the internat can provide false information leading people to believe something maybe true when its not. I think apothecary killed the tigers wife for the people in the town. I think he didnt fight his execution because he thinks he deserved to die.
Many have already said that we look toward the internet and our elders for advice. As a teenager, I always look to my friends for advice. Even though that may not be the best idea, we look to our peers for a better understanding.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife because he wanted to be like and appreciated by the people in the village. He liked the power he had gained from being trustworthy. By killing the tiger's wife, he would gain the villager's approval.
Marko is unfazed by the death of the tiger's wife because he had grown up around a town full of people who despised her. They thought she was devil, and that she was evil.
I think when people are looking for some type of understanding, they turn to others who might be able to help them, and the internet. Most people in the United States rely on others for the answer to their problems instead of just getting through it or figuring it out by themselves. It also seems to me like people go to religion for understanding too.
The apothecary's story gives insight to his background that helped shape him into who he is. He lived his life in the past by doing what he needed to survive. Many people said that the people in the United States turn to the internet but in reality they search for other peoples knowledge and experiences to seek understanding in unknown events. By killing the tiger's wife, the apothecary felt he would gain the trust and likability of the towns people. The apothecary shaped the grandfather after killing the tiger's wife because Natalia's grandfather was the one who delivered the poison. Marko isn't concerned about where the tiger's wife is buried because he has no compassion for her because in his eyes, she's evil.
Google it. That term is one that I hear at least once a day. People today rely on technology for answers. My dad just got the iphone 4s and he uses siri for everything (much to my disapproval, because it is really annoying, "Siri find this","Siri whats this". People now a days dont try to figure self out on their own.
People today in the United States look to someone they can trust for understanding, someone wise and honest. If that option is not available then the internet is usually the next option, and if there are still no answers then religion is the best thing to turn to for unexplained things. As long as there is some type of answer then people are usually happy.
The apothecarys story showed that he has always done what he has needed to do. People in the united states do go to the internet but i also think people turn to religion when seeking to understand something. The apothecary kills the tigers wife so the towns people will like him and trust him. This shapes Natalia's grandfather because he is the one who delivered the poision that kill the tigers wife. Marko doesnt care where the tigers wife is buried because he sees her as being an evil being.
I agree, people in today's society have so many other means of obtaining information easily that they don't try to think it out themselves. The internet is probably the main source of information for most people.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife because he thought that he was doing good for the community and himself. The tiger's wife was seen as evil and no one wanted her around and that's why no one cares about the burial spot.
People in the United States seek understanding in two ways. They either search on the internet and find out what they want to know, or they seek knowledge from friends, family, peers, or teachers. After the apothecary was responsible for the death of many children he wanted to earn the trust back from his town he did his by killing the tiger’s wife. In Marko’s eyes the tigers wife is nothing but an evil witch so why would he care where she was buried.
I think in the U.S. when people deal with death they seek God to make them feel better about where their loved ones have gone and that there is a reason behind the suddenness or the suffering. When they want to know almost anything the seek technology, it may not always be the best thing to turn to but the internet is a big thing people turn to when they are curious.
I think the burial is not important to Marko because he does not understand it or care like Natalias granfather does.
In today's society, people use the internet to find information about unknown subjects. It is interesting to think that people used to base conclusions merely on old superstitions with no real evidence what so ever.
The apothecary kills the tiger's wife so she does not suffer from being an outcast for the rest of her life. Everyone was accusing her of being evil, so she was bound to be violently threatened or killed in the future.
The apothecary was ready to die because he finally felt at ease with his life and decision to kill the tiger's wife.
The apothecary lead a semi-complex life, moving from town to town, life to life; but after his blind friend died he realized that to make up for the wrong he did he must help others.
Modern U.S. citizens (amongst a large majority of the world) look to search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile and so much more to find unknown information.
The apothecary killed her?!?!
He lost hope...
Because the people wanted to forget about her.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife in order to help her in the only way that he believed remained, which was to save her from the village by killing her. This pushed the grandfather closer to the profession and science of healing and farther from the village and things that the village represented, such as superstition.
The Apothecary believed that he deserved his execution. He still felt guilt over not helping the tiger's wife while he had the power and ability to do so and later for killing her and using the grandfather to do it none the less.
The burial spot of the Tiger's wife is unimportant because he told her the story in order to honor the memory of the apothecary. he does not believe the tiger's wife's burial spot is related or matters in comparison to the apothecary's actions.
In today's society, if people are seeking answers, they simply go to the internet. But just like how some of the stories that Natalia hears about the Tiger's wife that aren't true, either is everything on the internet.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife because he thought that he was doing good for the community. She was believed to be an evil witch, so he killed her.
Marko doesn't care about the tiger's wife's burial because he sees her as evil.
When people need to know something about a subject, they often look to the internet, despite its unreliability. The internet, however, is still more reliable than superstitions of old cultures.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife because he believed that he was doing a good deed for the community and himself. The tiger's wife was seen as evil and everyone wanted her to be dead. That is why no one cares about the burial.
According to the narrator, the apothecary was found wandering the charred ruins of the monastery of Sveti Petar by a hajduk band. He lived and pillaged with the hajduks with considerable reluctance until he turned eighteen. When a band of Magyar bounty hunters attacked, the apothecary nursed the lone survivor, Blind Orlo, back to health. At Blind Orlo’s side, the apothecary acquired the foundations of deceit he would come to abhor. The apothecary sought stability, lawlessness, and belonging, which he found as an apothecary.
People in the United States today look to sources such as technology to seek understanding. Many people depend on the internet, media, and television for information. Others may look to professionals or religious figures to seek understanding.
For situations that have subjective or moral answers (as opposed to, for instance, 'who was the 18th president', I think people still turn to superstition or religion. Almost every time there's a national disaster, there's people on TV saying it's God's punishment for legalizing gay marriage or voting out the governor or changing the state tree. It's hard to admit that bad things (or even good things) happen for no reason, because it makes yourself completely vulnerable. It's much easier to think there's some sort of answer or referee, even if you don't know what that is.
I think, in the end, a burial site isn't important because there's nothing really there. What makes a person the person you care about is their brain or their soul or their aura or whatever you believe in. Personally, I'd rather revisit favorite spots of a person, or reread favorite books, or eat favorite foods. This would make me feel much closer to a loved one than visiting their grave.
I think that depending what the information is, there can be multiple ways to find an answer. when it comes to trivial questions most people want an instantly gratifying answer and turn to the internet. But when the problem is a bit closer to home, they might turn to faith or family for answers.
People in the US and worldwide use the internet to see things they don’t understand. The internet has so much false information that it can end up confusing you even more on a subject than when you started. It would be more practical to find an expert or turn to an older individual to help you understand. The apothecary killed the tiger’s wife to get into the good graces of the towns people.
People look towards the internet to solve peoples problems and answer questions because it is way more reliable then stupid superstitions or religious stuff. The apothecary killed the tigers wife cause he is a tiger hater.
The apothecary seems to be a sly man, seeing as to how he is good at getting people to do what he wants and at earning their trust. People today turn to the internet when they are trying to find understanding. Sometimes this leads to misinformation, and holds us back from going out there ourselves to figure things out.
The apothecary kills the tiger's wife to win over the people of the village. The tiger's wife created stress for the village, so the apothecary used this to his advantage to get rid of the tiger's wife.
In the United States today people usually turn to technology, or (maybe) a book when they seek to understand something. People will also look to those who have the knowledge that they are looking for, such as a teacher or someone of the sort.
The apothecary killed the tiger's wife because he wanted to feel accepted and trusted by the townspeople. They wanted to rid of her because they thought she was evil.
In the United States, almost all information is found by our technological achievements. When somebody dosen't understand or get something, it's just a mouse click, a text message, or a touch on a touchscreen away. I could literally go on for hours about how drastically technology has altered our course of evolution, but that's a different conversation for a different time.
He killed her either through mercy or for fear of her. Mercy because of her living situation. Constantly running, constantly hiding. Killed her from fear because he felt she was to much of a liability. Could have been either or.
The fact that he was about to kill somebody probably sunk in.
The Apothecary’s story was of how he survived a raid and how he got adopted by the hajdks. Then the Hajdks were attacked by bounty hunters and only him and blind Orlo survived. After that he and Orlo became fortune tellers, but then Orlo was shot by a guy that got mad at them for the fortune they told. The apothecary escaped to another village and set up shop there. That is where he became the Apothecary. I imagine that he would be really smart because he would have to read other peoples expressions to give them a fortune that they wanted to hear.
To find answers some turn to religion while others turn to the internet. Many who are religious turn to their religion to seek answers to problems that they don’t understand. Others turn to the internet to find answers. It’s so easy to use because of Google and it’s instant.
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