When Robert Pirsig wrote the book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” his underlying theme was a little more complex then what it may appear on the exterior surface. For an average reader, the book may seem to be a simple seventeen-day journey of a father and son across the country, along with a great deal of philosophy woven in between. If you aren’t careful enough in reading it, you might miss the whole objective that Pirsig tries to implicate. However, if you can analyze deeper and look past the false storyline, you will find that the book contains a whole mirage of ideas and elaborate theories on life and the world within it. It is a search for truth, and understanding of knowledge at its highest. The narrator and his son are simple puppets used to string along the underlying themes that Pirsig is trying to get across. Within these “puppets” you will find the true meaning of the story depicted through Pirsig’s metaphoric use of imagery.
In the narrators journey across the country he falsely sets out for a peaceful motorcycle drive with his son and his friends. However, along the path he is faced with brief flashbacks down memory lane. As “Phaedrus” slips in and out of his mind, he finds himself no longer o
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On page 153 as Deweese continues to lure him away from his previous visions on Quality and truth, the narrator simply replies, “I keep listening to the wind. Pirsig is implying that there are few people who can relate and understand Phaedrus’ ideas in the quest for truth and knowledge. He calls it “the high country of the mind.
In other areas of the book, the author uses the wind as an image to portray his ideas. ” For a young Phaedrus, the mountains were a place he could scamper off to and explore his newfound ideologies. Towards the middle of the story, Pirsig uses this previous familiarity to create a circle of philosophical ideas. At the bottom of the chart, at its widest shape, you have the least knowledge. Therefore, up in the mountains, it is cold and lonely. At the bottom of the chart you will find many who could fill in the slots with their little knowledge, hence the width of the area. ” At the top of the mountain, there is no more knowledge, nothing above it. ” Truth is now what he (Phaedrus) wants to find, along with the complex ideologies of philosophy. You used to spend all your time up there. However, at the top of the chart, its peak, you will find that not many will fit. Filled in between, you will have your next “knowledgeable,” person and then so on down the line.
Approximate Word count =
905
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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