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
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On top of a mountain the temperature does drop, as well as the fact that there are few people up there. “Deweese: You know how cold it is up there. He calls it “the high country of the mind. At the bottom of the chart, at its widest shape, you have the least knowledge. At the top of the mountain there are few people, just as at the peak of a chart there are few with the complete understanding of knowledge and truth.
In many areas throughout the book Pirsig refers to the mountains and the wind. ” For a young Phaedrus, the mountains were a place he could scamper off to and explore his newfound ideologies. 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. Towards the middle of the story, Pirsig uses this previous familiarity to create a circle of philosophical ideas. It was here he was able to evaluate these ideas and search for a complete understanding of them. However, at the top of the chart, its peak, you will find that not many will fit. 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.
Approximate Word count =
914
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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