Another interesting question was about Philip's true patrimony. In A Farewell To Arms when Catherine dies in the end, Henry leaves the hospital and walks back to the hotel, most likely to begin writing the novel. After facing adversity, people turn to the written word to clear their heads and reflect on their life or the lives of their loved ones. Just as many people have already said, Philip's patrimony is his desire to remember, and to "recreate" the man who created him. Why do we study History in school? Part of the reason we do is so we can learn about the past and learn how to prevent the past from repeating itself. Does Philip want to study his father's life as well as treasure his memory?
Monday, August 29, 2011
History
If Herman believed that leaving behind the teffilin would give him the strength and "fighting spirit" to face his next chapter as Jason said, I find it interesting that he saved the prayer shawls. The idea of both of these symbols is to get closer to God, so I can not figure out why the prayer shawls were worth keeping if the teffilin were not.
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I also made the same connection to A Farewell to Arms. They both seemed to end the same way, with the death of a loved one and a novel being written to preserve their memory. That being said, in answer to your question, I feel that writing this novel definitely allowed Philip to not only remember and treasure his father, but also to study his life. I think that this novel most likely allowed Philip to look even further into his life- both at the good things and the bad- in order to truly understand the man that was his father.
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