In Search of Truth? America? Friendship? Meaning?

Asch seems to use the terms interchangeably… or at least I thought so.  There is no question that the protagonist is searching for something, but I am not sure that even he knows what it is that he is searching for.  I suppose that is the question I want to explore with this post: is this a search for America, truth, purpose, or something else.  

One aspect that I found particularly interesting in regarding this overarching question was the protagonist’s agency and the way he filled the roll of a ghost throughout his adventure.  In other words, I found it interesting that the extent to which he enforced his ability to control his journey was through the asking or answering of the occasional question.  Questions, both rhetorical and otherwise can be found in great number in Asch’s tale and are the foundation upon which I believe one must focus if they wish to gather anything in terms of a greater meaning from this adventure.  

Whether assessing the role of work (Asch, 286), religion (Asch, 285), women (Asch, 287), children (Asch, 287), race (Asch, 288), immigrants (Asch, 296), camaraderie (Asch, 305), or poetry (Asch, 306), Asch can be found using questions to draw attention to aspects of focal importance.  These moments of development are separated by lengthy physical description that, I suppose, helps the reader to contextualize the action (questioning):

“We asked if we could meet his wife, and he took us inside. The shack had four walls, with newspaper stuck in the cracks, and two beds and a stove and newspapers stuck in the cracks, and two beds and a stove and a packing box at which the wife was standing and ironing.”

Asch p. 286

The questioning of the wife that results in her demonstration of the importance of education for her children is, without a question (pun not intended), enhanced by the reader’s understanding of her environment.

                The protagonist’s journey could easily be categorized into experiences that follow the formula: protagonist ponders about something, protagonist randomly encounters a person with some knowledge regarding what he was just thinking about, protagonist describes the surroundings in a way that draws attention to the condition of the person he is questioning, the protagonist sits back and watches as events transpire that seem to be uninfluenced by his ghost-like presence in the background. 

                Anyway, I don’t know if the role of the question intrigued anyone else.  Just thought I’d throw it out there.  What do you guys think?