Extreme Philosophies:The philosophies of John Barth
...to the extreme middle; the point where little or no decisions are able to be made. The final character, Rennie, seems to change throughout the book, not really falling into a set category as she takes on the absolutist existentialist views that Joe does at the beginning and then the more passive, apathetic views that Jacob has. Joe seems to have a problem in his extreme philosophy, other than his inability to see the situation clearly. He does not expect anyone to accept anything he says or does even if he can explain himself. (297) However, when people present differing views he is unable to accept the fact that they can’t explain themselves. Rather than ‘explain’ his relationship to Rennie he deforms it so it fits into his system of absolutes and expects her to do the same. She does and in the process losses her own identity and philosophies so when she encounters different thinking or even feeling she might be more apt to do something irrational. The only thing seemingly holding their relationship together is Joe’s ability to maintain such a rigid set of absolutes making him “the same man today [as] he was yesterday.” (318) Even though Joe is able to remain consistent he has times where his actions will be completely unknown and happen, though he won’t apologize for them one way or another. Rennie is deathly scared of the fact that she does not know whether Joe will laugh or kill them when he Joe finds out about her infidelity. These characters, especially Joe, do not seem emotionally detached. Rennie feels much remorse after she had sex with Jacob. Jacob feels an extreme amount of guilt and Joe does not have any feelings about “sexual morals” and represses any automatic feelings that his body might sending him. As a reader, Joe seems to move out of the category of someone who rationalizes and compartmentalizes (extreme philosophy) most things into a space that one would describe as psychotic; havi...