The fundamental necessity of mutability as part of the human condition and the risks associated with a lack of understanding of it are exposed and carefully examined in George Orwell's novel Coming Up For Air, his penultimate novel and Of Mutability , a series of poems by Jo Shapcott. Both Orwell and Shapcott explore the state of prolonged transition in which human beings are eternally bound, discussing loss and mortality with many different approaches, and considering how people can often falter and sink into despair when they realize the inevitability of mutability. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn the poem titled Of Mutability by Shapcott, the writer describes how “Too many of the best cells in my body itch, feel ragged, become raw” ”. In light of the cancer the writer was struggling with at the time of writing, she seems to have realized how easily and quickly things can change. It could be argued that this demonstrates how humans struggle to truly understand the vital nature of mutability without having to face it directly. This is a point echoed in Orwell's writings in Coming Up For Air where he describes how Bowling's memories of his youth in Lower Binfield have become confused and idealised, and when he returns to the village he realizes how drastically things have changed. Bowling describes how "You remember it in great detail and you remember it all wrong." From his former love, Elsie, who was now “a kind of soft, lumpy cylinder,” to the swimming pool where he once dreamed of catching “enormous” carp, which were now “half full of tin cans.” In this way Orwell shows how even those who are able to understand that mutability is inevitable often fail to understand it. Bowling, for example, is clearly distressed to see what has happened to his swimming pool and the woods around it when he gets angry at the man who shows him Upper Binfield - so much so that he says "doesn't it make you vomit sometimes? look at what they are doing to England.' This is despite the fact that he regularly notes the way things have changed for him in his life. He describes quite matter-of-factly how his wife Hilda now seems 'withered' in the "insurance business", an industry that relies almost exclusively on predicting change and how to best deal with it, so it's surprising to see him react so strangely to mutability he can evidently deal with it, he can also react at other times so angrily and with such surprise. For example, later in the novel he reacts hysterically when he realizes the loss of his childhood pond. In this way, Orwell shows that, although we can sometimes predict mutability – “they might have drained it”, it is often still very difficult to understand drastic change, and so we may react in peculiar ways as we struggle to come to terms with mutability. . In the long term, although Bowling has accepted mutability in the first novel - his teeth and his body for example, he is not prepared for this in the later parts of the novel. In both texts, the writers discuss how youth and health are easily mistaken for granted and are not expected to be lost while we possess them, but they are also taken away from us very easily. In Of Mutability, Shapcott describes how his body "itches, feels jagged, becomes raw". In this way it seems that he never believed that his good healthwould have been threatened, due to the use of the phrase "better cells", which creates an image of parts of her being that are invincible and will be eternally young. For this reason it is particularly surprising for the reader to grasp the next line, which contrasts this image of perfection so strongly with the harshness of words like “jagged” and “rough.” So in this way Shapcott shows how people can be blissfully unaware that they will be affected by mutability, while also showing how quickly things can go from being perfect to harsh and painful. These words by Shapcott have great relevance for the writer, who was battling breast cancer at the time of writing this collection of poems. It could be argued that, in light of this, it is impossible to understand mutability unless one confronts it directly, as Shapcott did in this period of rapid change and terrifying uncertainty. This is similar to the experiences of death and the depths of human depravity during the Spanish Civil War. These dark and painful trials seem to have had the effect on both of them of opening their eyes to the inevitability of mutability, allowing them to accept it and helping them to succeed in opening the eyes of their readers. In Coming Up For Air, Orwell uses similar techniques to show how mutability in terms of aging and declining health creeps up on a person, leaving them seemingly shocked and confused as to how such a thing could have happened to them. For example, in the first book of the novel, Orwell, through Bowling, is able to describe how “When your last natural tooth disappears, the time in which you can delude yourself into thinking you are a Hollywood sheik is definitely over”. In this way Orwell demonstrates his belief that understanding mutability is something that can only be achieved when all seems lost and there is no turning back. The idea that one only truly believes one has lost one's youth and vigor when one loses one's last tooth is almost laughable, but it shows perfectly how human beings so regularly fail to notice how central mutability is to their lives. Once again, Orwell shows that although we may sometimes have an idea of ​​the way mutability will affect us, we never truly understand or believe it until we have no choice but to accept the inevitability of mutability. the way Bowling will pick up his new dentures shows that, even when we are forced to admit that mutability has affected us, we continue in vain to try to cling to some hint of the past, even if perhaps we cannot complain about the lack of teeth. This is probably another manifestation of how we fail to understand mutability. Instead of simply giving up on looking young and attractive, and admitting that his youth has eluded him, he uses dentures to hide it, despite what he calls them "bloody false teeth", clearly showing that he despises them. In fact, throughout the novel Bowling comments negatively on his appearance, describing himself as "fat" with a "red face" and wearing "vulgar clothes". All of these things simultaneously show that he knows he has lost his youth due to changeability, but also show how he cares enough about his appearance to make him clearly unhappy. In this way it seems that even when someone seems to indulge in inevitable mutability, there is still a part of them that believes they have not lost all remnants of the past. Despite this, we must accept that Bowling reviews his appearance coldly and without too much attention to either the negative aspect of his body or the positive aspect of not having become bald. In both works, the writers constantly use.