The Evolution of Jane by Cathleen Schine

Author:Cathleen Schine [Schine, Cathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

No one winked at me as I climbed out of the hot tub, which was a relief. In fact, the incident seemed to be completely forgotten as soon as it happened. Perhaps they hadn't really noticed my preoccupied, ill-mannered outburst. Perhaps it had never occurred. Perhaps everyone was simply too tired to care.

I took a shower, then stretched out on my bunk to read. I flipped through Margret Wittmer's memoir, in which she accused Dore Strauch of murdering Dr. Ritter. Then, in the interest of fair play, I skimmed Dore's memoir, which Martha had photocopied for us. It was called Satan Comes to Paradise, and in it Dore accuses Margret Wittmer of murdering Dr. Ritter. Both of them identify the baroness as a dressmaker from Paris who fled to the Galapagos to escape her debts.

Now, with this image in mind, I think it is time to discuss Paley's argument from design. William Paley was one of those admirable English natural theologians, the parsons who collected beetles and butterflies, who believed the earth was so wonderful and complicated that it had to have been created by an intelligent God who could best be served and honored by study of his marvelous works. Darwin was planning to be just such a country clergyman, until it occurred to him that the force behind the beautiful design of a butterfly was not an intelligent, benevolent Creator, but a history of opportunism, violent struggle, and meaningless accident. In nineteenth-century England before Darwin and his glimpse into the abyss, science and belief went together, as quaint as love and marriage, as a horse and carriage. Because there are butterflies and they are so beautiful and we appreciate their beauty, they must have been made just for us, so that we could enjoy them! We conscious observers are here, the universe is here to be observed, so the universe exists for us to observe, the universe exists for us.

Here is my question: Does the spectacle of Baroness von Wagner de Bousquet atop a donkey, one of her lovers bathing her feet in the Ritters' precious drinking water, argue for or against Paley's theory? On the plus side, could there be any other reason for the baroness and her six-shooters than our enjoyment of her fantastic, glittering arrival on Floreana Island? On the other hand, how could someone so absurd and unreasonable be planned, much less executed, by someone as proficient and experienced as a Supreme Creator?

I put this question to Gloria, but she just said, "Let's think of the baroness as a mutant," and went out to try her hand at fishing off the bow.

I was alone in the cabin, and it was calm and airy. I switched over to The Journal of the Beagle for a while, then took up the guidebook by Michael H. Jackson. I lay there contemplating the wonders of Floreana, natural and unnatural, my mind wandering to visions of the other Michael Jackson writing a guide to the Galapagos in his white

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.