There are times when a feeling of expectancy comes to me, as if something is there, beneath the surface of my understanding, waiting for me to grasp it. It is the same tantalizing sensation when you almost remember a name, but don't quite reach it. I can feel it when I think of human beings, of the hints of evolution suggested by the removal of wisdom teeth, the narrowing of the jaw no longer needed to chew such roughage as it was accustomed to; the gradual disappearance of hair from the human body; the adjustment of the human eye to the fine print, the swift, colored motion of the twentieth century. The feeling comes, vague and nebulous, when I consider the prolonged adolesence of our species; the rites of birth, marriage and death; all the primitive, barbaric ceremonies streamlined to modern times. Almost, I think, the unreasoning, bestial purity was best. Oh, something is there, waiting for me. Perhaps someday the revelation will burst in upon me and I will see the other side of this monumental grotesque joke. And then I'll laugh. And then I'll know what life is.Sylvia Plath
About This Quote
The writer says that he can feel something is there, waiting for him to grasp it. He says that he feels this when he considers the removal of wisdom teeth and the gradual disappearance of hair from the human body. He says that the feeling comes when he thinks about humanity and how it is slowly disappearing and adjusting to modern times. The writer states that it is almost like unreasoning, bestial purity is better.
Finally, he says that "something" is there, waiting for him to grasp it. He then goes on with his thoughts about life and how we will eventually grasp this thing that is "there". This may be a reference to the movie Braveheart in which we see William Wallace in a scene saying: "There's something there, beneath all this."
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