Alfred Romero
2/28/2023
Professor Frank
LIL 420
Revision Plan and Progress Notes
So, this essay will be a revised version of an essay I wrote my sophomore year in the class Wisdom Literatures. This essay revolved around the Book of Job, where I came to the conclusion that the Lord didn’t answer Job’s question, but that Job’s decision of not answering back to the Lord was the wisest move he could make. From my original paper only, this would be the only source that I’d be reusing. But, I never clearly answered another question that may pop up from a reading of that story. Why do the innocent suffer? This revised essay will take a turn towards that direction and incorporate other perspectives into that question from other readings of the text.
Because I’m going to be answering a completely different question, I’d need new sources to widen the field of perspective. I met with Professor Anderson, the Professor who taught Wisdom Literatures, and he provided some sources that may be of help. These, so far, would include “The Grand Inquisitor” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, “the trial” by Franz Kafka, and “The Portable Jung” by Joseph Campbell. Additionally, not all of these sources may even be used, or more may end up being used. This list is just a general idea of where the project may lead to in terms of sources.
2/20/2023: this marks the first meeting I had with Professor Anderson. To summarize, we discussed the basic outline of the project and where it could potentially go in terms of creative direction (more is discussed in the metacommentary page). This was also the meeting where he provided me with three sources that I could potentially use in my reading of the central question behind the “Book of Job”. Only one source has been discussed in great detail so far, that being “The Grand Inquisitor”. From this specific source, a set of questions have been provided as well in order to gain a better understanding of how this can be tied to my ideas. The list of questions are as follows: What is Karamazov? What is Laceration? What is the Enlightenment Paradox?. Additionally, pages fourteen through seventeen are recommended for analysis as the question of why the innocent suffer is answered from a certain perspective within those pages.
At the end of the “Book of Job”, the Lord comes crashing down in a massive whirlwind in response to Job’s cries. After losing his wealth and a portion of his children, as well as having to go through a sickness bestowed upon him by the Adversary, Job asks the Lord why these horrible things would happen to an innocent man such as himself. The Lord redirects the question towards overwhelming Job by describing the power He holds over Job. Job accepts this and doesn’t answer back to the Lord and in return, the Lord replenishes Job back with his wealth and health. A question arises in whether Job’s response was considered wise, in which I respond to in my archival draft. But Job’s question, I feel anyway, doesn’t directly get answered by the Lord Himself. The “Book of Job” will serve as a reference point for this paper and an additional source, “The Grand Inquisitor”, will serve as the main support in terms of additional insight backed up by textual evidence. This is all in favor of answering Job’s major question: Why do the innocent suffer? Additionally, another question may be answered: Would a just God allow for the suffering of the innocent?
4/19/2023
