Logic/Reason Vs. Mystery

Logic/Reason Vs. Mystery

“I think – that is, I know, therefore I am.” Proclaimed by renowned French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes, this famous quote asserts his principle that awareness of one’s own ability to know is evidence of the presence of the independent self. However the purpose of Descartes was clearly philosophical: to establish the insecure individual as the starting point for contemporary knowledge. Similarly, these concepts of reasoning and logic, as opposed to those of mystery are discussed in the story “Why the Geese Shrieked” by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
“Why the Geese Shrieked” displays the theme of people fearing changed ideas and their reluctance of accepting these new and different beliefs. This relative analysis demonstrates how the characters in the short story would much rather desire the ease of familiarity as opposed to accepting new ideas in society. This story converses about the calamity of dead, shrieking geese. In it resides a Jewish family, in which the father is a spiritual minded Rabbi, and the mother, a rationalist. Stories about souls being reincarnated as animals, spirits of the dead, and people being possessed by demons are frequently discussed and analyzed by the father. The father’s fear was his children getting off course living in such a big city. He felt it was essential for them to be constantly reminded that there are indeed mysterious forces present.
The Rabbi’s belief is challenged one day when his family is approached by a poor woman, holding two geese. This frightened woman cannot seem to figure out why these two slaughtered geese will not stop shrieking, regardless of her having cut of their heads as well as taken out all of their organs and intestines. The family is put into a great dilemma. Baffled, the father immediately rushes to his bookshelf, eagerly searching for a story explaining some kind of magic; perhaps even black magic that could have led to this. The mother however, is in pure denial of the possibility of any...