The Importance of the Unimportant
After reading and discussing Rachel Glaser’s “Pee on Water,” I found myself thinking about what
exactly Glaser was trying to achieve with her story. There is a prominent theme of human evolution
and a sort of time lapse-like series of events/scenes but I think there is more to it than that. From the
beginning, the reader is sort of thrown right into the thick of it. The abrupt sentences and variety of
ideas create a fast paced story that is, at times, confusing to follow. Glaser presents each idea as a
small event taking place, most of which are completely ordinary everyday occurrences. What is
interesting to note however, is that she spends very little time delving into a certain idea or phrase.
Instead, it is almost like a jumble of events, taking the form of the broad lifespan of humanity. In other
pieces I have read, when an author pinpoints a specific place and time, they describe it in great
detail and expand on the importance of such event in a broader picture. Glaser does quite the
opposite. In my perspective,the individual events themselves don’t necessarily present a specific
theme. Only when they are observed as a whole do they begin to have meaning.
exactly Glaser was trying to achieve with her story. There is a prominent theme of human evolution
and a sort of time lapse-like series of events/scenes but I think there is more to it than that. From the
beginning, the reader is sort of thrown right into the thick of it. The abrupt sentences and variety of
ideas create a fast paced story that is, at times, confusing to follow. Glaser presents each idea as a
small event taking place, most of which are completely ordinary everyday occurrences. What is
interesting to note however, is that she spends very little time delving into a certain idea or phrase.
Instead, it is almost like a jumble of events, taking the form of the broad lifespan of humanity. In other
pieces I have read, when an author pinpoints a specific place and time, they describe it in great
detail and expand on the importance of such event in a broader picture. Glaser does quite the
opposite. In my perspective,the individual events themselves don’t necessarily present a specific
theme. Only when they are observed as a whole do they begin to have meaning.
For me, Glaser’s story portrays a very accurate depiction of human life. When we think about our progress as a society and our impact on the world, most of us consider our achievements to be extremely significant. Glaser acknowledges our evolution and technological advancements, but reveals that they aren’t as big as we might have thought. The title of the story “pee on water” is a perfect example of this idea. While we would boast about our complex sewage and plumbing systems, Glaser points out that we simply went from peeing on land to peeing on water. This sort of perspective made the story really interesting for me and actually gave it a deeper message. In a way, it made me appreciate the smaller things in life and think about our species in a more humble manner.
Additionally, I think the story does a good job of capturing what human life really ends up being: small,
everyday things that we have accepted as part of life, like a dog catching a rabbit Something as
insignificant as the ketchup sticking in the bottle is lost in the history books and forgotten the very next
moment, but is a key aspect of our life. Even great moments in history and huge advancements for
humankind are described as “Flags paraded around, then stuck on the moon.” Glaser includes both
seemingly mundane and historically relevant events, but writes them the same way. In a sense, she is
revealing something about everything taking place in the broader scope of things. Glaser ends the story
on a reflective note, telling the reader to enjoy and appreciate the small things like putting toothpaste on
your toothbrush and remembering your first and last name. Again, she mentions the continuation of time,
“The day cut into hours,” but ends it all with another perfectly ordinary human occurrence: the soap
bar slimming down to a sliver, continuing the flow of the piece and reiterating the importance of
“unimportant” events.
everyday things that we have accepted as part of life, like a dog catching a rabbit Something as
insignificant as the ketchup sticking in the bottle is lost in the history books and forgotten the very next
moment, but is a key aspect of our life. Even great moments in history and huge advancements for
humankind are described as “Flags paraded around, then stuck on the moon.” Glaser includes both
seemingly mundane and historically relevant events, but writes them the same way. In a sense, she is
revealing something about everything taking place in the broader scope of things. Glaser ends the story
on a reflective note, telling the reader to enjoy and appreciate the small things like putting toothpaste on
your toothbrush and remembering your first and last name. Again, she mentions the continuation of time,
“The day cut into hours,” but ends it all with another perfectly ordinary human occurrence: the soap
bar slimming down to a sliver, continuing the flow of the piece and reiterating the importance of
“unimportant” events.
I had this eye-opening realization when I figured out what the title "Pee on Water" was referring to. I agree with you that this story puts all of the accomplishments we consider "amazing" into a fresh perspective, because what is so remarkable about peeing on water compared to peeing on land? The style of writing emphasizes this view of us as tiny particles watching the world spin by and then pause and keep spinning.
ReplyDeleteThis story was very different from any others we have read so far this semester. I think that it did give a different perspective on what is meaningful in a story and just a different way of telling a story. Glaser didn't spend too much time on any small details but moved on quickly to the next of the seemingly small but also important observations. For me, the fact that she kept returning to similar topics but showing the small ways in which we've changed highlighted both the progress that we've mad but also the similarities that we have with the humans that she talks about at the very beginning of the story.
ReplyDeleteI really like this post because I think it really captures "Pee on Water". Everything in the reading seemed so broad and almost repetitive if you didn't read it closely, but I think that's the point – she is
ReplyDeleterevealing something about everything taking place in the broader scope of things (as you said). I personally really liked the way that Glaser described these big events in a way that makes them seem not big (aka moon landing) because it just does remind me of how in the grand scheme of things, nothing is really that important, which creates a sense of humbleness.
I really like all of the reflections you make about Pee on Water, and I think it's really interesting that just by writing about events in human history in a simple manner, Glaser is able to convey this message of how, really, everything that we've done is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I didn't really pick out her message of enjoying the small things in life as much, but I'm glad you wrote about it because if it wasn't there, the story would be a whole lot more depressing.
ReplyDelete