Entry 58: I Exist

A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”

Before the Civil War, the United States was essentially an idealistic, confident, and self-reliant republic. What does the quotation above (from Stephen Crane’s War is Kind) suggest happened to the United States as a result of the war? What do you think Crane was trying to say about man's existence? How do you feel or what do you think about this point of view regarding the relationship between human beings and the universe?

• The quotation above from Stephen Crane suggests that as a result of the war, the United States changed its ideals about life because of the hardships of life during the war. People no longer believed that the idea of romanticism is the theory and idea of reality and of the natural world. They started to believe in realistic ideas, and thus came the period of realism and the realists.
• In the quotation above, Crane is trying to imply one thing about the man's existence: the man's existence is not at all important to the universe (which can also be thought of as god that created us). The man doesn't create a difference in the world, unlike what the universe can. The sentence "The fact has not created in me/A sense of obligation" allows us to infer that even if the man is reasonable or is asking for the universe to be obligated towards him, the universe believes that it should not be obligated to anyone, or else it wouldn't be fair.
• Regarding the relationship between human beings and the universe, I believe that it is quite reasonable, even though the truth is sad and depressing. Nothing will stop for any individual, and one person doesn't make a difference. The point of view of the poem is like saying that the universe continues on with what it was doing, regardless of what happens to any individual within it.