To
fight against the progression of technology would be to disagree with
evolution; to reject technology as a whole would be to live life in deliberate
ignorance. Regardless of faith, bias, or opinion, it cannot be denied that
nature is constantly evolving. Without a doubt, technology has proven to make
life easier by the decade, yet many people reject it, be it for choice,
disinterest, or fear of the unknown and change. John and Sylvia’s reaction to technology, and
the narrator’s perception of their reactions, comment on this. What the
narrator wants to make clear in mentioning this is the greater meaning behind
their reactions, and his sound judgment on how we should deal with technology. John
seeks instant gratification in the fixing of his motorcycle, by sending it off
to a mechanic because he’d rather not interfere with what he does not (nor
wishes) to know. Sylvia refuses to acknowledge the irritation of a leaky faucet
that was deemed unfixable after one attempt to fix it because she chooses to
ignore it or wishes not to deal with it anymore. It is not that they reject
technology; rather, they reject the understanding of technology, which
interferes with the harmony of using it. The narrator understands that the only
way to effectively use technology is to understand it completely. If John took
the time to understand the workings of his motorcycle, the narrator feels that
he would be less frustrated and more understanding when problems arise, or even
better, prevent the problems altogether.
A blog dedicated to the in depth study of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and its author Robert M. Pirsig, by the 2nd period AP Literature Class group.
I agree that John and Sylvia may reject technology because they do not fully understand it, but the narrator did not understand it until he was forced to either. This is a great point to show that there should be harmony with technology, and that as time passes people begin to accept it and understand it. This occurs within all fields of technology, from motorcycles to cellular devices. An example of this is the fact that most of the parents of the generation we take part in do not understand technology. They need our help to perform actions on their computers or their cell phones. The reason that the younger generation knows about it is because we have an understanding of what is going on only because we have grown up with the evolving technology. It should be the same with motorcycles. Once he went to Canada and realized that the mechanics made the situation worse when his bike had a serious issue, he realized he needed to understand technology and perform the actions himself. This also proves the point that people believe things will be done right if they do it. This became the narrator’s mindset. John has a different mindset because he hasn’t had an experience like that in which the narrator encountered. The narrator still believes that he can try to change John’s mind, especially if he tells him the story of Canada, but he does not want to irritate him.
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