"Live like a hero. That is what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise, what is life for?" - J.M. Coetzee
Jenn Weinheimer says these lines "remind me that we can't just passively check the boxes in life and consider that a life. Elizabeth imploring Paul to "live [his] life so that someone might want to put [him] in a book" is a reminder not of WHICH choices we need to make but that we need to live with intention. My experience teaching this novel has shown me that these lines have a similar effect on my students. When they might think that they are just waiting for "real life" (life after high school or after college) to start, it can be tempting to think that one is merely following a script, but Elizabeth Costello reminds Paul (and by extension the readers of the novel) that it's all real--and it's short--and we have to do something so that our lives aren't just resumes--they are stories. "
Jenn Weinheimer spent 20 years in independent secondary-school education as an English teacher, Dean, Department Chair and now Head of Upper School at Cincinnati Country Day School. While not a rebellious sort, she hopes "I'm living my life like a main character and creating some good plot twists along the way."