Writing this while hungry, but it’ll be interesting to see what turns up. The usual rules of answering in the comments or pinging to this post if you do it on your own blog.
- What do you think of the concept of sacrifice?
- Barring health reasons and financial restraints, what could make you give up something you enjoy for even a limited amount of time?
- What would it be?
Bonus Question: What do you think about the concept of sacrifice in fiction?
Legends of Windemere 
Tough one today. I’m indifferent to it as a concept, I accept it as a fact. Since you limited health and finance, I suppose distraction is another reason. I’ll also throw in setting a good example for the kids. Perhaps I could stop enjoying my craft beer if I had a teenager who needed a better example.
Sacrifice in fiction is huge. I like it when the hero has to make that life changing decision. He leaves his family to serve the greater good, or even stays behind on a rogue asteroid to blow it up thereby allowing everyone else to live.
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Figured I’d have to cut the health and finance parts out. Too easy to pick those and I wanted to challenge people. I like how you mention sacrifice is a fact since a lot of people do it to some extent. Many times we don’t even realize it.
Great example of sacrifice. There seems to be a brewing trend where authors will have a character sacrifice and it ends up being in vain. Not sure why people are getting into that.
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That doesn’t work for me, but that Bruce Willis bit still gets me every time I watch Armageddon. Maybe it’s because I have a daughter.
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Been a while since I saw the movie, but that was a memorable scene. Agree that the sacrifice in vain doesn’t work for me either.
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Then there’s that whole other kind of sacrifice, like in the Temple of Doom.
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My eardrums to the screaming blonde?
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Sacrifice has to be a mainstay of fiction, one way or another…
I’m not answering the rest… or not without a whole blog post on the subject… but mainly as I am sure this is a hunger-driven ploy to get us all to talk about culinary delights… and after your post yesterday… I’m not risking it 😉
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I’m fed now. 😉 It could actually be anything here. Though I have noticed that questions like this tend to get answered with food. It’s interesting how that has become a come ‘sacrifice’ and one that people even gloat about.
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Agreed… even religious traditions seem to base themselves around food. It is something I have written about a fair bit, from sacrificial rites to the smaller, but no less momentous sacrifices made daily in silence. Even the idea of ‘giving up’ has lost its meaning somehow… becoming an idea of self-deprivation, instead of an ‘offering up’ to deity.
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It probably relates to how people view religion and the evolution of said system. I can only speak for Judaism, but Yom Kippur was never really about ‘offering up’ to a deity. The reason is to suffer and relieve yourself of your sins. I think it was originally combined with praying all day and reflecting on the previous year. Still doesn’t explain why food was the big one. Maybe that’s just to most common thing among people.
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Perhaps a mortification of the flesh? Or maybe becase food is something usually shared and the seeking of atonement is a spiritual, therefore personal and solitary practise at heart?
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Maybe. Could even be that it boils down to ‘the suffering of the body creates suffering for the spirit’. Hunger is a type of suffering that can be easily undone unlike injuries and disease.
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That’s a good observation, Charles.
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I love it as a concept. Think about it this way: the Bible is the best-selling book, and the entire New Testament revolves about sacrifice 😉
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I always thought the Bible had an unfair advantage. It’s been around for so long and it has a really massive marketing team, which includes its own city. How’s any other author supposed to compete with that? 🙂
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😀
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I reckon sometimes what we see as sacrifice really isn’t. Lots of what we do or consume shortens our lives and makes us sick. Giving things we enjoy up sometimes is a bonus rather than a bad thing. Like smoking or sugar – that sweet stuff will kill ya so you’re sacrificing a demon thing – which is cool. Now I want to scribble something about really sacrificing a demon – bet they’d be really smelly if burned. 😀
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Think they’d be sulfuric in odor with a hint of cinnamon. Interesting how many sacrifices are done and make things better. Does that really mean they aren’t sacrifices? It’s still giving something up that you really like.
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At the risk of getting overly deep, I think that life is all about sacrifice. We have to give up things, maybe for the greater good, maybe for the good of ourselves, but probably any life without sacrifice is a life without growth. Not sure if you believe in the other side, but I do, so I believe that every little thing that we do Earthside is important to the ongoing voyage. Cinnamon – Chelsea Buns – Aaaargh – The Wanting!
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Undecided on the other side. Figure it isn’t my place to know until I get there.
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1. I am partial to the concept, mostly because I am an idiot who sacrifices things for people who then tell me to Piss of cause they didnt ask me to do it 😀
2. For my son, and thats about it, I can give up anything.
3. Anything really, I am just, as I grow older, more hesitant to sacrifice stuff for personas, who are not my son. Maybe it sounds rude, because it feels like I want a reward for my sacrifice, but what I really want is to see the person/place restored and happy, and that rarely happens.
4. I think sacrifice in fiction is honestly? Boring. Boring as hell. Enough witht he sacrifice, I see it in practicaly every book. Its like character growth 101 and its getting annoying. Give me someone who is properly self centered and DOES NOT change for the good for a pretty lady, to save an orphanage or a planet burning up from evil magic! 😀
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1. Sorry for that. Hope you can reverse the sacrifice then.
2. Kids definitely require some level of sacrifice.
3. Curious as to what you mean by ‘person/place restored’ through sacrifice. Sad that it rarely happens.
4. The difficulty there is that a good character arc requires change. Many people will be annoyed if the hero remains the same from beginning to end, especially with a long series. I remember several friends of mine thought Katniss from ‘The Hunger Games’ stayed the same from Book 1 to Book 3, which annoyed them. The problem is that change tends to require giving something up or leaving a piece of yourself behind.
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I agree with you about character change, but sometimes it is so goddamn unrealistic? Like, a creature that sucks blood and eats entrails for 6 THOUSAND years suddenly sacrifices his superiority and immortality because a blonde 16 y old girl is in love with him and asks it? I know its fantasy and sci-fi, even historical fiction and such, it is just so hard to connect to the “easines” of how it all looks like and how all these characters, especially ones rooted in evil or cowardice, do a 365 turn in one page (or at least it feels like that!) Or how the action is prased when it is for another, but botched about when it is self empowering. Like, who even thinks about rhe villain, and all they have to sacrifice forever in order to try and survive with their perhaps confusing personalities and confusing worlds. This is why I say it is boring, because it is a tool specificaly reserved for the Hero, the protagonist and is connected with loss; or with the villain, the antagonist and is connected with gaining something – and it usualy follows a narrow pattern.
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The vampire thing has gotten really old over the years. It made sense when they played the ‘tired of being seen as a monster’ or ‘wishing for a normal life’ sides of immortality. The sacrifice really does have to be in line with the character’s personality and previous behavior too. At the very least, some foreshadowing has to be put in.
The reason I think it ends up being done with heroes so often is because a common aspect with villains is greed. They have a refusal to sacrifice even a tiny bit for their cause. Instead, they’ll sacrifice others, so the hero being the polar opposite tends to happen.
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1. What do you think of the concept of sacrifice?
A sacrifice shows the extreme importance of a person or a cause. It adds a layer of depth to a story. I can’t help thinking of Lord of the Rings, Kung-Fu Panda, Children of Dune and other stories (like the first Iron-Man) where someone sacrifices or her his life in order to help someone else. I find those stories very powerful.
2. Barring health reasons and financial restraints, what could make you give up something you enjoy for even a limited amount of time?
I’ve fasted while praying many times. Sometimes my church calls for everyone to fast when an answer to prayer is needed.
3. What would it be?
I fasted for a day with just water and the occasional glass of juice. But some mornings I fast (no food, but I have coffee and water). During the Lenten season, I’ve given up TV. I used to give up chocolate. Ha. No more.
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1. For some reason I don’t remember the Kung-Fu Panda sacrifice.
2. Interesting. Never heard of a church calling for that. What causes that to happen?
3. It’s not having water that makes Yom Kippur really tough. Coffee isn’t even close to the menu.
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I actually meant Kung Fu Panda 2. Sorry. As for number 2, I’m an elder in the church, so our group is sometimes called to fast when a crisis comes up.
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Cool. Didn’t know that was a church thing. Been a while since I saw Kung Fu Panda 2, so I’ll need to rewatch.
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I’m a little late. had all day medical stuff yesterday.
What do you think of the concept of sacrifice? I like the idea when it comes to making a point. You know man gives up his watch to buy combs for wife’s hair.
Barring health reasons and financial restraints, what could make you give up something you enjoy for even a limited amount of time? The only thing that would make me give up something I enjoy is if someone else would benefit.
What would it be? I have given up desserts for specified periods for charity.
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Hope the medical stuff went smoothly and you’re doing fine.
1. I do enjoy the ‘Gift of the Magi’ story. Not sure why that appeals to me so much.
2. A true sacrifice there. 🙂
3. Interesting. That would be a tough one because I like snacking.
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I love snacking as well.
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I’d have to wonder about any religion that was so transactional, though I know many of the ancient relgions were. “I sacrifice this, you give me that.” How true is the devotion?
At the same time, I know people don’t value or respect things.they get for free, whether that means a true love or a lucky break. So if I was a deity (in fantasy, not real life) I suppose I might want sacrifices to keep my followers from taking me for granted.
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A lot of the ancient gods seemed to work off vanity. Don’t remember them giving much to their followers either. One story that comes to mind is Prometheus who had to steal fire for the humans and got in trouble for it.
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