Fine Lines :: Wisniewski's "Who's Knocking?"

Who’s Knocking?

(Clark Wisniewski is a senior student and marketing major at the University of Nebraska at Omaha . The source mentioned in this article is Thomas DeQuincey. “On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth.” The Art of the Essay. Ed. Lydia Fakundiny. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1991. 116-120.)

Life is like a road map. We have many options to get from point A to point B, and life all depends on how we read the map. We use our own personal experiences to help us navigate the map of life, just as many of the great explorers did many years ago. It was not until very recently that I figured out the direction my life was taking, and even though I now have some idea, I am sure the path will change.

It was not too long ago that I decided to go back to school. I guess people could say that I heard a knock at the door that woke me up. I am grateful that I heard the knocking and answered the door. The problem in life is that we do not always hear the knocking and wake up. Many times we choose to ignore it and go back to sleep. It is important that we listen for these knocks in life, so we can better ourselves.

Thomas DeQuincey made an excellent point in his essay, “On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth.” The knocking at the gate is a symbol of waking up to life, or in the case of Macbeth, death. There are many times in life that we hear a knocking at the gate that wakes us up. My most recent awakening came about this time last year. It was then when I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. I quit school initially thinking that I would finish by taking correspondence classes. I was more concerned with obtaining a good job and getting married. Now that I am out in the real world, I realize that I cannot go anywhere without a degree. Since I am closer to graduation, I wish that I had gone back sooner. The problem with this is that I cannot change the past, only the future. I should not dwell on the matter but simply move on.

There are many times in life when we hear the knocking, but choose to go back to sleep. There could be many unexplained reasons for us to ignore the knocking. One good reason is that we do not feel ready to take the challenge. I debated with myself many times about going back to school, but I felt that I wasn’t ready to dive in. Another reason is that people feel it would be easier to ignore the knocking and continue our life the way it is going. “He does not know that he has seen that which he has seen everyday of his life” (DeQuincey 117). DeQuincey is simply saying that sometimes we do not even realize the obvious clues to our lives. When a direction has been pointed out to us, it may take several hints for us to notice. This happened to me several times when I was deciding to go back to school. I was happy with my life and did not want to add any more stress. I was also scared to go back to school. I was afraid that I might fail and make it worse for myself. It was later that I learned I was not happy with the direction my life was going, and I decided the only way to change it would to be to enroll in school. I ignored the obvious signs that going back to school was the right thing to do. A third reason that we choose to ignore the knocking is that we are too busy and do not even hear the knocking. There were many times that I felt that my job would interfere with school. It was later that I realized I had time to do both well. There are many things that cause us to ignore the knocking and go back to the old way of life.

We have established that there are times in our lives that we hear the knocking, but we choose to ignore it. How can we be sure we answer the knock when it is important? The answer to that question is different for everyone. No one else can decide when I need to wake up and change my life. I am my own best jury that can render the verdict that is best for my life. It is me that has to recognize that there is a need to make a change and grow from the experience. Life is a cycle of growing and making our lives better. We can only answer the knocking if the time is right for us to grow. The reason that we may not hear the knocking is that we are just not ready to make the commitment to change. It is important that we evaluate our own style of recognizing the knocking so we are able to make those changes that are important in life.

If we chose to ignore the signs of knocking, it could be disastrous. If people forget to set their alarm, they may oversleep and be late for work. If we set alarms in our lives to awaken us to change, then we will be able to better ourselves. The problem is setting the alarm. What do we set it for? Again this all depends on the individual. It matters what is important in our life and the areas that we need to change. The key to successfully setting the alarm is to identify the weaknesses in our lives. If we can be better at identifying the weakness in our lives, then when we hear the knocking, we will wake up. It is important that we set many alarms to wake us up.

DeQuincey is constantly reminding us that the knocking at the gate helps bring our lives a sense of peace. “Hence it is that when the darkness passes away like a pageantry in the clouds: the knocking at the gate is heard; and it makes known audibly the reaction has commenced” (DeQuincey 120). This reminds me of the clouds clearing after a storm. During the storm, it is dark and scary. After the clouds clear and the sun comes out, light is shed on our lives. The most important thing about waking up to life is recognizing that our lives are constantly changing. What is important to me now may not be important to me an hour from now or a week from now. If we can recognize that life is constantly changing, then we may be able to hear the knock. A person who does not recognize that life is constantly changing will be stagnating and will grow weak. If I am not expecting life to change, then I am obviously not going to change my life. It sounds complex, but it is really simple. A person will not change if they do not feel they need to be changed. If we answer the knock, we can expect to change our life.

I am glad that I have had many knocks to waken me up to life. I expect that I will have many knocks at my door to come. Now that I understand DeQuincey, I have better evaluated myself to recognize that life presents us with many knocks. I think I now have the skills to better recognize when there is a knock at the door. Thomas DeQuincey had an excellent idea of the explanation of the knocking at the gate in Macbeth. Shakespeare obviously had the same idea. I wonder what things were knocking at Shakespeare’s door? It is important that we heed the warnings and change life to best suit our needs. I have to go now, I think I hear knocking.

Who’s Knocking? (Clark Wisniewski is a senior student and marketing major at the University of Nebraska at Omaha . The source mentioned in this article is Thomas DeQuincey. “On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth.” The Art of the Essay. Ed. Lydia Fakundiny. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1991. 116-120.) Life is like a road map. We have many options to get from point A to point B, and life all depends on how we read the map. We use our own personal experiences to help us navigate the map of life, just as many of the great explorers did many years ago. It was not until very recently that I figured out the direction my life was taking, and even though I now have some idea, I am sure the path will change. It was not too long ago that I decided to go back to school. I guess people could say that I heard a knock at the door that woke me up. I am grateful that I heard the knocking and answered the door. The problem in life is that we do not always hear the knocking and wake up. Many times we choose to ignore it and go back to sleep. It is important that we listen for these knocks in life, so we can better ourselves. Thomas DeQuincey made an excellent point in his essay, “On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth.” The knocking at the gate is a symbol of waking up to life, or in the case of Macbeth, death. There are many times in life that we hear a knocking at the gate that wakes us up. My most recent awakening came about this time last year. It was then when I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. I quit school initially thinking that I would finish by taking correspondence classes. I was more concerned with obtaining a good job and getting married. Now that I am out in the real world, I realize that I cannot go anywhere without a degree. Since I am closer to graduation, I wish that I had gone back sooner. The problem with this is that I cannot change the past, only the future. I should not dwell on the matter but simply move on. There are many times in life when we hear the knocking, but choose to go back to sleep. There could be many unexplained reasons for us to ignore the knocking. One good reason is that we do not feel ready to take the challenge. I debated with myself many times about going back to school, but I felt that I wasn’t ready to dive in. Another reason is that people feel it would be easier to ignore the knocking and continue our life the way it is going. “He does not know that he has seen that which he has seen everyday of his life” (DeQuincey 117). DeQuincey is simply saying that sometimes we do not even realize the obvious clues to our lives. When a direction has been pointed out to us, it may take several hints for us to notice. This happened to me several times when I was deciding to go back to school. I was happy with my life and did not want to add any more stress. I was also scared to go back to school. I was afraid that I might fail and make it worse for myself. It was later that I learned I was not happy with the direction my life was going, and I decided the only way to change it would to be to enroll in school. I ignored the obvious signs that going back to school was the right thing to do. A third reason that we choose to ignore the knocking is that we are too busy and do not even hear the knocking. There were many times that I felt that my job would interfere with school. It was later that I realized I had time to do both well. There are many things that cause us to ignore the knocking and go back to the old way of life. We have established that there are times in our lives that we hear the knocking, but we choose to ignore it. How can we be sure we answer the knock when it is important? The answer to that question is different for everyone. No one else can decide when I need to wake up and change my life. I am my own best jury that can render the verdict that is best for my life. It is me that has to recognize that there is a need to make a change and grow from the experience. Life is a cycle of growing and making our lives better. We can only answer the knocking if the time is right for us to grow. The reason that we may not hear the knocking is that we are just not ready to make the commitment to change. It is important that we evaluate our own style of recognizing the knocking so we are able to make those changes that are important in life. If we chose to ignore the signs of knocking, it could be disastrous. If people forget to set their alarm, they may oversleep and be late for work. If we set alarms in our lives to awaken us to change, then we will be able to better ourselves. The problem is setting the alarm. What do we set it for? Again this all depends on the individual. It matters what is important in our life and the areas that we need to change. The key to successfully setting the alarm is to identify the weaknesses in our lives. If we can be better at identifying the weakness in our lives, then when we hear the knocking, we will wake up. It is important that we set many alarms to wake us up. DeQuincey is constantly reminding us that the knocking at the gate helps bring our lives a sense of peace. “Hence it is that when the darkness passes away like a pageantry in the clouds: the knocking at the gate is heard; and it makes known audibly the reaction has commenced” (DeQuincey 120). This reminds me of the clouds clearing after a storm. During the storm, it is dark and scary. After the clouds clear and the sun comes out, light is shed on our lives. The most important thing about waking up to life is recognizing that our lives are constantly changing. What is important to me now may not be important to me an hour from now or a week from now. If we can recognize that life is constantly changing, then we may be able to hear the knock. A person who does not recognize that life is constantly changing will be stagnating and will grow weak. If I am not expecting life to change, then I am obviously not going to change my life. It sounds complex, but it is really simple. A person will not change if they do not feel they need to be changed. If we answer the knock, we can expect to change our life. I am glad that I have had many knocks to waken me up to life. I expect that I will have many knocks at my door to come. Now that I understand DeQuincey, I have better evaluated myself to recognize that life presents us with many knocks. I think I now have the skills to better recognize when there is a knock at the door. Thomas DeQuincey had an excellent idea of the explanation of the knocking at the gate in Macbeth. Shakespeare obviously had the same idea. I wonder what things were knocking at Shakespeare’s door? It is important that we heed the warnings and change life to best suit our needs. I have to go now, I think I hear knocking.