At one point she tells him "Who says life has to have a purpose?" The world is a jungle.. and if you want my advice don't expect happiness, you wont get it.. people let you down, and I am not naming any names, but in the end you die in your own arms."
AJ responds in a small, scared voice "You mean... alone?:
Livia.. "Its all a big nothing, what makes you think you are so special.?"
Do any of you think she is right in some ways.. I wonder..
Today, I feel exactly as Livia said.
shareYeah. She's right about people and happiness. The writers tried to portray Livia as some type of aberration but MANY people from the Depression Era/World War II generation had her take on life.
shareShe's actually quoting nihilistic philosophy.
It's simply about perspective. We do, in fact, die "in our own arms" at the end. No one can take that journey with us. And once we are dead, whatever we have touched or created in life eventually also withers, fades, and dies. Of course we can have children, and some part of us may "live on" in that regard, but even they will die, and our children's children's children will know nothing of us except maybe a few old photographs and handed down story or two.
Unless of course you inherit great-grandpa's millions.
Rewatch "Cold Stones" from Season 6a, when Carm and Ro go to Paris. Carm goes through her own little episode of bleak nihilism, which Ro can't understand at all. The funny thing is, that after getting that out, off her chest - "nothing matters in the end" - Carm seems recharged and refreshed upon her return home.
There can be a sense of relief in realizing that try as we might, work as hard as we can, eventually no one will be left go give two sh*ts about any of it. And we'll be dead, so why should we care? It can make the craziness and difficulty of life easier in some ways, to let go of a certain amount of worry. Just don't take it too far, moderation in all things and all of that.
To quote that Great Poet, Johnny Cougar: Nothing Matters and What if it Did?
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She's actually quoting nihilistic philosophy.
, which Ro can't understand at all.
No, she was just a bitter old hag. Life is what you make of it. You're not born with a purpose, you have to figure out what it is for yourself and pursue it. You have to make yourself happy because no one else is going to do it for you. People will let you down, probably many times over, but you still have to pick yourself up and keep going. Livia was was a desperately unhappy person whose view of the world was tainted by her own bitterness and anger. She died alone because she pushed everyone else away.
You who wish to conquer pain, you must learn to serve me well.
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Yea, but if she had renounced nihilism, she would have found the strength and hope to continue in life and hope for the best - that maybe, she wouldn't die alone, but surrounded by family who love her. And that she would be remembered better. Nihilism prevented her from getting better, same as tony with melfi btw.
shareShe is so full of negativity I don't know whether to hate her or feel sorry for her. Considering that her outlook on life must have come from her past, she was not able to put it behind her and live in the present. Very sad. I've known a lot of people who grew up in the depression and they managed to make the best of the present and not dwell in the past. Livia wasted her life.
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