Best of Week: Michael K as god

An interesting idea brought up by Margot last week. What evidence in the text supports this? For one thing, Michael K’s escape from the camp is said to be a miracle. Also, when prompted, Michael K says “I am what I am”, which is used in the Bible at some point, I think. And thus Michael K is also godly for his ability to break free of the system.

I’m pretty sure this is ridiculous.

First of all, there is no guarantee that such a commonly used expression is intended to indicate anything other than surprise that Michael K did something that the speaker thought he could not. This is not godly in the least, and I don’t believe Coetzee intended it to be. Countless times every week I use and hear people use the word miracle without any association to god, nor do I ever think of god, religion or the Bible when it is used. But, there can only be so many coincidences, and given the context, as well as some other references, I guess it might be plausible.

Now, “I am what I am”, is definitely the stronger example. At very least, there is some sort of philosophical thought going into this, and it’s clearly intentional. And while it may be true similar lines have been used in holy texts, I don’t think the line itself means anything.

I’m not someone who’s extremely familiar with the Bible, but I believe the meaning in the line as seen in holy texts is that god is too extraordinary for humans to understand. Well that’s the essence of god, god is not understandable, god is the explanation for the things we don’t understand.

But all of this ignores that which makes god god. It’s not a question of how much people understand god, it’s a question of whether god understands us. Humans do not understand each other, maybe not even themselves. Who are they? They don’t know. If two people truly knew each other, they would not be individuals, they would have recognized every emotion the other felt, every event they ever experienced, everything they ever knew. Their identities would merge, they would be one and the same. It isn’t possible.

Unless you are god. God is that universal identity, god does understand. God is not out of the system, god is so engrained into the system we cannot imagine it. God is everything, god is the system. Much like how in the Matrix, it is revealed that Neo, the One, was solely a product of the system, created to balance a system that otherwise would fall apart.

Michael K, for one thing, said “I am what I am” probably because he himself doesn’t know how to answer, or who he actually is. It’s not that he isn’t going to bother trying to explain to a mortal (or in this case someone who is inside the system?), it’s just that he himself has no idea.

And, of course, Michael K does not understand others. He might not even care. And while it’s true Neo did not understand others, this is irrelevant for two reasons. First, so what? Sure Neo isn’t god, but clearly neither is Michael. Second, Neo’s identity, or the identity of the one is the product of the remainder based on the Matrix, which is in effect, the identity of all of humanity. Michael K is nowhere near this at all.

So yeah, at least the way I see it, Michael K failed the god test.