Past Perfect usage?

Question

I'm reading a book and found this odd usage of past perfect tense in a speech of a character: *"He never feels as if he knows, neither does he feel as if nothing **had happened**"*. My English teacher (not a native speaker) told me that it's grammatically incorrect and it's just a speaking style of the character. Is it a correct conclusion? Or maybe there's a hidden sense?

Answer 1

Hi!

I’m familiar with this passage, and I can tell you that, while it is definitely his particular style, the grammar is actually fine.

I’m going to copy the passage it’s from at the bottom, for easy reference.

The passage is describing the way of the warrior, and using ‘he’ to reference a generic, hypothetical warrior. According to Castaneda, there are three bad ways of reacting to a situation:

1. Disregard it and ‘feel as if it had never occurred.”
2. Accept it at face value and “feel as if we know what’s going on.”
3. Become obsessed with it because we can’t disregard it but we also can’t fully accept it.

The fourth way (the correct way, per Castaneda), is the warrior’s way. A warrior doesn’t make those mistakes- he doesn’t get obsessed, he ‘never feels as if he knows,’ but he also doesn’t ‘feel as if nothing had ever happened.’

The sentence is fine- if we feel like we know what’s going on that’s present tense, but if we feel like nothing had happened then it is, indeed, past perfect. The sentence seems strange because a) it has both those tenses in at once, b) the second part is a double negative (he doesn’t feel like nothing happened = he feels like something happened), and c) it doesn’t mention what he doesn’t feel like he knows/is aware happened, because it’s talking about a general way of being, rather than a specific instance.

Flip it around- he does feel that something has happened, but he doesn’t feel like he knows everything about it. Then pretend you’re Carlos Castaneda and like to phrase things in very complex and elegant ways, and you end up with “He never feels as if he knows, neither does he feel as if nothing had ever happened.”

Good luck!

“There are three kinds of bad habits which we use over and over when confronted with unusual life situations. First, we may disregard what's happening or has happened and feel as if it had never occurred. That one is the bigot's way. Second, we may accept everything at its face value and feel as if we know what's going on. That's the pious man's way. Third, we may become obsessed with an event because either we cannot disregard it or we cannot accept it wholeheartedly. That's the fool's way. There is a fourth, the correct one, the warrior's way. A warrior acts as if nothing had ever happened, because he doesn't believe in anything, yet he accepts everything at its face value. He accepts without accepting and disregards without disregarding. He never feels as if he knows, neither does he feel as if nothing had ever happened. He acts as if he is in control, even though he might be shaking in his boots. To act in such a manner dissipates obsession.”