Beth Moore, in her book The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob states that the evolution of character is what the book of Genesis is all about (Moore 2005). Beginning in chapter eleven, Abraham is introduced as the Patriarch. He is the man that the Hebrew God has chosen to enter into a covenant with and to “make into a great nation” (Gen.12:2) (New International Version). Abraham has two sons; the first is Ishmael (who is revered in Islam) and the second is Isaac. The Hebrew God has declared that the covenant between Abraham and Himself will be fulfilled through Isaac. Isaac has a set of twins, Esau and Jacob (whose name means “heel-grabber”) (Moore 2005). Jacob tricks his blind father and steals the blessing that would have given his brother the rights of the first born son. Jacob then runs away, marries two sisters, keeps their maids as concubines, and has twelve sons. Jacob, like his father and grandfather, has direct conversations with the Hebrew God and even at one point physically wrestles with an angel. The angel declares that no longer would Jacob be named Jacob, but that his name would be Israel, “because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome” (Gen. 32: 26-28) (NIV). The eleventh of Israel’s sons is a boy named Joseph, the first of two sons born to the wife he loved, who was named Rachel.
Scholars have discovered that Genesis 37-50 was not the work of a single author. Because of the degree that human psychology and personal details about the characters are present in the telling of the story of Joseph, several scholars view this story as a separate novella. It is a novella concerned with the overcoming of obstacles (Brettler 2005). The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is a story of the Hero’s Journey.
Chapter 37 of Genesis begins the story of Joseph by telling the reader that Joseph was seventeen years old and that he was his father’s favorite. In order to convey his love, his father gives Joseph a “richly ornamented robe” (Gen. 37: 3) (NIV). It also states that his brothers hated him because he held their father’s favor. The reader is also informed that Joseph has a special talent, what might be considered a magical gift in another genre of story telling. Joseph is a dreamer of dreams, and an interpreter of dreams. The first of these dreams he boldly declares to his brothers, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it” (Gen. 37: 6-7) (NIV). His brothers were outraged. Joseph then had another dream in which he saw his entire family bow down to him, including his father. It was not long after this that his father sent Joseph out into the fields to his brothers, and the Hero’s Journey of Joseph began.
The Hero’s Journey is usually divided into eight steps and occurs in three stages (Harris 2003). The first of these stages is the stage of Separation. When Joseph goes out to his brothers in the field, they decide to strip him of the robe his father gave him and throw him in an empty cistern. The brothers then sit down to eat a meal together and discuss their options. Should they kill their brother or just fake his death and really sell him to the Ishmaelites they see approaching in the distance? In the end, they sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They then slaughter a goat and smear Joseph’s magnificent coat with the goat’s blood and deliver the garment to their father as evidence of Joseph’s demise. Their father, Jacob, is beyond heart broken and can not be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning I will go down to the grave to my son” (Gen. 37: 36) (NIV).
Joseph, in the meantime, is on his way to Egypt. This is the first step in the Separation stage of his Hero’s Journey, entitled The Call. During this step, Joseph will have to face an alien world during this adventure, but he will gain something of value through this experience (Harris 2003).
Once he arrives in Egypt, Joseph is sold as a slave to one of the Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard named Potiphar. This is the second step in the Separation stage of Joseph’s Hero’s Journey, entitled the Threshold. The threshold is described as a “world filled with challenges and dangers” (Harris 2003). At first, Potiphar’s household doesn’t seem a very challenging or dangerous setting. Chapter 39 of Genesis describes Potiphar as an easy going man, perhaps a man who had already made his fortune and wanted to rest on his laurels. Genesis 39:6 (NIV) states, “So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” Potiphar acts in the Threshold stage as a guardian and helper to Joseph as he adjusts to life as a slave in Egypt.
There was, though, another prestigious person living in Potiphar’s house: Potiphar’s wife. Potiphar’s wife is the Challenge that Joseph must face during this first phase of his Initiation and Transformation on his Hero’s Journey (Harris 2003). The next verses state that “Joseph was well-built and handsome and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’” (Gen.39: 6-7) (NIV). Joseph tries to tell Potiphar’s wife that he can not misuse his master in such a way. When she will not accept that argument, Joseph then declares he can not betray his God in such a manner. Joseph then begins to avoid Potiphar’s wife, but one day she grabs him by his cloak and attempts to seduce him once more. Joseph escapes, but leaves his cloak in her hands. Potiphar’s wife uses Joseph’s cloak as evidence against him in an accusation of rape. Potiphar, on hearing his wife’s story throws Joseph into prison.
While in prison, Joseph undoubtedly experiences the Abyss of his Hero’s Journey. By now, the book of Genesis has made it clear that Joseph is a competent and reliable young man. He is in prison no time before “…the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there” (Gen.39:22) (NIV). But, what Joseph must do during the Abyss phase of his Hero’s Journey is come to terms with the ability he possessed that so enraged his brothers and even his father against him in the first place. Joseph must accept the fact the he is an interpreter of dreams.
While Joseph is in prison, the Pharaoh becomes angry with both his baker and his cupbearer and throws them both into the prison. On the same night, each of these two men has a dream. The following morning, Joseph notices that the two men seem heavy hearted and asks them what is troubling them. Both men confess that they have had dreams, but can’t understand what the dreams mean. Joseph then tells them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams” (Gen.40:8) (NIV). It should be noted here that while Joseph credits all his abilities and the narrator of Genesis credits all of Joseph’s good fortune to the blessings and grace of the Hebrew God, the Hebrew God is strangely absent throughout the Joseph novella. Joseph never speaks with his God, much less wrestles with him in the form of an angel as one of his ancestors did. He does not have personal encounters with his God, as Moses, the hero of Exodus (the next book in the Old Testament) does. Scholar Walter Breuggemann describes the story of Joseph as a story about the hiddenness of God, and many other scholars agree with him. It has been noted that the total focus of the story is on the action of humans and their behavior. God never appears or speaks to Joseph at all (Vallet 2001).
Although Joseph gives the credit to his God, Joseph interprets the dreams of the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and the baker. For the cupbearer, the interpretation brings good news. The Pharaoh will calm down and release the cupbearer from prison in three days time. For the baker, though, the interpretation is not so good. Joseph tells the baker that in three days time, the Pharaoh will “…hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat your flesh” (Gen.40: 19) (NIV). Joseph asks the cupbearer to remember him and mention him to the Pharaoh, but for two years, the cupbearer totally forgets about the existence of Joseph.
At the end of those two years, the Pharaoh himself begins to have a strange dream. He tells his dream to all his magicians and to all the wise men who counsel him, but none of them can discern the meaning of the dream. At this point in the story, the cupbearer suddenly remembers Joseph and his ability to interpret dreams. The Pharaoh sends for Joseph, and this begins the Transformation step of his Hero’s Journey.
The transformation is described as a point in the Hero’s Journey when a part of the hero dies so that a new part can be born (Harris 2003). Joseph is literally physically transformed before he can appear before the Pharaoh. He must be cleaned up, shaved and given a change of clothes. As the Pharaoh tells Joseph that he wants him to interpret his dream, Joseph once again gives the credit for his ability to interpret dreams to his God. “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires” (Gen. 40:16) (NIV).
The Pharaoh then goes on to tell Joseph a dream that Joseph interprets to mean that Egypt will have seven years of bounty followed by seven years of severe famine. Joseph advises the Pharaoh to appoint commissioners to insure that one fifth of the harvest in the seven years of bounty is held back to prepare for the seven years of famine. The Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph’s interpretation of the dream and with Joseph’s advice concerning the famine that he declares Joseph “shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you” (Gen.40:39) (NIV). The Pharaoh then places his signet ring on Joseph’s finger and dresses him in luxurious robes. He gives Joseph a golden chain to put around his neck, and puts him in charge of Egypt. Genesis tells us at this time, Joseph is thirty years old. He takes an Egyptian wife and in time has two sons. The first he names Manasseh, which means “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household” (Gen. 41:51) (NIV). His second son he names Ephraim, which means “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering” (Gen. 41:52) (NIV). Joseph has suffered, yet overcome. He has forgotten everything unpleasant that happened to him and even forgotten where he came from. In short, Joseph the Hebrew had been transformed into Joseph the Egyptian.
Rarely, though will the past stay buried, whether in fiction or in actual life. The famine has covered the entire region, and back in Canaan, Jacob, his sons and their families are starving. Jacob sends his sons except Joseph’s younger and full brother, Benjamin, to Egypt in search of food. The book of Genesis describes Joseph as “the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people” (Gen.42:6) (NIV). Joseph’s brothers are brought before him and they bow down, their faces on the ground. It is exactly the scene that Joseph foretold in his first dream. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but his brothers do not recognize him. Joseph must now struggle through the step of his Hero’s Journey known as the Revelation (Harris 2003). Is he who he has become, or is he who he was? How can these two be reconciled? Joseph’s first reaction to his brothers is one of anger, brought on perhaps by being caught off guard. He accuses them of being spies and throws them all in prison for three days.
On the third day, Joseph makes his brothers an offer. He tells them that in order to prove to him that they are not spies, they must leave one brother in his custody and bring before him the younger brother (Benjamin) that they had mentioned to him. That will prove to Joseph, he claims, that they are honest men. But, before they go, Joseph carries out an act of mercy. He fills their sacks with grain and even returns the silver they had brought to pay for it.
Jacob, though, despite the pleading of the oldest brother, Reuben, will not hear of the brothers taking Benjamin out of his sight. “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in sorrow” (Gen. 42:38) (NIV). In the end, however, the famine is so long in its endurance and so severe that Jacob is left with no choice but to allow the other brothers to take Benjamin with them to Egypt.
When Joseph sees his younger brother, he has to turn away to hide his tears. Benjamin, like his other brothers, does not recognize Joseph. He then inquires – is their elderly father still alive and well? Once it is established that Jacob is fine, Joseph serves the brothers a feast, and there is whispering because Benjamin is served five times as much as everyone else. When the time comes for the brothers to depart, they are loaded down with grain, but Joseph, it seems, can not bear to part with Benjamin. He has one of his servants hide his silver cup in Benjamin’s bag. He then proclaims that which ever brother has the cup in his bag must remain in Egypt and be his slave for life. This proclamation motivates Judah, the second oldest brother, to get down on his knees and beg eloquently for Benjamin. He knows if they return without Benjamin, it will kill Jacob. He goes on to tell Joseph how Jacob had already lost one son and that he can not bear to lose another.
At this point, Joseph can no longer maintain his conflicting identities. “[Joseph] wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and the Pharaoh’s house heard about it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified.”(Gen. 45:2-3) (NIV). Joseph then begins the final stage of his Hero’s Journey, the Atonement (Harris 2003). Joseph goes on to tell his brothers, “I am Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you….Tell my father about all the honor accorded to me in Egypt and about everything that you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly” (Gen. 45:5, 13) (NIV).
The Hebrew God, who has been strangely silent to Joseph throughout this novella, does speak to Jacob in a vision at the beginning of chapter 46. He tells Jacob not to be afraid to go down to Egypt, so Jacob takes everyone and all they own on the journey. When Joseph and Jacob meet, Joseph “threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time” (Gen. 46: 29) (NIV). Ron Vallet, author of The Stewart Living in Covenant, describes the scene in the following way: “In the climax of Joseph’s story we see his dream vindicated. Alive, not dead as his father believed for so many years, Joseph has risen in power and influence. The boy who had been looked at with derision by his brothers and described by them as a dreamer had become great – not in spite of being a dreamer but because of it” (2001).
The Pharaoh welcomes Jacob and the rest of Joseph’s family into Egypt, and there they remain. Technically, this is the end of Joseph’s Hero’s Journey. The famine, however, continues. Joseph develops a plan to preserve his people, but through this plan, the Hebrew population sells everything they own to the Pharaoh in order to stay alive. In the end, the Hebrew people are in bondage to the Pharaoh, owing him a fifth of the all they produce in return for the seeds the Pharaoh has provided them.
In chapter 50, just before he dies, Joseph again reassures his brothers, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children” (Gen. 50:24) (NIV).
However, the first chapter of the book of Exodus tells the rest of the story, “Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country. So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor…They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly” (Exodus 1:8-10,14) (NIV).
Joseph Campbell, in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, explains that the individual’s immediate Hero’s Journey may come to an end, but that the journey itself is an ongoing cycle. “The supreme hero, however,” states Campbell, “is not the one who merely continues the dynamics of the cosmogonic round, but he who re-opens the eye – so that through all the comings and goings, delights and agonies of the world panorama, the One Presence will be seen again” (1968).
The end of Joseph’s Hero’s Journey puts in place a set of circumstances that are the seeds for the next hero in the cycle, Moses, to begin his Hero’s Journey. Philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel has stated, “The grand premise of religion is that man is able to surpass himself; that man who is part of the world may enter into a relationship with Him who is greater than the world; that man may lift up his mind and be attached to the absolute; that man who is conditioned by a multiplicity of factors is capable of living with demands that are unconditioned” (Heschel 1955).
The great appeal of the heroes of the early books of the Old Testament is that none of them were men who were conditioned towards greatness. They face the challenges placed before them, however daunting, and still achieve their goals and the goals of their God. Joseph’s story stands out among these stories because at least in his lifetime, his story does end seemingly “happily ever after.” He is able to die as he lived. He is still a hero.
Reference List
Brettler, Marc Zvi. 2005. How to Read the Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
Campbell, Joseph. 1968. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Bollingen Foundation, Inc.
Harris, Reg. 2003. The pattern of human experience. The Hero’s Journey. Ariane Publications. http://www.yourheroicjourney.com .
Heschel, Abraham Joshua. 1955. God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Life Application Study Bible: New International Version. 1991. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Moore, Beth. 2005. The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Nashville, Tennessee: LifeWay Press.
Vallet, Ronald E. 2001. The Steward Living in Covenant: A New Perspective on Old Testament Stories. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Heart of Darkness
If you have never read Heart of Darkness or seen Apocalypse Now - I highly recommend them both. Below you will find an essay that discusses the historical references in Heart of Darkness. You can link to Roger Ebert's original review of the film below:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19790601/REVIEWS/41214002/1023
You will find that his remarks were and still are dead on cue.
Kelley Pujol Writes:
The historical and literary significance of Marlow’s journey in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
It is common in the American South to hear elders advise young children on the essence of character. One’s character, one frequently overhears, is what one does when no one else can see. What is left unsaid in this epitaph is the implication suggesting that one should operate when alone as if everyone can see. One should imagine the shame and guilt that would be felt if by some chance one’s private actions were, as is also often overheard, “carried out for publication.” But what if one were operating in a system in which everywhere one turned, each unspeakable act one viewed is being topped in its depravity by the next? Who, then, is the holder of the higher moral ground? These are just two of the questions raised by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The literary vehicle Conrad used to raise these questions was the journey of his main character, Marlow, down the Congo River into the interior of Africa as Marlow tries to reach the renegade character, Mr. Kurtz.
Marlow is introduced by the narrator in Heart of Darkness as a man who “had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol” (Conrad 2006, 3). Already the reader is to understand that Marlow is but a mere man, and like an idol, a man who exists on the surface of life. He has no desire to plum the depths of the human heart, least of all his own heart, but he will be called upon to do just that. As he carries out his physical journey down the Congo River, he must also – however reluctantly – carry out the journey into himself. He must examine man’s inhumanity to man, and finds himself feeling less and less kinship with the European “pilgrims” and more and more similarities between himself, the natives, and the mysterious, yet unknown Kurtz. Marlow describes the journey into the interior as he states:
We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness…We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet…The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us, who could tell? We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign – and no memories (Conrad 2006, 34-35).
Conrad’s refusal to give easy answers as to what character trait or lack thereof enables men carry out atrocities in the pursuit of wealth and power is part of the reason for the continued significance of this novel in the world of literature. Marlow, however, might give a much simpler answer. Men carry out these atrocities for the simplest of reasons: because they can.
Adam Hochschild, in his book King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, quotes Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz. Levi states, “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are…the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions” (Hochschild 1998, 121). Countless European men in the Congo – men who were most likely also fathers and husbands – carried out atrocities on the families of the Congo acting as just such functionaries. Even the members of religious orders of the Catholic church set up schools in order that King Leopold might separate children from their families ( many of whom his soldiers murdered) and then drag these children across miles of physically harrowing journeys in order that the Catholic missionaries might “save their souls” while endangering their lives. Those that lived were in turn, to become soldiers for King Leopold and begin this sick cycle all over again (Hochschild 1998, 133-135). One must ask oneself, is it any wonder that a man such as Kurtz reacted to this depravity in such an extreme fashion?
While the character of Kurtz seems extreme in fiction, Hochschild also notes in this book that there was more than one actual person who could be a candidate for the creation of this character in Conrad’s mind. One such individual, Guillaume Van Kerckhoven, paid his black soldiers to provide him with human heads to display, as he believed this “stimulated their prowess in the face of the enemy” (Hochschild 1998, photo caption). Hochschild goes on to recount the systematic maiming, starvation, torture, and beating of the Congo’s indigenous population by its Belgian occupiers. That a man who could maim a five year old child because her father could not work fast enough or throw a woman’s baby into the bush to die so that the woman could carry cargo before she dropped from starvation and exhaustion – that such a man could then return to Belgium and attend candlelit suppers seems inconceivable to the uninitiated mind. It seems that some degree of madness is necessary to even accept these facts much less to carry out such actions.
If any good can be said to have come from the horrific colonization and abuses by King Leopold II in the Congo, it can only be that through the efforts of men such as E.D. Morel, along with others, the twentieth century began what was probably its first international human rights movement (Strauss 2000). It raised the public’s awareness as to the true cost of their imported goods. Unfortunately, it would not the century’s last encounter with human rights abuses. Hochschild stated in an interview with the on-line magazine AlterNet:
… what draws me to these things intellectually is the mystery of seeing and denial. How is it that Stalin could send some 20 million Soviet men, women and children to their deaths--millions of whom remained true believers to the very end? How is it that thousands of people worked on the docks of Antwerp for years, watched ships arrive from the Congo loaded with cargoes of valuable ivory and rubber, then turn around and sail back to Africa carrying mainly soldiers and firearms, and thought nothing of it? Then E.D. Morel came along, stood on the dock, and deduced: this means the ivory and rubber is being gathered by slave labor. Evil has long fascinated people--or there would be no market for storytelling, from the Greek playwrights onward. I'm also fascinated by who recognizes evil for what it is and who doesn't (Straus 2000).
It would be nice for the reader of Conrad’s novel in this modern age to be able to look back on the colonization of Africa and the atrocities committed by the Europeans as an event that happened in the distant past. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Today men are not harvesting rubber or ivory by such means. Today society must concern itself with the ruination of habitats in the Southern hemisphere so that those in the Northern hemisphere may have an unlimited supply of inexpensive shrimp. It must concern itself with children chained to tables in order that vast numbers of garments may be produced for Western department stores, or children who are chained in even worse places for much worse reasons. It must look upon nations that were former colonies and are now in a constant state of internal turmoil, and understand that the West bears some responsibility for these situations.
Some may argue that globalization ( just as was argued about colonization) is a complicated issue. Perhaps it is. Just as the fog that surrounded Marlow’s boat distorted the voices crying from the shore and blinded his sight as to what was ahead of him, so do the justifications of men who carry out human rights violations in the pursuit of profit attempt to blind and confuse those who wish to find a better way.
Reference List
Conrad, Joseph. 2006. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Hochschild, Adam. 1988. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Straus, Tamara. 2000. King Leopold’s ghost makes a comeback. AlterNet. 26 April 2000. http://www.alternet.org/story/1059. Accessed 14 May 2008.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19790601/REVIEWS/41214002/1023
You will find that his remarks were and still are dead on cue.
Kelley Pujol Writes:
The historical and literary significance of Marlow’s journey in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
It is common in the American South to hear elders advise young children on the essence of character. One’s character, one frequently overhears, is what one does when no one else can see. What is left unsaid in this epitaph is the implication suggesting that one should operate when alone as if everyone can see. One should imagine the shame and guilt that would be felt if by some chance one’s private actions were, as is also often overheard, “carried out for publication.” But what if one were operating in a system in which everywhere one turned, each unspeakable act one viewed is being topped in its depravity by the next? Who, then, is the holder of the higher moral ground? These are just two of the questions raised by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The literary vehicle Conrad used to raise these questions was the journey of his main character, Marlow, down the Congo River into the interior of Africa as Marlow tries to reach the renegade character, Mr. Kurtz.
Marlow is introduced by the narrator in Heart of Darkness as a man who “had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol” (Conrad 2006, 3). Already the reader is to understand that Marlow is but a mere man, and like an idol, a man who exists on the surface of life. He has no desire to plum the depths of the human heart, least of all his own heart, but he will be called upon to do just that. As he carries out his physical journey down the Congo River, he must also – however reluctantly – carry out the journey into himself. He must examine man’s inhumanity to man, and finds himself feeling less and less kinship with the European “pilgrims” and more and more similarities between himself, the natives, and the mysterious, yet unknown Kurtz. Marlow describes the journey into the interior as he states:
We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness…We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet…The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us, who could tell? We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign – and no memories (Conrad 2006, 34-35).
Conrad’s refusal to give easy answers as to what character trait or lack thereof enables men carry out atrocities in the pursuit of wealth and power is part of the reason for the continued significance of this novel in the world of literature. Marlow, however, might give a much simpler answer. Men carry out these atrocities for the simplest of reasons: because they can.
Adam Hochschild, in his book King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, quotes Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz. Levi states, “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are…the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions” (Hochschild 1998, 121). Countless European men in the Congo – men who were most likely also fathers and husbands – carried out atrocities on the families of the Congo acting as just such functionaries. Even the members of religious orders of the Catholic church set up schools in order that King Leopold might separate children from their families ( many of whom his soldiers murdered) and then drag these children across miles of physically harrowing journeys in order that the Catholic missionaries might “save their souls” while endangering their lives. Those that lived were in turn, to become soldiers for King Leopold and begin this sick cycle all over again (Hochschild 1998, 133-135). One must ask oneself, is it any wonder that a man such as Kurtz reacted to this depravity in such an extreme fashion?
While the character of Kurtz seems extreme in fiction, Hochschild also notes in this book that there was more than one actual person who could be a candidate for the creation of this character in Conrad’s mind. One such individual, Guillaume Van Kerckhoven, paid his black soldiers to provide him with human heads to display, as he believed this “stimulated their prowess in the face of the enemy” (Hochschild 1998, photo caption). Hochschild goes on to recount the systematic maiming, starvation, torture, and beating of the Congo’s indigenous population by its Belgian occupiers. That a man who could maim a five year old child because her father could not work fast enough or throw a woman’s baby into the bush to die so that the woman could carry cargo before she dropped from starvation and exhaustion – that such a man could then return to Belgium and attend candlelit suppers seems inconceivable to the uninitiated mind. It seems that some degree of madness is necessary to even accept these facts much less to carry out such actions.
If any good can be said to have come from the horrific colonization and abuses by King Leopold II in the Congo, it can only be that through the efforts of men such as E.D. Morel, along with others, the twentieth century began what was probably its first international human rights movement (Strauss 2000). It raised the public’s awareness as to the true cost of their imported goods. Unfortunately, it would not the century’s last encounter with human rights abuses. Hochschild stated in an interview with the on-line magazine AlterNet:
… what draws me to these things intellectually is the mystery of seeing and denial. How is it that Stalin could send some 20 million Soviet men, women and children to their deaths--millions of whom remained true believers to the very end? How is it that thousands of people worked on the docks of Antwerp for years, watched ships arrive from the Congo loaded with cargoes of valuable ivory and rubber, then turn around and sail back to Africa carrying mainly soldiers and firearms, and thought nothing of it? Then E.D. Morel came along, stood on the dock, and deduced: this means the ivory and rubber is being gathered by slave labor. Evil has long fascinated people--or there would be no market for storytelling, from the Greek playwrights onward. I'm also fascinated by who recognizes evil for what it is and who doesn't (Straus 2000).
It would be nice for the reader of Conrad’s novel in this modern age to be able to look back on the colonization of Africa and the atrocities committed by the Europeans as an event that happened in the distant past. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Today men are not harvesting rubber or ivory by such means. Today society must concern itself with the ruination of habitats in the Southern hemisphere so that those in the Northern hemisphere may have an unlimited supply of inexpensive shrimp. It must concern itself with children chained to tables in order that vast numbers of garments may be produced for Western department stores, or children who are chained in even worse places for much worse reasons. It must look upon nations that were former colonies and are now in a constant state of internal turmoil, and understand that the West bears some responsibility for these situations.
Some may argue that globalization ( just as was argued about colonization) is a complicated issue. Perhaps it is. Just as the fog that surrounded Marlow’s boat distorted the voices crying from the shore and blinded his sight as to what was ahead of him, so do the justifications of men who carry out human rights violations in the pursuit of profit attempt to blind and confuse those who wish to find a better way.
Reference List
Conrad, Joseph. 2006. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Hochschild, Adam. 1988. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Straus, Tamara. 2000. King Leopold’s ghost makes a comeback. AlterNet. 26 April 2000. http://www.alternet.org/story/1059. Accessed 14 May 2008.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: A Summer Day in London
A Comparison of William Blake’s 1794 poem London and the city as it exists today
The 2004 Mike Nichols film Closer contains a scene in which the character Larry, played by Clive Owen, expresses his dislike for the city of London. He exclaims that the city has become a type of theme park and compares it to Disneyland. The image this comparison produces could not be further from the image created by Blake’s poem London.
Blake states in the first stanza of the poem that he must “mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (Blake I. 3-4). If one wanders the streets of London’s official “Square Mile” today, one might encounter a few faces looking woeful – perhaps due to a downturn in the stock market – but it is unlikely that much weakness would present itself. London’s streets are crowded with the modern day, ethnically diverse equivalents of men in black suits and bowler hats. Hurrying along her streets are men and women in expensive, tailored suits wearing messenger bags and running shoes. Most are talking on their cell phones in various languages and smoking cigarettes. Occasionally, one will be drinking a cup of coffee from Starbucks.
That is not to say there are no poor people in London. One might witness a homeless man in one of the city’s parks or while walking to the British Museum in the morning. The amazing sight comes later in the evening, outside Covent Gardens, when one will see a large white van arrive and all the homeless gather round to obtain clean socks, sweat suits, and perhaps a sandwich. Gone too are “the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every black’ning Church appalls” (Blake III. 1-2). Due to the campaign to gain the 2012 Olympics, London’s very sidewalks are cleaned regularly by a man on a Zamboni – something that just about has to be seen to be believed.
Blake would also have to recant his statement that “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear / How the youthful Harlot’s curse” (Blake IV. 1-2). After nine o’clock at night, unless one is in the theatre district, London is eerily quiet. Of course, when one is paying approximately $3000.00 a square foot for property, noisy neighbors are hardly an option (Wilson, 2007).
The 2004 Mike Nichols film Closer contains a scene in which the character Larry, played by Clive Owen, expresses his dislike for the city of London. He exclaims that the city has become a type of theme park and compares it to Disneyland. The image this comparison produces could not be further from the image created by Blake’s poem London.
Blake states in the first stanza of the poem that he must “mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (Blake I. 3-4). If one wanders the streets of London’s official “Square Mile” today, one might encounter a few faces looking woeful – perhaps due to a downturn in the stock market – but it is unlikely that much weakness would present itself. London’s streets are crowded with the modern day, ethnically diverse equivalents of men in black suits and bowler hats. Hurrying along her streets are men and women in expensive, tailored suits wearing messenger bags and running shoes. Most are talking on their cell phones in various languages and smoking cigarettes. Occasionally, one will be drinking a cup of coffee from Starbucks.
That is not to say there are no poor people in London. One might witness a homeless man in one of the city’s parks or while walking to the British Museum in the morning. The amazing sight comes later in the evening, outside Covent Gardens, when one will see a large white van arrive and all the homeless gather round to obtain clean socks, sweat suits, and perhaps a sandwich. Gone too are “the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every black’ning Church appalls” (Blake III. 1-2). Due to the campaign to gain the 2012 Olympics, London’s very sidewalks are cleaned regularly by a man on a Zamboni – something that just about has to be seen to be believed.
Blake would also have to recant his statement that “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear / How the youthful Harlot’s curse” (Blake IV. 1-2). After nine o’clock at night, unless one is in the theatre district, London is eerily quiet. Of course, when one is paying approximately $3000.00 a square foot for property, noisy neighbors are hardly an option (Wilson, 2007).
Monday, April 21, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: A Review of Ted Kooser Essay
A Review: Ted Kooser’s Small Rooms in Time
By Kelley Pujol
I will begin with a disclaimer: I am a fan of Ted Kooser. I loved Delights and Shadows, and I am about to dive into The Poetry Home Repair Manual. Plus, I just like him as a guy- I like his checked shirts, and the way he sold insurance for thirty-five years while writing poetry before going to work each morning. There is something lovely about a working stiff - an insurance man - winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Many times I have imagined a woman with curlers still in her hair, a cup of coffee at her side. She is glancing at the paper while a man in an undershirt sits across from her with his cup of coffee. He’s reading the sports page, and she says, “Remember Teddie Kooser who sold you the policy on the Buick?”
“Yeah, what about him,” the man responds.
“Well, Teddie has won the Pulitzer.”…
I could go on from there with my story, but you get the idea. The past and the present cross over in funny, inexplicable ways, and that is what Small Rooms in Time is about. Mr. Kooser opens the paper one morning to discover the horrific murder of a fifteen year old boy (along with other member’s of the boy’s family) has occurred in the home he once occupied with his ex-wife and his son. At the time this discovery is made, Mr. Kooser is involved in creating a miniature replica of his current wife’s childhood home. He states that he “began to think about the way in which the rooms we inhabit, if only for a time, become unchanging places within us, complete with detail.” This is a profound observation that gives voice to questions that I have often asked myself. Why we can see places and people in dreams that we could never remember when we are awake? What is the hold that a place has on us? Why is one place better than another? Why are some places irreplaceable, and even if the physical place remains, the feelings do not?
Mr. Kooser sends a copy of the article about the murder to his ex-wife, Diana. He felt he needed someone else to feel his shock, and it had to be someone who knew they had carried their new born son through the same door where the murder had taken place. Mr. Kooser then goes on to cut to the chase and put into words the unspeakable fear of every parent: “If my luck in life had been worse, I might have been that other father, occupied by some mundane task, perhaps fixing a leaky faucet, when my son went to answer the door.”
Mr. Kooser acquaints us with the other inhabitants of his past neighborhood, and then lets us know that they are all now dead. He states beautifully, “I’ve noticed lately when I’ve driven past that the porch has begun to slope toward the street, as if to pour our ghosts out the front door and onto the buckled sidewalk.”
Sometimes events do occur that cause our past to be somehow thrown back into the orbit of our lives through no effort of our own. Mr. Kooser captures the feelings of those moments when we must confront the ghosts that have been poured into our laps. More often than not, we long to embrace them, quickly, before they vaporize again.
Read about Ted Kooser’s latest book, Valentines, at NPR.org and hear him read from his work: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18990762
Ted Kooser’s essay is from The Best American Essays: 2005 edited by Susan Orlean, series editor, Robert Atwan.
By Kelley Pujol
I will begin with a disclaimer: I am a fan of Ted Kooser. I loved Delights and Shadows, and I am about to dive into The Poetry Home Repair Manual. Plus, I just like him as a guy- I like his checked shirts, and the way he sold insurance for thirty-five years while writing poetry before going to work each morning. There is something lovely about a working stiff - an insurance man - winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Many times I have imagined a woman with curlers still in her hair, a cup of coffee at her side. She is glancing at the paper while a man in an undershirt sits across from her with his cup of coffee. He’s reading the sports page, and she says, “Remember Teddie Kooser who sold you the policy on the Buick?”
“Yeah, what about him,” the man responds.
“Well, Teddie has won the Pulitzer.”…
I could go on from there with my story, but you get the idea. The past and the present cross over in funny, inexplicable ways, and that is what Small Rooms in Time is about. Mr. Kooser opens the paper one morning to discover the horrific murder of a fifteen year old boy (along with other member’s of the boy’s family) has occurred in the home he once occupied with his ex-wife and his son. At the time this discovery is made, Mr. Kooser is involved in creating a miniature replica of his current wife’s childhood home. He states that he “began to think about the way in which the rooms we inhabit, if only for a time, become unchanging places within us, complete with detail.” This is a profound observation that gives voice to questions that I have often asked myself. Why we can see places and people in dreams that we could never remember when we are awake? What is the hold that a place has on us? Why is one place better than another? Why are some places irreplaceable, and even if the physical place remains, the feelings do not?
Mr. Kooser sends a copy of the article about the murder to his ex-wife, Diana. He felt he needed someone else to feel his shock, and it had to be someone who knew they had carried their new born son through the same door where the murder had taken place. Mr. Kooser then goes on to cut to the chase and put into words the unspeakable fear of every parent: “If my luck in life had been worse, I might have been that other father, occupied by some mundane task, perhaps fixing a leaky faucet, when my son went to answer the door.”
Mr. Kooser acquaints us with the other inhabitants of his past neighborhood, and then lets us know that they are all now dead. He states beautifully, “I’ve noticed lately when I’ve driven past that the porch has begun to slope toward the street, as if to pour our ghosts out the front door and onto the buckled sidewalk.”
Sometimes events do occur that cause our past to be somehow thrown back into the orbit of our lives through no effort of our own. Mr. Kooser captures the feelings of those moments when we must confront the ghosts that have been poured into our laps. More often than not, we long to embrace them, quickly, before they vaporize again.
Read about Ted Kooser’s latest book, Valentines, at NPR.org and hear him read from his work: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18990762
Ted Kooser’s essay is from The Best American Essays: 2005 edited by Susan Orlean, series editor, Robert Atwan.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Deepak Chopra's Happiness Prescription : A Product Review
Deepak Chopra’s The Happiness Prescription two CD set : A Review
Without a doubt, the genius of Deepak Chopra is his ability to take ancient Vedic teachings and put them in a form that makes them both understandable and palatable to the Western mind, and this is his most accessible offering to date.
Whether you have read all of Dr. Chopra’s books or you are a new comer to his work, this program has something of value to offer you.
The Happiness Prescription takes the Eight Fold Path that is the basis of the teachings of Buddha and translates them into behaviors and exercises that anyone, regardless of their religious or nonreligious leanings can benefit from. Dr. Chopra begins by explaining some of the current research dealing with the nature of happiness. It will probably come as no surprise that Americans don’t score high as a happy society – according to Dr. Chopra, even our dogs are more unhappy than their less affluent Mexican neighbors.
The first CD in this set points out the ten skills necessary to obtain and recognize personal happiness. The most helpful of these is self awareness. Dr. Chopra points out that many of us are nothing more than a bundles of reactive nerves “at the mercy” of every person we meet on the street – someone says something flattering, we are happy. Someone says something unpleasant, we are unhappy. Until we learn to be self-referred, we really have no chance of happiness.
Another strong point of Dr. Chopra’s teaching is he breaks these larger philosophical issues down into bite size pieces. The second CD breaks down the Ten Keys of Happiness into daily, obtainable goals with practical exercises that are easily carried out. One of the great joys of Vedic teaching is that it promotes evolution and not revolution – its catch phrase is “go slow.” Unlike so much help advice that is prevalent in Western society, it does not make you feel pressured or doomed to fail. Every day, you try and by trying, you become more aware of yourself and thus make progress.
Deepak Chopra’s The Happiness Prescription two CD Set is based on a program that was broadcast by PBS. The set is available through the Chopra Center (http://www.chopra.com/) and most major booksellers, such as Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/ )
I highly recommend it.
Without a doubt, the genius of Deepak Chopra is his ability to take ancient Vedic teachings and put them in a form that makes them both understandable and palatable to the Western mind, and this is his most accessible offering to date.
Whether you have read all of Dr. Chopra’s books or you are a new comer to his work, this program has something of value to offer you.
The Happiness Prescription takes the Eight Fold Path that is the basis of the teachings of Buddha and translates them into behaviors and exercises that anyone, regardless of their religious or nonreligious leanings can benefit from. Dr. Chopra begins by explaining some of the current research dealing with the nature of happiness. It will probably come as no surprise that Americans don’t score high as a happy society – according to Dr. Chopra, even our dogs are more unhappy than their less affluent Mexican neighbors.
The first CD in this set points out the ten skills necessary to obtain and recognize personal happiness. The most helpful of these is self awareness. Dr. Chopra points out that many of us are nothing more than a bundles of reactive nerves “at the mercy” of every person we meet on the street – someone says something flattering, we are happy. Someone says something unpleasant, we are unhappy. Until we learn to be self-referred, we really have no chance of happiness.
Another strong point of Dr. Chopra’s teaching is he breaks these larger philosophical issues down into bite size pieces. The second CD breaks down the Ten Keys of Happiness into daily, obtainable goals with practical exercises that are easily carried out. One of the great joys of Vedic teaching is that it promotes evolution and not revolution – its catch phrase is “go slow.” Unlike so much help advice that is prevalent in Western society, it does not make you feel pressured or doomed to fail. Every day, you try and by trying, you become more aware of yourself and thus make progress.
Deepak Chopra’s The Happiness Prescription two CD Set is based on a program that was broadcast by PBS. The set is available through the Chopra Center (http://www.chopra.com/) and most major booksellers, such as Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/ )
I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Be the Change
Perhaps you have heard the quote from Gandhi, “be the change you want to see in the world.” What does that mean exactly?
Well, recently, I moved into a new house. In this house, all the closet doors are mirrored. My shih tzu has never before had such access to mirrors. Sure, she has seen herself reflected in the sliding glass door at my old house when the light was just right, but to be able to see herself any time day or night is a bit of a novelty to her.
Not that she knows what she is seeing is herself – at least not all the time.
Sometimes she sees her reflection and pays it no more attention than you or I would our faint reflections in a store front window (unless we wanted to check our hair or something). But other times – well, that’s really what I want to write about.
You see, whenever she becomes frustrated or bored – especially when the rest of us first go bed each night – that’s when she wants to get that puppy out of the mirror. She starts by growling at the puppy in the mirror, then starts adopting a playful posture and barking at the puppy in the mirror.
The puppy in the mirror appears to want to play with her too – it is posturing and barking back. At this point, she starts trying to run behind the puppy in the mirror – by going in the closet or circling out into the hall – but then she can’t find the puppy.
So, she goes back to the mirror.
She might give a couple more goes, but then it dawns on her all a new, “oh yeah, that’s me in the mirror. There is no other puppy to get out.”
So it is with us. We get frustrated, we get bored, we could have been contenders… if only it weren’t for the Republicans, Democrats, where we live, who we married – take your pick –
But remember – every situation in your life that has ever frustrated you –
What did they have in common?
You.
You got it –
You’re the puppy in the mirror.
So am I.
Let’s be the change.
Well, recently, I moved into a new house. In this house, all the closet doors are mirrored. My shih tzu has never before had such access to mirrors. Sure, she has seen herself reflected in the sliding glass door at my old house when the light was just right, but to be able to see herself any time day or night is a bit of a novelty to her.
Not that she knows what she is seeing is herself – at least not all the time.
Sometimes she sees her reflection and pays it no more attention than you or I would our faint reflections in a store front window (unless we wanted to check our hair or something). But other times – well, that’s really what I want to write about.
You see, whenever she becomes frustrated or bored – especially when the rest of us first go bed each night – that’s when she wants to get that puppy out of the mirror. She starts by growling at the puppy in the mirror, then starts adopting a playful posture and barking at the puppy in the mirror.
The puppy in the mirror appears to want to play with her too – it is posturing and barking back. At this point, she starts trying to run behind the puppy in the mirror – by going in the closet or circling out into the hall – but then she can’t find the puppy.
So, she goes back to the mirror.
She might give a couple more goes, but then it dawns on her all a new, “oh yeah, that’s me in the mirror. There is no other puppy to get out.”
So it is with us. We get frustrated, we get bored, we could have been contenders… if only it weren’t for the Republicans, Democrats, where we live, who we married – take your pick –
But remember – every situation in your life that has ever frustrated you –
What did they have in common?
You.
You got it –
You’re the puppy in the mirror.
So am I.
Let’s be the change.
Friday, April 4, 2008
For Dr. King: Reflections on Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Reflection on “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
I was told by a former professor that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written around the edges of a day old newspaper because his jailers refused to give him any clean paper. As is apparent from reflecting on his life and his legacy, Dr. King was not a man who took refusal at face value once he was convinced that the necessary course of action was the one that would serve a greater good. Dr. King states in his essay that there are just and unjust laws and that he would agree with Saint Augustine’s proclamation that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Dr. King then goes on to define an unjust law. He states that, “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself.” He also states that, “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote.” He reminds his readers that, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything that Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungry was ‘illegal.’” Finally he states that “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come.” I agree with Dr. King’s assertion that there are just and unjust laws and that it is against man’s nature to submit himself to unjust laws.
Dr. King uses both philosophical and spiritual principles in his essay to justify the use of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means of obtaining equality for the American Negro. This essay was directed primarily at a group of fellow clergymen who had called on King to stop using nonviolent resistance as a means to advance the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, Dr. King was not asking his readers to accept his argument based on accepting his faith views, as those clergymen already claimed to hold the same faith views as Dr. King. They also were claiming that these faith views supported their argument for ceasing to use civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means to speed the acquisition of civil rights for American Negroes. Dr. King makes the excellent point that throughout human history, “…privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily,” and if indeed nonviolent activists are extremists, then “…maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” I also agree with Dr. King’s assertions that if the Negro population had not been led by him to believe in the effective possibilities of nonviolent resistance, the Civil Rights Movement might have been a far bloodier and violent eruption than it turned out to be.
Dr. King was heavily influenced by the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi stated that, “The world rests upon the bedrock of satya or truth. Asatya, meaning untruth, also means non-existent, and satya or truth also means that which is. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of the question. And truth being that which is can never be destroyed” (Easwaran 1987). While the view that Dr. King took of injustice was seen through a Christian lens, his assertion that there are fundamental truths and laws that govern humanity was one that can be found echoed in many different philosophies and cultures. This assertion can be found in the works of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a devout Hindu as well as in the thoughts of Socrates (whom Dr. King refers to his essay). It is even apparent in the writings of Ayn Rand, the developer of the philosophy of Objectivism which seems far removed from any type of religiously based philosophy. Rand states as one of the four pillars of Objectivism, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Rand 1996).
This acceptance of the idea of universally just and unjust laws necessitates the breaking of the law when a law is unjust. The basic premise of nonviolent resistance is that no one can oppress someone else without some degree of compliance on the victim’s part. If the victim refuses to co-operate, then he or she can not be victimized. The larger the number that refuse to comply, the more effective the effort of nonviolent resistance will be. One of my undergraduate professors engaged in just such a nonviolent resistance effort during the Civil Rights Movement. She lived in Montgomery, Alabama. The weekend after the bloody confrontations in Selma, Alabama, she and her cohorts (most of whom were female) put on their gloves and went into town to do some weekend shopping. However, they only went to stores that refused to allow Negroes to shop there at all anymore and before handling any of the merchandise, they removed their gloves and slit all their fingertips with razor blades. After handling the merchandise, they then quietly left the stores and returned home. They saw the bloodying of the merchandise as a symbolic gesture reflecting the bloody treatment of marchers the week before in Selma. I have often visualized those young Southern girls dressed in heels, hats, and hose and thought about how much courage such an act required. Dr. King later stated in his 1967 speech, “Declaration of Independence for the War in Vietnam” in that, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces the beggar needs restructuring” (King 2002). I think there were many, such as my professor and her young friends who had made that realization after they were sickened by the treatment of fellow human beings and knew that compassion required them to act.
Gandhi also said, “The law of love will work, just as the law of gravitation will work, whether we accept it or not” (Gandhi 2002). It is disturbing to me that time and time again, we hear that nonviolent protestors are extremist, but war is seen as an institution. So often throughout history, humanity has accepted the status quo simply because to admit that we needed to stop and reconsider might cause us some inconvenience. It is the momentum behind the status quo that slows change, whether that change is for better or worse. There is also fear because with all change comes consequences other than those that were intended. However, when one can see that a current situation is unjust, such as in the case of segregation, there is no option but change. Change must occur and because nonviolent resistance is more in line with just law (as Dr. King described it) than violent resistance, it is the most effective means to this end. Nonviolent resistance is a code than requires the majority to uphold the same standards for themselves as they hold for the minority, and should the minority not wish to participate in this resistance, they are free not to do so.
In Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, one of the main characters Hank Rearden makes the following observation after having engaged in an act of nonviolent resistance: “He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation…he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant – and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours” (Rand 1996).
There are moments recorded throughout history when an individual experienced such a revelation. Dr. King is but one example, as are the individual examples such as Jesus, Amos, Paul and Thomas Jefferson that he cited is his essay. It is said that when Gandhi was thrown off the train in South Africa, as he lifted himself off the ground, he beheld a vision of the entire British Empire crumbling. What makes a society just is its eventual recognition of the validity of the visions of such individuals and the courage to embrace these visions and make them a reality.
Reference List
Easwaran, Eknath, translator. 1987. The Upanishads. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press.
Gandhi, Mohandas K. 2002. My faith in nonviolence (1930). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
King, Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. 2002. Declaration of independence for the war in Vietnam (1967). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rand, Ayn. 1996. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Signet.
I was told by a former professor that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written around the edges of a day old newspaper because his jailers refused to give him any clean paper. As is apparent from reflecting on his life and his legacy, Dr. King was not a man who took refusal at face value once he was convinced that the necessary course of action was the one that would serve a greater good. Dr. King states in his essay that there are just and unjust laws and that he would agree with Saint Augustine’s proclamation that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Dr. King then goes on to define an unjust law. He states that, “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself.” He also states that, “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote.” He reminds his readers that, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything that Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungry was ‘illegal.’” Finally he states that “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come.” I agree with Dr. King’s assertion that there are just and unjust laws and that it is against man’s nature to submit himself to unjust laws.
Dr. King uses both philosophical and spiritual principles in his essay to justify the use of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means of obtaining equality for the American Negro. This essay was directed primarily at a group of fellow clergymen who had called on King to stop using nonviolent resistance as a means to advance the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, Dr. King was not asking his readers to accept his argument based on accepting his faith views, as those clergymen already claimed to hold the same faith views as Dr. King. They also were claiming that these faith views supported their argument for ceasing to use civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means to speed the acquisition of civil rights for American Negroes. Dr. King makes the excellent point that throughout human history, “…privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily,” and if indeed nonviolent activists are extremists, then “…maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” I also agree with Dr. King’s assertions that if the Negro population had not been led by him to believe in the effective possibilities of nonviolent resistance, the Civil Rights Movement might have been a far bloodier and violent eruption than it turned out to be.
Dr. King was heavily influenced by the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi stated that, “The world rests upon the bedrock of satya or truth. Asatya, meaning untruth, also means non-existent, and satya or truth also means that which is. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of the question. And truth being that which is can never be destroyed” (Easwaran 1987). While the view that Dr. King took of injustice was seen through a Christian lens, his assertion that there are fundamental truths and laws that govern humanity was one that can be found echoed in many different philosophies and cultures. This assertion can be found in the works of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a devout Hindu as well as in the thoughts of Socrates (whom Dr. King refers to his essay). It is even apparent in the writings of Ayn Rand, the developer of the philosophy of Objectivism which seems far removed from any type of religiously based philosophy. Rand states as one of the four pillars of Objectivism, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Rand 1996).
This acceptance of the idea of universally just and unjust laws necessitates the breaking of the law when a law is unjust. The basic premise of nonviolent resistance is that no one can oppress someone else without some degree of compliance on the victim’s part. If the victim refuses to co-operate, then he or she can not be victimized. The larger the number that refuse to comply, the more effective the effort of nonviolent resistance will be. One of my undergraduate professors engaged in just such a nonviolent resistance effort during the Civil Rights Movement. She lived in Montgomery, Alabama. The weekend after the bloody confrontations in Selma, Alabama, she and her cohorts (most of whom were female) put on their gloves and went into town to do some weekend shopping. However, they only went to stores that refused to allow Negroes to shop there at all anymore and before handling any of the merchandise, they removed their gloves and slit all their fingertips with razor blades. After handling the merchandise, they then quietly left the stores and returned home. They saw the bloodying of the merchandise as a symbolic gesture reflecting the bloody treatment of marchers the week before in Selma. I have often visualized those young Southern girls dressed in heels, hats, and hose and thought about how much courage such an act required. Dr. King later stated in his 1967 speech, “Declaration of Independence for the War in Vietnam” in that, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces the beggar needs restructuring” (King 2002). I think there were many, such as my professor and her young friends who had made that realization after they were sickened by the treatment of fellow human beings and knew that compassion required them to act.
Gandhi also said, “The law of love will work, just as the law of gravitation will work, whether we accept it or not” (Gandhi 2002). It is disturbing to me that time and time again, we hear that nonviolent protestors are extremist, but war is seen as an institution. So often throughout history, humanity has accepted the status quo simply because to admit that we needed to stop and reconsider might cause us some inconvenience. It is the momentum behind the status quo that slows change, whether that change is for better or worse. There is also fear because with all change comes consequences other than those that were intended. However, when one can see that a current situation is unjust, such as in the case of segregation, there is no option but change. Change must occur and because nonviolent resistance is more in line with just law (as Dr. King described it) than violent resistance, it is the most effective means to this end. Nonviolent resistance is a code than requires the majority to uphold the same standards for themselves as they hold for the minority, and should the minority not wish to participate in this resistance, they are free not to do so.
In Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, one of the main characters Hank Rearden makes the following observation after having engaged in an act of nonviolent resistance: “He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation…he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant – and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours” (Rand 1996).
There are moments recorded throughout history when an individual experienced such a revelation. Dr. King is but one example, as are the individual examples such as Jesus, Amos, Paul and Thomas Jefferson that he cited is his essay. It is said that when Gandhi was thrown off the train in South Africa, as he lifted himself off the ground, he beheld a vision of the entire British Empire crumbling. What makes a society just is its eventual recognition of the validity of the visions of such individuals and the courage to embrace these visions and make them a reality.
Reference List
Easwaran, Eknath, translator. 1987. The Upanishads. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press.
Gandhi, Mohandas K. 2002. My faith in nonviolence (1930). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
King, Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. 2002. Declaration of independence for the war in Vietnam (1967). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rand, Ayn. 1996. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Signet.
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