"L'enfer c'est les autres"--JP Sartre
This year, students will explore the theme of otherness. What defines the mainstream and how does this mainstream dictate to others? What does it mean to be marginalized? How has the mainstream impacted the world of ideas across the centuries?
>Being free= not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes >dangerous= able or likely to cause harm or injury Yet, we all have our own definitions of freedom as it represents different things to different people. Freedom, for a young Cholly who had just been embarrassed by white men, was the feeling of being able to do as he wished, whether that meant keeping a job, being kind, being drunk, etc. There is also a difference between one claiming freedom and one actually being "free". Cholly has, whether consciously or subconsciously, lived in fear for most of his childhood: being abandoned as a baby, having to live with weird/crazy Aunt Jimmy to whom he owed his life to, and being embarrassed by white boys. He thus turns to this notion of "dangerously free" in order to escape his fears and all other emotions he feels that ultimately scare him... We all deal with our fear and emotions in many different ways, however, most of us were brought up to know that difference between what is right and what is wrong. Cholly, however, was never really taught anything as he never had a "true" constant parental figure he could trust (it was not like he was going to ask Aunt Jimmy for advice on these new/strange emotions he was feeling). After Aunt Jimmy's death, he was by definition "free", that is not under the control of another and able to act as one wishes, but needed to add this "dangerous" side to his freedom to rid himself from all these emotions that were only causing him harm in his eyes. In doing so, Cholly becomes somewhat animal-like as this independence, this detachment of society is “dangerous”, whether that be harmful for society or for Cholly himself, as trying to suppress ones emotions can only lead to an explosive downfall. It is impossible for a human being to completely rid himself of emotion and fear: we are mostly all born moral (and we know Cholly definitely was) and whether we try to suppress this morality or not it will ALWAYS be there, even big or small. Cholly thus has morality somewhere deep into his subconscious, and this fearless air of being "dangerously free" is in constant contradiction between those feelings and emotions he does feel deep down. The only way he can react towards this apparent morality is through urges and anger that can protect him from feeling such strong emotions towards his daughter, for example, as he was never taught how to show such emotion. Cholly therefore had to turn to "dangerous freedom" in order to help him continue on living without the pain of his past.
I definitely agree. In my opinion living dangerously “free” means having no such limitations, and living life to the fullest because the person has the urge to do so (it is very destructive for the person who chooses to do so and the society the person lives in). Living "free" is living but to a certain extent (it is less dangerous and supports this idea of being integrated into society). For Cholly living dangerously free is a scapegoat from the real world, he detaches himself from the rules of society because he was never able to have the “normal” life everyone else had. He has been doomed from the start and he knew it “he wondered whether it would have been just as well to have died there. Down in a the rim of a tire under a soft black Georgia sky” (133). He refuses to get close or act like he is “supposed” to because he doesn’t want to hurt again. It may seem that his lifestyle is carefree and better than conforming to the rules, but his life is denial, he can’t live life like everyone else or act like everyone else because he was forbidden by the fatal acts that marked his life. His dangerously “free” lifestyle really begins with the incident with Darlene, it gives him the push to escape, he blames Darlene because she is the easiest to blame, and he would never think of blaming his hatred and anger on the hunter, he figuratively picks on someone who is not his size to help with the pain (like he is the bigger animal going up against Darlene who he perceives as his prey who must be shot down for the pain she caused him). However, I must say that trying to find his father and then confronting him is not escaping from his life, but he is trying to fix it in a way to free himself from the pain and curiosity. All his hardships influence his moral values; his distorted values allow him to act impulsively and change the way he views the world and people in a negative way. In philosophy it is said that animals don’t have consciences, they aren’t aware and we might think the contrary because they do seem aware, but they are actually just impulsive. Cholly is like that, he is degraded to an animal sort of stage by resigning to live “free”. It seems that rejecting “free” life and accepting to live dangerously free is not actual freedom because he is imprisoned by his impulses, unable to function properly thus making more mistakes and adding on more pain. He is a ruined person who lives an unorthodox life and this doesn’t mix well with marriage. His marriage to Pauline was a reality check; it was pulling him back into society, into the whole marriage and children thing, something he never had. He acts more animal-like and rebels when he is married because he doesn’t want conform to the norms that are set by marriage. By living dangerously free, he not only affects himself but his family. Living more freely is very dangerous because his family members are not living the way he does and this only ends up destroying them. His dangerously free life transforms Pauline, Pecola and her brother into ruined people, labeled by the fatal acts they endure at the hands of Cholly’s dangerous freedom.
This argument that Cholly's freedom is questionable and kept in check by his remaining ties to his family is an excellent one. True freedom can only come if one is capable of being completely independent from all ties, not severed from them or cut off with a vague sense somewhere of what you've cut yourself off from or what you should do. The freedom to do as you please necessitates a true freedom of spirit that comes from a strong place within. If you see the photo of Thoreau's cabin on the blog, you'll see an image of a man who is free in the real sense of the term, not dangerously so as Cholly is, as his cutting himself off reverts him to another mode of being without having completely cut himself off from social constraints which the institution of marriage bind him to.
>Being free= not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes
ReplyDelete>dangerous= able or likely to cause harm or injury
Yet, we all have our own definitions of freedom as it represents different things to different people. Freedom, for a young Cholly who had just been embarrassed by white men, was the feeling of being able to do as he wished, whether that meant keeping a job, being kind, being drunk, etc. There is also a difference between one claiming freedom and one actually being "free". Cholly has, whether consciously or subconsciously, lived in fear for most of his childhood: being abandoned as a baby, having to live with weird/crazy Aunt Jimmy to whom he owed his life to, and being embarrassed by white boys. He thus turns to this notion of "dangerously free" in order to escape his fears and all other emotions he feels that ultimately scare him...
We all deal with our fear and emotions in many different ways, however, most of us were brought up to know that difference between what is right and what is wrong. Cholly, however, was never really taught anything as he never had a "true" constant parental figure he could trust (it was not like he was going to ask Aunt Jimmy for advice on these new/strange emotions he was feeling). After Aunt Jimmy's death, he was by definition "free", that is not under the control of another and able to act as one wishes, but needed to add this "dangerous" side to his freedom to rid himself from all these emotions that were only causing him harm in his eyes. In doing so, Cholly becomes somewhat animal-like as this independence, this detachment of society is “dangerous”, whether that be harmful for society or for Cholly himself, as trying to suppress ones emotions can only lead to an explosive downfall. It is impossible for a human being to completely rid himself of emotion and fear: we are mostly all born moral (and we know Cholly definitely was) and whether we try to suppress this morality or not it will ALWAYS be there, even big or small. Cholly thus has morality somewhere deep into his subconscious, and this fearless air of being "dangerously free" is in constant contradiction between those feelings and emotions he does feel deep down. The only way he can react towards this apparent morality is through urges and anger that can protect him from feeling such strong emotions towards his daughter, for example, as he was never taught how to show such emotion. Cholly therefore had to turn to "dangerous freedom" in order to help him continue on living without the pain of his past.
I definitely agree. In my opinion living dangerously “free” means having no such limitations, and living life to the fullest because the person has the urge to do so (it is very destructive for the person who chooses to do so and the society the person lives in). Living "free" is living but to a certain extent (it is less dangerous and supports this idea of being integrated into society). For Cholly living dangerously free is a scapegoat from the real world, he detaches himself from the rules of society because he was never able to have the “normal” life everyone else had. He has been doomed from the start and he knew it “he wondered whether it would have been just as well to have died there. Down in a the rim of a tire under a soft black Georgia sky” (133). He refuses to get close or act like he is “supposed” to because he doesn’t want to hurt again. It may seem that his lifestyle is carefree and better than conforming to the rules, but his life is denial, he can’t live life like everyone else or act like everyone else because he was forbidden by the fatal acts that marked his life. His dangerously “free” lifestyle really begins with the incident with Darlene, it gives him the push to escape, he blames Darlene because she is the easiest to blame, and he would never think of blaming his hatred and anger on the hunter, he figuratively picks on someone who is not his size to help with the pain (like he is the bigger animal going up against Darlene who he perceives as his prey who must be shot down for the pain she caused him). However, I must say that trying to find his father and then confronting him is not escaping from his life, but he is trying to fix it in a way to free himself from the pain and curiosity. All his hardships influence his moral values; his distorted values allow him to act impulsively and change the way he views the world and people in a negative way. In philosophy it is said that animals don’t have consciences, they aren’t aware and we might think the contrary because they do seem aware, but they are actually just impulsive. Cholly is like that, he is degraded to an animal sort of stage by resigning to live “free”. It seems that rejecting “free” life and accepting to live dangerously free is not actual freedom because he is imprisoned by his impulses, unable to function properly thus making more mistakes and adding on more pain. He is a ruined person who lives an unorthodox life and this doesn’t mix well with marriage. His marriage to Pauline was a reality check; it was pulling him back into society, into the whole marriage and children thing, something he never had. He acts more animal-like and rebels when he is married because he doesn’t want conform to the norms that are set by marriage. By living dangerously free, he not only affects himself but his family. Living more freely is very dangerous because his family members are not living the way he does and this only ends up destroying them. His dangerously free life transforms Pauline, Pecola and her brother into ruined people, labeled by the fatal acts they endure at the hands of Cholly’s dangerous freedom.
ReplyDeleteThis argument that Cholly's freedom is questionable and kept in check by his remaining ties to his family is an excellent one. True freedom can only come if one is capable of being completely independent from all ties, not severed from them or cut off with a vague sense somewhere of what you've cut yourself off from or what you should do. The freedom to do as you please necessitates a true freedom of spirit that comes from a strong place within. If you see the photo of Thoreau's cabin on the blog, you'll see an image of a man who is free in the real sense of the term, not dangerously so as Cholly is, as his cutting himself off reverts him to another mode of being without having completely cut himself off from social constraints which the institution of marriage bind him to.
ReplyDelete