Monday, March 5, 2012

Independence






For all three of these authors, freedom is a mental challenge.

Emerson defines freedom in the example of ‘Man Thinking”- a theoretically free man who’s thoughts and notions stem from his own experiences, interpretations, and beliefs. The exact opposite, an enslaved man, the bookworm, is filled to the brim with useless knowledge, that of pure imitation, without any self-education. Emerson makes it clear, particularly to students in academia, that dependence is slavery, the bookworm is the slave, and to break free, we must experience, interpret, and think for ourselves - an ongoing mental challenge that will change us from “the man that thinks” into “man thinking.”

Whitman has a slightly different view of freedom, yet with similar themes of mental rather than physical struggle. Whitman’s abstract idea of freedom is much more of a spiritual concept, that in which a free man can understand and delight in the ever-present connections between all people, their souls, nature, and the universe. We are connected by experiences, feelings, and shared moments, in the present and across time. Each student in this class is connected to one another by the shared experience of creating this blog post. Whitman goes on to express that freedom of and from oneself is ironically hindered by the Self, halting and (protecting?) us from showing our true selves to the world, naked and unveiled, out of fear of societies expectations and judgments. Whitman’s struggle for freedom is deeply personal, yet at the same time, entirely reliant on everything and everyone else in the universe.

Douglass makes a clear, outward resistance against physical slavery, OBVIOUSLY. However, under the surface, he spends most of his narrative explaining that slavery in actuality is more of a mental oppression. A slave can be a slave “in form“, a slave “in fact“, both, or neither - the choice, a very independent decision, is one that brings the slave that much closer to freedom, as a choice, in itself, is a free, uncontrolled act. This understanding of choice becomes the key to freedom, but also the hardest obstacle to hurdle. To begin to break free from the chains of slavery and become merely a slave in form, a slave must understand their worth. For Douglass, this worth came in the form of his paid labor. Why should he have to work for free when his labor was worth almost $9 a week?

While all of these notions of freedom share the need and desire for a mental transformation, all three authors have different ideas on the way to go about achieving personal freedom.


All have one major theme in common: Think, do, act, and be yourself.

1 comment:

  1. A la Emerson: "dependence is slavery" . . . does D. also have something to say about this relationship?

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