Pride and Prejudice: Revised

In his essay "Walking," Henry David Thoreau offers the following assessment of literature:

    “In literature it is only the wild that attracts us. Dullness is but another name for tameness. It is the uncivilized free and wild thinking in Hamlet and The Iliad, in all scriptures and mythologies, not learned inschools, that delights us.

From the works that you have studied in school, choose a novel, play, or epic poem that you may initially have thought was conventional and tame but that you now value for its "uncivilized free and wild thinking." Write an essay in which you explain what constitutes its "uncivilized free and wild thinking" and how that thinking is central to the value of the work as a whole. Support your ideas with specific references to the work you choose.

"Uncivilized" is a term that means someone who is not in sync with civilization. But as Jane Austen reveals in Pride and Prejudice, perhaps having some emotional distance from society is a good thing. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen not only paints an elaborate portrait of society but also comments on the nature and folly of it. Elizabeth Bennett, the main character, is attractive because she is not bound by “civilized” society and is the free thinker that Thoreau says so captivates readers. Elizabeth’s free thinking is what allows her to develop as a character, and in the end nullify her own social boundaries and prejudices. This breaking free of society is free thinking in the most wild manner, but because of the rigidity of the society in question, the novel is a fresh start to individualism, and all the more attractive because of it.

Elizabeth is not a character you'd want to contradict, nor is she typical of the characters in the book. Cultural and family prejudices tie Elizabeth down and attempt to force her to bend to society. Having grown up in a house full of frivolity and an overly trusting sister, Elizabeth is cynical and hesitant to trust—family prejudices of first impressions, manners, and impressions of wealth have left her tied to society.  Elizabeth's sisters and mother are for the most part more concerned with material wealth and marriage than anything else. Austen uses the mother and sisters as upholders of traditional societal values, to allow Elizabeth to stand in stark contrast to both most of her family and to society. 

Not all of Elizabeth's family is like this, however. Mr. Bennett, Elizabeth's father, likes Lizzie the best for her wit and stubbornness. Because of her father, Elizabeth is shaped into a free thinker and realizes that men can both accept and love free thinking. Mr. Bennett is the character who brings to light Elizabeth's free spirit, by praising and encouraging it. Elizabeth, unlike her mother and sisters, refuses to consider marring: as free as she believes herself, she can't fathom tying herself down.

Elizabeth eventually sees that she has been prejudiced. It is the epiphany not only for the novel but for society and for Austen's readers. Austen not only shows the charm of free thinking, but makes a statement about society. Elizabeth, confronted by a lady of high standing, refuses to take abuse. In standing up to a lady of such high social rank, Elizabeth eliminates the barrier of class. She has realized that class doesn't matter, and in this way Austen makes a statement about society, however "uncivilized" that statement may be. 

Elizabeth passes through many stages of development to reach the point where she can recognize society for what it is. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth must accept the fallibility of her own perceptions and her family’s faults. In the end, Elizabeth redefines free thinking and breaks free of the social boundaries between herself and Darcy. Through Elizabeth's growth and defiance of social expectation, Jane Austen defies her own social norms and shows that free thinking may not be so bad, after all. Pride and Prejudice may be wild for the time in which it was written, but it is all the more valuable for it.

Ceremony

Setting: Ceremony is set in and around the Laguna reservation, though flashbacks/regressions may take use elsewhere, namely to the Philippines. The reservation is in the midst of a severe drought  leaving the land desolate and reflecting the mindset of its inhabitants.

Plot: Tayo, a veteran of WWII, comes home poisoned by the witchery of the white world. Violently sick and made more so by continued association with other veterans, Tayo spends the course of the novel on a path to healing, reconciliation of self, and purity, helped along by memories of Josiah and Rocky, medicine men Ku'oosh and Betonie, and spirits like Night Swan, T'seh, and the mountain lion.

Theme: the power of transformation and tradition. Through the novel, Tayo is transformed, and transforms others around him, as he both recognizes and purges the witchery from himself, embracing tradition in order to find home for himself once again.

Quotes: He cries because they are dead and everything is dying. This is said by Tayo as he recuperates in a Veterans' Hospital. In a literal sense, "they" are the army veterans who died in the world. Tayo appears still to be stuck in the war world, unable to do anything but cry. But on another level Tayo's words appeal to the entire novel. Everything is dying: indeed, on the inside, Tayo and many other characters die as they feel the effects of witchery and its poison. This is reflected in the setting, which has gone dry and dead (Tayo believes it's his fault).
Cattle are like any living thing. If you separate them from the land for too long...they lose something. This is said by Josiah. Though he speaks of cattle, he speaks also of humans and especially of the Laguna people. After all, the cattle are like the sacred deer that help to guide Tayo to spiritual healing. The people, too, must be healed and reconnected to the land. People are not meant to be controlled, corralled, and manipulated by witchery. Look at the white people, soft and susceptible to the poison.
Witchery works to scare people, to make them fear growth. This by Betonie. He explains to Tayo that ceremonies need to change, to transform, because people themselves are always growing. Without transformation no ceremony could stand up to witchery. Though the theme of the novel is both the power of transformation and tradition, tradition itself must transform in the novel in order to provide a restorative power to Tayo.


Imagery/Symbolism: The symbols of deer and bear/lion-people are prominent throughout the play. All three animals are guides to Tayo on his path to complete the ceremony. They appear throughout the story and in Tayo's life in various forms: the deer as Josiah's cattle and T'seh, the bear as Shush and Betonie, and the lion as the hunter and also as itself.

Respond

I really, really, enjoyed learning about Jung. I find psychology fascinating. His ideas of a "spiritual journey" in which to complete and accept yourself kind of remind me of Tayo's journey in Ceremony. I also liked learning the different archetypes (weird how once you learn something, you see it everywhere...). It kind of forces you to reconsider your life; I look forward to seeing more in Fifth Business. I like the book so far, but it confuses me how Ramsay can seem so normal (aside from his infatuation with Mrs. Dempton) but be so messed up (seriously, a 200 page letter?). I guess that's kind of like Tayo, too, as well as Willy Loman, Hamlet, and the characters from the American Dream. It's not like you can really look at someone from the outside and just know what's going on internally. Leave that to the psychics--and I mean psychic in the noun sense, not the psychology sense!