jueves, 10 de diciembre de 2015

A Journey into City and Society


Cities are places of cultural exchange and enrichment such as Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris and New York. But at the same time, these metropolises are examples of chaotic environments full of all the tension of modern life, due to migrations, dissolution of identities, breakdown with traditions, revolution of lifestyle, among other reasons (Rechniewski, 2005: 7). And in the three stories mentioned as following city is a crucial aspect in the life of protagonists since it represents not only the place in which they live, but also a place for search that lead revolution inexorably.


In the case of V, city represents a place for search since he has already found it before in that place, and there is a moment in which he found it again, but it is different from how he remembers it. He introduced himself to the justice´s statue and tells her that he has admired her for a long time, but he is disappointed now since she has been corrupt, she is not the justice for everybody, she is now the justice just for some; the government. (Moore, A. & Lloyd, D. (1989); p. 8-9; v.2) So that, he continues his pursuit of justice, but around society and city, however he does not believe in common justice, he is looking for the justice that is made with people´s believes and resources. While in 1984, Winston considers that this city is being deprived from freedom, since everywhere there are party´s slogans that suggest what people have to think and feel. For instance, 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' p (Orwell, G. (2009); p.22) Therefore, people feel secure in the city, because they do not know other reality, their reality and truth were the ones the Party established, and their freedom was just the one that it allows them. So that Winston observes the city as place which needs to be free, and he believes that this freedom can be in the same place, but he has to find it. Finally, for the observer in “The Man of the Crowd” the city represents routine and people, but one specific day he was captivated by something different.
At this particular period of the evening I had never before been in a similar situation, and the tumultuous sea of human heads filled me, therefore, with a de­licious novelty of emotion. I gave up, at length, all care of things within the hotel, and became absorbed in contemplation of the scene without.
(Poe, E. A. (2006); p. 230)
Therefore, he started to notice how people come and go, and he identified in this situation how humdrum was his life and city, and decided to find in it something special, something different.
Moreover, these stories are developed in London, a multicultural city, full of colors, lights, noise and crowd, there are men who observe the movement of this city but in different times and contexts, they observe how people act in it and how different can be even though they live in the same place. All of these men start a journey to change or to find out something; the truth, justice, peace, freedom or just something valuable. Some aspect that is totally alike in this big city.

The search

In the case of “The Man of the crowd”, he just look at people come and go, but he feels astonished by the diversity, by the environment changing with the passing of hours. Due to this action it can be considered that this man is looking for something that makes his society valuable, people who change the society paradigm, so he must be looking for divergent people, since people who broke schemes are always striking for one reason; they bring the society value. Therefore he starts this journey of tracing, thinking that the mysterious man that he has followed is different from others who just abide orders and follow the same routine every day.
On the other hand it is V, a mysterious man who also observes how city changes and how people make their lives commonly every day, is more involved in his hometown changes and he wants to make a change. As his country and government have changed by the war, famine and disease, he decides to intervene. In response to these changes he has made a plan which pretends make people taking back their freedom. He actually embodies the feeling of others in this dystopic London who wants revenge and is looking for a change. For instance Evey´s situation, she is an immature girl who finds in illegal actions a leak for her troubles, but these illegal actions were not carried out if the city were not controlled by government corruption. So that, at the moment in which V saved this young girl demonstrates what V represents in this story, the escape from this totalitarian place for many people: revenge.
Thirdly, in 1984, Winston is also a man who observe his city routine, but he observes it from a privileged place, he is part of one of the best part of the society, he does not need money or comfort because he already has it; however he needs freedom. He notices several iniquities, so that he starts a journey looking for the truth. And in his searching of justice he concluded that this The Big Brother which control people´s mind is giving them the information that they need people to have, they tell them a false truth of their own lives. Even their slogans are part of this manipulation; “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGHT”, (Orwell, G. (2009); p.5) Therefore he needs to find his own truth, what it is his place in this city, in this society. He thinks that the truth is hidden in the same party he belongs to, in the same city he lives on.

The Resolution

These men share the same curiosity about people´s behavior against their own society. They feel interested about the city´s rhythm, about how people respond to certain kind of stimulus. Concerning V’s struggle, he feels confused because people are afraid of making an effort for asserting their rights, while the man at the café desires understand the attitude of people around him and if there are somebody who can make a change, and Winston feels astonished by people´s actions and desires, he is confused about his loyalty. Therefore they take a decision with regard to their feelings; they begin a journey not only against society, also into themselves, into their feelings, values and beliefs. Their actions could definitely have consequences in the future, but what are the consequences that these actions lead in their own present lives?

Talking about Winston and his journey into the truth, he definitely found it; he accomplished his aim and discovered the manipulation of The Big Brother against people. However he faced the thought police and was tortured, so that, all what was revealed to him was erased, and the truth was won by the city. At the end the city won the truth again, and people still believing that it was that truth established by the party the only one that exist, however it is again hidden into the city of London.



Otherwise, in “The Man of the Crowd”, even though the observer gave up following the stranger but he definitely found something, he found fascination where he noticed this elder man routine. This man at the café only wanted to discover something different, something special, and he did it. The travel with this mysterious man not only showed him his daily routine, he also showed him places of London routines, he noticed how people in the center of the city act, and how people on the most worst places of it act also. So there is a paradox in terms of how different can be a place in which people lived and share together. The paradox is subtly underlined by the vividness and precision of that landscape of objects, manners and physiognomies, of the hierarchical classification of social classes and groups and the fitting adjustment of body and clothes, types and gestures, social position and social façade. (Gutiérrez, F. M. (2000) : p.157) And  even though the elder man coexist with these places everyday people would never know to which part of these city passages he belongs. Therefore, he was captivating, he was different from others.
This old man,” I said at length, “is the type and the genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. He is the man of the crowd. It will be in vain to follow; for I shall learn no more of him, nor of his deeds. The worst heart of the world is a grosser book than the ‘Hortulus Animæ,’ and perhaps it is but one of the great mercies of God that ‘es lässt sich nicht lessen.
                                                                               (Poe, E. A. 2006 p. 237)

Finally, V found justice since people who felt identified with his plans and actions continues them even with V´s death. Although at the end the corruption does not ends entirely, his rebellions and fights lead a legacy and generate a before and after with his death. His death represents the triumph of revolution, and his actions demonstrate that in this story city continues being dystopic, but justice has won and freedom is the feeling of this new London. “You escaped from a slaughterhouse without damage but no change, and saw the need for freedom: not only for you but for everyone. You watch and after watching, you dared to do something”. (Moore, A. & Lloyd, D. (1989):  p.29, v.10)
The intertexuality in these stories manifests in their protagonists, the places in which they live and their actions. All of them represent a kind of man that feel curious for finding something different in a big city such as London, where repression, corruption, routine, movement, crowd, noise and injustice are part of people´s life. Furthermore their actions represents more than just a try of being recognized, they act with regard to their feelings, values and believes, and the fatal flaw in these stories demonstrates their reasons to act.
A common theme that emerges from utopian and dystopian visions is that of the fatal flaw, some failure that unravels the whole idealistic vision and lays bare an insight into something more profound. It is not particularly interesting that idealistic visions fail. What is interesting is just how such failures come about, and what they teach us about events, people, and ideas.
(Sage, J. (2007): p.1).


In the case of V, he dies, Winston is tortured and the observer gave the searching. Therefore, even though these men have different and personal features, they all share the common aspect of freedom, which makes them different from others, they all decided what to do and how to do it. Although it was a decision more difficult for some of them (V and Winston), they did what they were expected to do to find their own purposes. So that, any of them could have been the protagonist of any of these stories.


References

Gutiérrez, F. M. (2000). Edgar Allan Poe: Misery and Mystery in "The Man of the Crowd". Estudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense, 1(2), 153-174.
Moore, A. & Lloyd, D. (1989). V for Vendetta. New York: Vertigo.
Orwell, G. (2009). 1984. Buenos Aires: Emecé.
Poe, E. A. (2006). The Man of the Crowd, in Kennedy, J. G. (Ed). The Portable Edgar Allan Poe. London: Penguin Books, 229-237. 1984
Rechniewski, E. (2005). Modernism and the City. Literature and Aesthetics,15(2), 7-12.
Sage, J. (2007). V for Vendetta and Political Philosophy: A Critique of Thomas Hobbes. Retrieved from [http://bit.ly/1jjcIaz] (12.10.15)

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