January Blog Post

Okay, let's try it this way. For some reason my computer doesn't want to type it in "Compose" mode this time. The issue I would like to present with my monthly blog this time is the issue of society versus self. I think that there is a common misconception in modern society. The misconception is that a person must choose between society and self in terms of family and work or wants and needs. For example, look at Kristine (or however that's spelled) in A Doll's House. She says that because she had to work, she decided she didn't have time for a family. That and her husband died. She decided that if she couldn't be a wife, she had to work. But she says that she wanted to be a part of society in a way at the same time. In this case, Kristine chooses to be both herself and a part of society, because their interests coincide. There seems to be a modern dilemma in this, that one cannot be part of society and an individual person. One must pick one or the other to be in life and live by that decision. In my case, I don't have much in the way of a life outside of school, but part of that is by choice and part by necessity. I don't work, so I don't have as much money, but I've never had to work because I don't have as many things to spend that money on. I have pretty much everything I need. So I can choose to be myself if I want, but at the same time I realize there will come a day when I do have to work and provide for myself, and I prepare for that by conforming to society's demands that I go through the pure waste of time (in my mind) that is applying for scholarships to go to college. If education is so important at a college level, why do we limit ourself in terms of what it takes and how much it costs to get in? I personally believe that there should be no forced choice between society and self. People can be as much or as little a part of both worlds as they choose. Looking at Edna's decision in The Awakening to ignore her children for fear of giving up her identity, quite frankly I think she's missing the point. Why should she have to give up her identity? Her identity is part of what allows her to give up everything including her life. She is her own person by making such moral choices as that, granted that she is only her own person when she herself makes that choice. Besides, she has a clear obligation as a human being to go to the aid of another if it is within her power. I think that Edna decided that she could only be one of two things: herself or what society wanted for her. I think that the fact that she never realized she could possibly combine the two under the right conditions (in Alaska for example) that ultimately drove her to commit suicide. Society and self are two halves (or whatever proportion it may be) of a whole, of a person, and I think we as a society are starting to forget that. Similar to politics, we decide that it can only be one way or the other. We convince ourselves that there can be no middle ground in this regard, and I think we as a society are poorer for it.