One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Prison as a Metaphor in the novels The Stranger by Albert Camusand One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Prison can be defined as a place wherein people who did not follow the law is usually put in detention. These people are usually the ones convicted of different crimes. Weather on the other hand is a factor we usually consider before doing something like going out or doing something outdoors. Weather can be used as a metaphor for prison as used in the novels The Stranger by Albert Camus and One Day in Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Weather and prison was compared implicitly in various ways. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, a prisoner in the novel One Day in Life of Ivan Denisovich is an uneducated and poor man. Weather was used as a metaphor for prison in both books by the temperature used in the plots.
In the novel One Day in Life, the prisoners wear prison clothes which is very degrading for a normal people, but what makes it more degrading and makes them feel more of a prisoners when they were asked to wear those ratty clothes in a cold weather with a temperature as low as forty degrees below zero. The prisoners were also told to undress during body searches once in a while at a very cold temperature. This is very humiliating for them and a torture to their dignity. In this novel, the cold weather represents the lack of freedom experienced by the prisoners for their own humanity and dignity. Being in prison is more than enough to feel a constant suffering, but wearing ratty clothes during winter is more than just constant suffering. Also in this novel, the prisoners were told to work even at during winter with temperature said above. This represents prison since the prisoners were not given a choice whether they like to work or not and even if their body permits them to do so or not. In this novel, weather was used to represent imprisonment as a means of not permitting freedom of emotion and choice. The prisoners were not given a chance to feel and react to the coldness of the weather. They were told to do certain things that they were not able to contradict and even say an opinion about those things. In this novel, physical imprisonment is easier to dealt with than the imprisonment of emotions and choice.
When a person committed a crime, he knows that he will be dealing with imprisonment as a punishment for his acts. In this novel, all they knew is that they will be dealing with physical imprisonment and not with the kind of imprisonment that they are dealing with in the plot. The weather was used to represent the repression experienced by the prisoners brought about by the wardens. In real life, changes in weather makes us idle because we are not able to do the things we have planned and wanted to do. This is what weather represents in the novel. The prisoners are not able to do the things that they want to do and feel because of the dictators inside the prison. That is prison represented by the repression inside the prison.
In the novel The Stranger, Meursault gives more importance to the physical world as compared to his and others peoples emotions. He did not give importance to his feelings when his mother died and when he and Marie were set to get married. During his mothers funeral, he feels more hurt brought about by the intense heat of the weather and not because of his mothers death. As the story progresses, Meursault gives more attention to his own physicality, the weather and his current physical relationship with Marie. He bluntly said to Marie that feelings is not important when Marie asked him if he loves her. Also, Meursault just answered that they can get married anytime if she wants to regardless of his feelings for her. The climax of the novel was when Meursault killed an Arab man he encountered in a beach when he was out with Marie and Raymond celebrating Meursault and Maries engagement. There was no personal reason why he killed the Arab who was about to be killed by Raymond but Meursault shot the gun. He only blames the weather for it was too hot then.
In this novel, weather dictates the mood of Meursault. He killed the Arab because it was hot. He felt the hurt of the heat of the weather and not the hurt brought about by his mothers death. The hotness of the weather and not the people or events around him makes him mask his emotions. He can feel the hurt in his skin brought by the hot weather but not the hurt brought by his mothers death and the joy brought by his engagement to Marie. In this novel, weather was used as a metaphor of prison by imprisoning his emotions. He can easily feel the physical pain and not the emotional ones. He dealt more of his physical relationship with others and not her love for that person. At the end of the novel, he was imprisoned physically but his emotions were freed since he learned how to feel, how to be sad when someone was lost and how to miss someone.
In the two novels, there are many metaphors used and one of those is the use of weather as a metaphor of prison. Ivan and Meursault was imprisoned by their emotions. They were not given the right and chance to react to certain things and events that had happened to their lives in the duration of their respective stories because their emotions were masked by the weather. The two protagonists gave more importance on the physical aspects of their lives and not much on the emotional aspects. This may be because they are men and men are not supposed to feel their emotions based on our social norms. It may be due to the macho appeal that men usually put up to mask their emotions.
People see weather as a factor to be considered before doing some actions. A good example of this is during winter in which we are not able to go to beaches and sun-bathe because there is merely no sun and the weather is cold. Most of our activities outdoors depend on the weather. We are like plants and trees. Plants let their leaves fall in order to adapt to the weather during summer and fall and in order to preserve the moisture in their trunk. People also deal with adaptations in their bodies and weather dictates what adaptations people need to do. In the example above in which people cannot go to beaches and sun-bathe during winter, people still try to do other things such as ski in the snow or stay at home to keep themselves busy. This is one of the adaptations that humans do with changes in weather. We have a choice of not being imprisoned by weather and other factors whether physical or emotional.
Different things can be used as symbols and metaphors for other things. As for these two novels, weather was used to represent prisonimprisonment of emotions and dignity. The prison in these two novels dealt more with not having choices and having weather dictate the moods emotions. Weather was also used here to mask emotions of men as the protagonists.
Prison can be defined as a place wherein people who did not follow the law is usually put in detention. These people are usually the ones convicted of different crimes. Weather on the other hand is a factor we usually consider before doing something like going out or doing something outdoors. Weather can be used as a metaphor for prison as used in the novels The Stranger by Albert Camus and One Day in Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Weather and prison was compared implicitly in various ways. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, a prisoner in the novel One Day in Life of Ivan Denisovich is an uneducated and poor man. Weather was used as a metaphor for prison in both books by the temperature used in the plots.
In the novel One Day in Life, the prisoners wear prison clothes which is very degrading for a normal people, but what makes it more degrading and makes them feel more of a prisoners when they were asked to wear those ratty clothes in a cold weather with a temperature as low as forty degrees below zero. The prisoners were also told to undress during body searches once in a while at a very cold temperature. This is very humiliating for them and a torture to their dignity. In this novel, the cold weather represents the lack of freedom experienced by the prisoners for their own humanity and dignity. Being in prison is more than enough to feel a constant suffering, but wearing ratty clothes during winter is more than just constant suffering. Also in this novel, the prisoners were told to work even at during winter with temperature said above. This represents prison since the prisoners were not given a choice whether they like to work or not and even if their body permits them to do so or not. In this novel, weather was used to represent imprisonment as a means of not permitting freedom of emotion and choice. The prisoners were not given a chance to feel and react to the coldness of the weather. They were told to do certain things that they were not able to contradict and even say an opinion about those things. In this novel, physical imprisonment is easier to dealt with than the imprisonment of emotions and choice.
When a person committed a crime, he knows that he will be dealing with imprisonment as a punishment for his acts. In this novel, all they knew is that they will be dealing with physical imprisonment and not with the kind of imprisonment that they are dealing with in the plot. The weather was used to represent the repression experienced by the prisoners brought about by the wardens. In real life, changes in weather makes us idle because we are not able to do the things we have planned and wanted to do. This is what weather represents in the novel. The prisoners are not able to do the things that they want to do and feel because of the dictators inside the prison. That is prison represented by the repression inside the prison.
In the novel The Stranger, Meursault gives more importance to the physical world as compared to his and others peoples emotions. He did not give importance to his feelings when his mother died and when he and Marie were set to get married. During his mothers funeral, he feels more hurt brought about by the intense heat of the weather and not because of his mothers death. As the story progresses, Meursault gives more attention to his own physicality, the weather and his current physical relationship with Marie. He bluntly said to Marie that feelings is not important when Marie asked him if he loves her. Also, Meursault just answered that they can get married anytime if she wants to regardless of his feelings for her. The climax of the novel was when Meursault killed an Arab man he encountered in a beach when he was out with Marie and Raymond celebrating Meursault and Maries engagement. There was no personal reason why he killed the Arab who was about to be killed by Raymond but Meursault shot the gun. He only blames the weather for it was too hot then.
In this novel, weather dictates the mood of Meursault. He killed the Arab because it was hot. He felt the hurt of the heat of the weather and not the hurt brought about by his mothers death. The hotness of the weather and not the people or events around him makes him mask his emotions. He can feel the hurt in his skin brought by the hot weather but not the hurt brought by his mothers death and the joy brought by his engagement to Marie. In this novel, weather was used as a metaphor of prison by imprisoning his emotions. He can easily feel the physical pain and not the emotional ones. He dealt more of his physical relationship with others and not her love for that person. At the end of the novel, he was imprisoned physically but his emotions were freed since he learned how to feel, how to be sad when someone was lost and how to miss someone.
In the two novels, there are many metaphors used and one of those is the use of weather as a metaphor of prison. Ivan and Meursault was imprisoned by their emotions. They were not given the right and chance to react to certain things and events that had happened to their lives in the duration of their respective stories because their emotions were masked by the weather. The two protagonists gave more importance on the physical aspects of their lives and not much on the emotional aspects. This may be because they are men and men are not supposed to feel their emotions based on our social norms. It may be due to the macho appeal that men usually put up to mask their emotions.
People see weather as a factor to be considered before doing some actions. A good example of this is during winter in which we are not able to go to beaches and sun-bathe because there is merely no sun and the weather is cold. Most of our activities outdoors depend on the weather. We are like plants and trees. Plants let their leaves fall in order to adapt to the weather during summer and fall and in order to preserve the moisture in their trunk. People also deal with adaptations in their bodies and weather dictates what adaptations people need to do. In the example above in which people cannot go to beaches and sun-bathe during winter, people still try to do other things such as ski in the snow or stay at home to keep themselves busy. This is one of the adaptations that humans do with changes in weather. We have a choice of not being imprisoned by weather and other factors whether physical or emotional.
Different things can be used as symbols and metaphors for other things. As for these two novels, weather was used to represent prisonimprisonment of emotions and dignity. The prison in these two novels dealt more with not having choices and having weather dictate the moods emotions. Weather was also used here to mask emotions of men as the protagonists.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment