Suffering + Alienation + Society = Hero

A large focal point in our classroom, including the midterm essay, was the suffering of characters. We went into depth about how this suffering, which evolved from the disagreement with society’s values, led to alienation, which ultimately led to these characters being considered literary heroes.

Alienation, which is defined as, the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or in which one should be involved, was shown throughout our semester. 

We were given a sheet in class that explained the necessary steps for portraying a hero in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Here are the steps:
1. The hero is a common man.
2. The hero is partly tragic and partly pathetic; he is usually partly responsible for what happens to him, but the deck is also stacked against him by society.
3. Society’s flaws are no longer taken for granted. Individuals begin to feel alienated from society.
4. Works of literature begin to question whether or not life makes sense. Worth living? Marriage? Love?

There were many pieces of literature we’ve read where these steps apply. But for the sake of consistency and common ground, this is what I’ve decided to use:

Life of a Sensuous Woman
1. The elder woman is a common person.
2. This woman is obviously partially responsible for her actions. Sleeping with thousands of guys, being a courtesan and not looking for love. But society has something to do with this, being that it didn’t accept woman and they were looked at as objects.
3. Therefore, she not only feels alienated, she becomes alienated from society by living in a secrete place.
4. She questions the following: Is there such thing as real love? Is her life worth living?

Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger
1. Du Tenth is a common person.
2. Du Tenth is a courtesan and is owned. But with that being said, she still is intelligent and has enough money to buy her freedom. We see from her lover’s husband how women were treated then. She was shown how she is less important than money in the eyes of society and her opinions don’t matter.
3. Du Tenth becomes alienated by taking her own life. This was because after everything she did to become accepted, it still wasn’t enough.
4. Before taking her own life, she asked herself the following questions: Is life worth living? Is there love? Why wouldn’t he marry me?

Bartleby, The Scrivener
1. Bartleby is a common man who got a job at a law firm/
2. He begins to reply, “I would prefer not to”, whenever the boss asked him to do work outside his description. So he brings trouble upon himself because he has everyone in the office questioning his tactics. With that being said, his problem was with the money loving capitalism on Wall Street. This societal problem was the main issue, he was standing up for.
3. He alienates himself by spending time in jail, not eating or drinking, just sitting there, until his eventual death.
4. He mainly only questions living this specific life.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich
1. Ivan Ilyich was a common middle class man with a good job and nice family.
2. He brings problems upon himself by always wanting more. He was never satisfied. This was of course due to society. The Russian middle class was seen as selfish and greedy. The whole class just wanted more and weren’t happy with their lives.
3. He was alienated on his death bed, mainly alone.
4. He too questioned his worth and life. But it was more wishing he lived happily and not always wanting more.

Hedda Gabler
1. Hedda was a woman whose father was a general in the army and was now married to a middle class man. Her life was a common life.
2. She became manipulative because she wanted power. Her reason for this was because now that she went from the upper class to the middle her opinions didn’t matter anymore, forcing her to gain respect on her own.
3. She is always a little bit alienated throughout the story, until the end where she takes her own life.
4. She asks: Does she love someone else? Should she be married to her current husband? Why live without an opinion or voice?

These outlines of how a hero is portrayed was a constant theme for our class. It is remarkable how these authors create and depict these tragic heroes. All these characters who become alienated, all stood up for their respective beliefs.

     I will start out by saying the following: If anyone has not read the 18th century piece,  A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, do so! Swift does a brilliant job in this short piece of getting his point across.

     As we discussed thoroughly not only in class but through an assignment as well, this piece was written with Satire. Satire, as defined, is “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues”. This is exactly what Swift does so brilliantly in order to get his point across. Here is his point:

     As swift says, what society needs is a, “Fair, Cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the commonwealth” (315). So with statistical reasoning and economic analysis, Swift comes up with the following proposal: To fatten up the undernourished children and feed them to Ireland’s rich land-owners. In his mind this will help with diminishing the population by removing extra children, giving a source of income to the poor and by making the wealthy happy.

     The funny thing is that his proposal does seem to be backed up by his numbers, which makes his unrealistic idea even more satirical. He even mentions the taste, by saying, “I have been assured by a very well knowing American of mu acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourished, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted baked or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout” (316). This is just one example of the satire we are shown.

     The point is once again we see a piece of literature speak to societies flaws. Swift clearly just wanted to make a point; that this Irish society is flawed by money. He believed the rich landowners were just living the life, all while watching the pour suffer to a point where they couldn’t even feed their overpopulated class. The only way Swift knew how to get this point across is Satire, which he did in a brilliant way.