Gray Scale

This week the stories we read transitioned from black and white to gray. Don’t worry, let me explain. They went from darkness and light in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”; to the contrast of black and white in “Battle Royal”; to complete monotone grayness—in the form of equality—in “Henry Bergeron”. The dichotomy of opposites is a powerful way to add dynamics and friction to a short story.

Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is a story about the stages of life—especially old age. The story begins with a stark contrast of darkness and light. It begins with the image of “an old man who sat in the shadow of the leaves of a tree made against the electric light” (1). The aged man is in the shadow of death. His energy for life is depleted, and so he spends his days in the café drinking away his despair. Two waiters, one old and one young, give the readers two different perspectives on the old man’s situation. (Here is another contrast—old and young). The elder of the two sympathizes with the old man. He views the café as a place of refuge for the dejected senior. He stays late in the café “with all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night” (70). While the younger waiter, who is more materialistic and immature, sarcastically wishes that the old man (who attempted suicide) “should have killed [himself] last week” (18). Although the older waiter is more in tune to the complexities of human emotion, there is another reason behind his empathy. He feels the same way about life as the old man. In his “nada” monologue, the old waiter reveals to us his disinterest in life. It is not only the old man who needs a light for the night, but also waiter himself.

This idea of “light for the night” has many possible meanings. The one that I concluded was a metaphor for death and the afterlife. Darkness has been and will always be connected to death, the great unknown. The old man’s despair and the old waiter’s pessimistic view of life both stem from their disinterest in life. The old waiter states (in reference to life), “It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too” (76). He goes on to recite the Lord’s Prayer, replacing key words with “nada”. It is here that the religious subtext of the story is displayed. When reading this short story I was reminded of a series of paintings by Thomas Cole. His series “The Voyage of Life” is an allegory of the four stages of man’s life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. An exerpt from Wikipedia best describes the four paintings

"In childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape. As a youth, the boy takes control of the boat and aims for a shining castle in the sky. The last two pictures reverse the boat's direction. In manhood, the adult relies on prayer and religious faith to sustain him through rough waters and a threatening landscape. Finally, the man becomes old and the angel guides him to heaven across the waters of eternity." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_Life)

Because death is encroaching and the mystery of the afterlife is still well, a mystery, religion is the only way to make death more comfortable. It seems that both men are spiritually lost, and therefore uncomfortable with the possibility of their dismal afterlives. To conclude, the poetic rock band MUSE, in their song “Thoughts of a Dying Atheist”, sang, “Look through a faithless eye/ are you afraid to die? / It scares the hell out of me/ and the end is all I can see…”

In my discussion Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” fits in the middle of my two themes: the dichotomy of black and white (and its various connotations) and that of equality. It is a story that speaks about racial tension as well as racial equality. The story is a struggle of a young black man battling a world dominated by white men. With this story I want to focus on a singular scene. After being battered, the young black man gives a speech. His mouth is being flooded with blood, when he utters the phrase “social responsibility” (69). He tries to speak, but chokes on his blood. He is forced to repeat this phrase and accidentally (or more likely a Freudian slip) he croaks “social…equality” (81). His swallowing the blood that runs through his veins is important. Through this act, he is symbolically swallowing part of himself, his people, his heritage, and therefore his pride. In a time of racial inequality, African Americans explored many different ways to elevate their social standings. Civil disobedience was a reaction to violent attacks from both blacks and whites. This story shows how the protagonist’s subordination may help him survive, but it does not help him win the war. And that racial, gender, and social equality sadly does not come without a price. To steal another line from MUSE, “Why can't we see / that when we bleed we bleed the same.”

Kurt Vonnegut creates a satirical contrast to America in “Henry Bergeron”. He takes us to a time when equality is the norm. In our future, the beneficially competitive atmosphere of our country is gone. Instead, the citizens have created the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to ensure that “they were equal every which way” (1).With our competitive edge handicapped, our nation deteriorated. To steal a line from Darwin, natural selection works only if there is variation within a population. So in order to evolve there needs to be variability. Where there is no evolution, there is no progress. Of course, I am not advocating Social Darwinism. I mentioned this to point out that the laws of evolution no longer apply to this imaginary nation.

Vonnegut makes a strong statement through his satirical approach to the concept of equality: We need inequality. In America today, inequality gives us something to strive for. To take a lesson from the failed social experiment of Soviet Russia, equality creates complacency. In Vonnegut’s world in 2081, the strong were weighted down; the beautiful were masked; and the intelligent were prevented from thinking. Although “equality” is a political buzzword and a happy thought, its far-reaching side effects are often overlooked. If we all looked the same, it would be hard to tell us apart. If we all were the same age, we wouldn’t have the perspective of a child or the experience of the old. If we were all equal, we would have nothing to distinguish us and, most importantly, nothing to strive for.

So what is this week’s lesson, kids? Our differences make us more exciting. It really sounds like something we learnt in kindergarten. But the older I get, the more these basic lessons take on more complex meanings. (1,157)


P.S. Mr. Coon, you can click on the thumbnails to see the enlarged paintings. They're wonderful! Also, the formatting for the block quote didn't work...so I just put the quotation marks instead.