Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler - Research Paper Example

Darkness at Noon Winner of the prestigious Sonning Prize, Arthur Koestler is much known by his highly influential novel, Darkness at Noon. As a former member of Germany’s Communist Party Arthur was able to put into writing his own personal experiences and build up a compelling political tale. The novel was originally written in German language under the name of Sonnenfinsternis which meant Solar Eclipse. The original copy has been lost though the English translation (translated by Daphne Hardy) had created great waves in the literary circles. The book is a powerful examination of the moral danger inherent in a system that is willing to employ any means to reach a desired end. Darkness at Noon stands second in series of a trilogy of novels that revolves about the fundamental theme of political ethics and revolutionary ethics in general. The other two dystopian novels written at the same time were Brave New World by Huxley and Nineteen Eighty Four by Orwell. These novels are unique in themselves as they reveal ugly truths and disturb us. The title of the novel is aptly named as Darkness at Noon. Noon time is the brightest time of the day and it is only during extraordinary situations (such as a storm or solar eclipse) that noon is engulfed in darkness. The same darkness is felt in the heavy oppressive theme of the 2 novel that starts with a prison scene and ends with acceptance of guilt. The darkness reflected in the book was actually a reflection of the political scene prevalent in the political history of Soviet Union. Just at a time when Communism was rising at its peak like a glowing sun, there came a solar eclipse in the lives of the leaders and took away many of their lives. What was more surprising that most of these leaders willingly accepted their so called crimes just for the sake of their party. The book looks into the interior monologue and the dire circumstances that make the men take up such extreme steps and sacrifice their names along with their lives. The story set in 1930s is compelling, didactic and angry. It revolves around Nicolas Salmanovitch Rubashov, who is imprisoned for counter revolutionary activities. Rubashov is an aging Communist Party member, now locked inside a cell as an indictment against a series of crimes that he could not have possibly committed. He has been ordered to be shot as soon as he publicly accepts the charges. But, he refutes the state’s offer to confess his guilt in public. Rubashov is not a saboteur, just a good communist. Though Rubashov possessed some degrees of independent thoughts and had arrogance of manner, he could not have committed such a serious crime such as conspiracy against his country. The country of his confinement is not confirm though from the various descriptions people can make out that he belonged to the Soviet Union and is confined in one of its cells. 3 Rubashov is arrested for crimes against the State and repeatedly interrogated and psychologically tortured till he give up and accepts those charges. As a former communist Koestler closely examines the high level of dedication filled in these Communists so that they readily confessed to quite ridiculous crimes at the Stalin’s Show Trials of the 1930s. By making the protagonist accept the guilt of the crimes, he projects that once you convince yourself that the ends justify the means, you should not be surprised when those means are turned against you. Soviet Union was experimenting to construct a new society. But, to make that society individuals were required to sacrifice some things. These ‘some things’ were life and a lifelong created reputation. Any sort of political deviation would weaken the roots of that society Thus, by sacrificing himself, Rubashov have a feeble hope that people would take it as a lesson and never deviate from the paths of moral standings. Darkness at Noon is one of the first literatures to be found on Soviet Union in the English language. According to George Orwell there was “in England almost no literature of disillusionment about the Soviet Union”. Hence, it was connected with the reality that no Englishman could have experienced the things Koestler did. Three of the five books written by him (Spanish Testament, The Gladiators, Darkness at Noon, Scum of the Earth and Arrival and 4 Departure) are set in prison, and “none ever escapes for more than a few pages from the atmosphere of nightmare.” Morality Vs Expediency Darkness at Noon raises a question whether to reach a particular noble end is it justified to adopt ignoble means and to what effect. It also shows the conflict between expediency and morality. The subject of the book correlates to the predicaments faced by members and leaders of any ruling or emerging political party that had been recorded in the history from the first century Slave Revolt to the 1930s Old Bolsheviks. The protagonist, Rubashov is a former underground organizer, a military leader, a partisan commander, a political commissar and lastly a member of the Central Committee. Needless to say he was an insider of the Communist Party. After being arrested for false crime Rubashov prepares himself for cruel physical tortures, but to his surprise he finds himself in the midst of an intellectual duel with both of his prosecutors, Gletkin and Ivanov. Both the interrogators subtly convince Rubashov that his loyalty towards the party and dictates of the logical history states that he give himself up as a sacrifice. He is even led towards the public commission to accept crimes that he had never committed. It is difficult to understand what standard Rubashov holds him, but whatever it may be, the protagonist considers himself to be a 5 failure in this endeavor. Hence, he wants to compensate it with his reputation and life. However, Rubashov understood that it was basically impossible to give expediency more importance than morality. The Interrogators According to Christopher, a Vanity Fair columnist, Rubashov has one fatal weakness. He is an open minded intellectual. He has “the familiar and fatal constraint to put himself in the position of his opponent, and to see the scene through the other's eyes." Rubashov’s dogmatic jailors do not possess any disadvantages of this sort hence they have no qualms in applying inhuman atrocities to get their ends. Orwell’s famous novel, Nineteen Eighty Four has many things in common with Darkness at Noon and observes the same horrifying truth- the fanatics don't just want you to obey them: They want you to agree with them (Darkness at Noon: Arthur Koestler’s milestone anti-Stalinist novel). In fact the teamwork interrogation of the two interrogators were so artistically and logically represented that some readers actually converted to communism. Hence, we see that the novel is unique in its word power. There are more words than actions in this book. Words are catalyst is bringing up actions. Without words there would be no action. The interrogators are masters of using words. They know the power of words and use 6 them to achieve their means. They realize that physical torture would yield little result to convince their inmate. In fact, Rubashov even prepares himself mentally for all the alleged physical tortures. But, all that he receives is mental abuse. His interrogators use psychological torture to make their victim agree to their reasoning. And they adopt a very effective form of logical torture in the form of logical discourse. Most of the dialogues filled up in the book are either between Rubashov and his two tormentors or an inner monologue by Rubashov himself. The psychological torture comprises of a very refined nature where Rubashov’s motives and their consequences are discussed. They also discuss political and historic philosophy amongst themselves. Thus, we see that both the sides (the interrogators and the captive) are intelligent and persuasive. Both possess great word and logical skills. Hence, readers want to read on to see which side succeeds in persuading the other with his oratory and persuasive skills. Reasons for Owing Up the Crimes Rubashov has been projected as an innocent man who was caught in the inside politics of the Communist Party and wrongly charged for crimes he had not committed. However, his lingering loyalty towards the party made him owe up everything that he was charged against and sacrifice his reputation along with his life in an unselfish manner. This reading of the book is 7 only partial truth. It is true that Rubashov was falsely indicated for crimes that he had not committed but there were some crimes (which were much worse) for which he had not been charged. Right from very early age Rubashov cynically supported the same system which was now persecuting him and sent to jail a number of innocent people for false accusations. Hence, in his lonely days in the cell, Rubashov remembers all those crimes and decides to face punishment for them in the guise of owing up the unknown crimes for which he was falsely charged. The protagonist mentally gets convinced that his sacrifice would be his last duty towards the system and that he would set up an example before others to stay on the right course. This act reveals a similarity with Morley Callaghan’s’ novel, “A Time for Judas”. Here Judas is shown as a devoted disciple who willingly takes on the role of the betrayer that resulted in Christ’s crucifixion. He did it for unselfish reasons just so Jesus Christ could be hailed as the savior of the soul who gave up his mortal body for the betterment of human beings. According to George Orwell, Darkness at Noon is one of the darkest and deepest questions of the age: why had Bukharin and the other Old Bolsheviks confessed at the Moscow show trials to crimes they had not committed? In Orwell's gloss, they did so out of a kind of warped loyalty, and because their lives as devoted communists had left them with no further 8 purpose: "Rubashov ultimately confesses because he cannot find in his own mind any reason for not doing so. Justice and objective truth have long ceased to have any meaning for him." Thus, by owing up the false accusations that were put against Rubashov, he indulges in self deception. He is happy and at peace with himself and thinks of his owing of the crime as a great sacrifice that he was doing for humanity. Making the Book Universal in Theme From various passages in the novel, it is clear that the write is actually speaking of a specific place and about certain incidents that have happened in the history of that country. However, he eludes from naming that country and in fact makes the theme universal by giving vague references to the place such as “Country of Revolution”, “Over There”, “Number One”. End Message of Darkness at Noon Darkness at Noon does not pass on any message to the humanity. It just depicts private musings of a few individuals who are caught up in political upheaval. The novel fails to answer the wrongs that happened and their causes in the first half of the last century. Poetry of Darkness at Noon 9 According to the Journal of English and German Philology, Darkness at Noon is “a work of narrative of high poetic merit.” However, Howard Gaskill observes that the novel is a poetic response to French revolution just like the Friedrich Holderlin’s novel, Hyperion. Hyperion is closer in time to the events of Thermidor than Darkness at Noon. Themes One of the main themes of the book is that philosophical generalizations and abstract ideals often lead to disastrous results when they are applied without regard to individual circumstance (Healthcare Economist, March, 2008). We find the echo of this theme in Ferdinand Lassalle’s words: Show us not the aim without the way. For ends and means on earth are so entangled That changing one, you change the other too; Each different path brings other ends in view. The novel takes the help of Mathematics to show that bookish formula may not be applicable in the real world. 10 “A Mathematician once said that algebra was the science for lazy people- one does not work out x, but operates with it as if one knew it. In our case, x stands for the anonymous masses, the people. Politics means operating with the x without worrying about its actual natures. Making history is to recognize x for what it stands for in the equation.” Throughout the novel, Arthur Koestler analyzes the psychological and political processes that allowed Stalin to engage in his mission of murderous campaigns where a number of his colleagues and even prominent leaders were ruthlessly butchered. In the book Koestler tries to explain to his readers what instigated these victims to cooperate with their inquisitors and hangmen till their last living breath. These victims continued to clutch at their belief in the communism even while standing before the firing squads. They gave up their lives with the belief that their deaths would help the Communist Revolution. Reception Publicly heralded in France, Darkness at Noon survived Cold War Communist censorship and underground book sales. While French Communist party members abhorred Koestler’s message and his successful publication, Western critics and democratic minded European readers clung to the revolutionary statement envisioned in the book (A Cold War Best Seller, pg. 173). In The Invisible Writing, Koester recounts that “It happened to be the first moral indictment of Stalinism 11 published in postwar France; and it talked of the authentic language of the Party, and had a Bolshevik of the Old Guard for its hero.” According to a newspaper “the most important single factor which led to the defeat of the Communists in the referendum on the Constitution, was a novel, Le Zero et l'lnfini.' (Darkness at Noon was published as Le Zero et l'lnfini in France). Work Cited Christopher Hitchens. Darkness at Noon: Arthur Koestler’s milestone anti-Stalinist novel. Web. September 13. Source: www.slate.com/id/2125929 Moore, Mike. "Crossroads." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 50.3 (1994): 2. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. ‘Hyperion’ and ‘Darkness at Noon’: Resemblance With a Difference. January 1998. "Darkness at Noon." Encyclop?dia Britannica. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online. Encyclop?dia Britannica, 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. . Healthcare Economist. Darkness at noon. March 14, 2008. Source: Web: http://healthcare-economist.com/2008/03/14/darkness-at-noon/  Poulain, Martine. A Cold War Best Seller: The Reaction to Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon in France. Libraries & Culture, Winter2001, Vol. 36 Issue 1. Geoffrey Wheatcroft. Arthur Koestler: The Homeless Mind David Cesarani. Print 20 November, 1998. Vaci, Sandor. "Zero and infinity." History Today 55.3 (2005): 62. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. Read More