Maldoror & the Complete Works of the Comte De Lautreamont - Book Report/Review Example

Abstract Society is made of people with different personalities and characters, yet for some reason, only those with “acceptable” character are welcomed into the society. Those people who follow the norms of a given society in terms of morality and civilization are considered part of the society. The implication here is that those people, who do not follow the laid-down norms, are considered societal outcasts. Essentially, the society dictates what is wrong and what is acceptable thus intimidating most people into following the norms and subduing their own personalities. However, there those free spirits who will not let societal norms dictate the path they choose to take, as they rebel against such form of control. The character of Maldoror in the book “Maldoror & the Complete Works of the Comte De Lautreamont” is an example of a person who will not be held down by the conventionalism of the society. The price of being different in a conventional society Introduction The presence of modes of conduct, acceptable behavior, and adherence to societal norms are what hold the foundation of a functional society. As such, people are expected to act in accordance with these norms meaning that those who act differently are considered “abnormal” and are thus rejected by the society. Accordingly, these rejects usually undergo various stages of trying to cope with the challenges of being different. Taking cues from the life of Maldoror, rejected people a first try to fit in the society by pretending to be “normal”. However, with time, pretending to be normal becomes a burden, and the rejects begin to embrace their nature. At this stage, the rejects are hoping that the society will at least try to understand them and accept them as different from the rest. When the society fails to accept these individuals, they start engaging in acts of rebellion as a way of seeking attention. When this attention is not forthcoming, the rejected individuals often give up and may end up committing suicide. Pretense Living in a society where there are laid-down rules for acceptable behavior, being different and craving to go against the norm can be quiet challenging. The challenge comes from the fact that one is at first afraid of being different and being rejected by society and thus ends up hiding their true self and trying to act normal. In such a situation, the individual pretends to be “normal” and happy while in truth they feel caged and wronged. However, this pretense does not go on forever since the pretender reaches a point where their inner being cannot be caged anymore, and they start showing their true character to the wider society. For example, Lautreamont writes of how Maldoror had spent most of his life trying to fit in a society which was characterized by people clearly different from him (29). However, with time, Maldoror was unable to conceal his true character and decided to fully embrace his true self. Maldoror is described as an evil criminal who derives pleasure from causing pain to other people and that the only thing that holds him back from hurting others is the justice system which would punish him (ibid). For example, he would love to hack the cheeks of a child with a razor, or let his fingernails grow for two weeks so that he can use them to draw blood from the chest of baby boy (Lautreamont 31). Seeking acceptance The feeling of rejection, not by one person but by an entire society, is bound to make an individual feel lonely and unworthy. Accordingly, such a person is always in search of acceptance. Such people sit and dream of a place where they are fully accepted and are happy with other people who are of their kind. However, these dreams never come true, and the rejects find themselves stuck in the same society where they are judged harshly and rejected. For example, Lautreamont writes about how Maldoror sought acceptance from other people when he was young, by speaking his mind, yet no one understood him and when he persisted he was called arrogant (226). Lautreamont also writes about how Maldoror dreams of being in a place where everything has changed, and everyone is just like him and for once in his life he is happy (75). However, Maldoror is warned against waking up because the illusion of happiness will disappear, and he will wake up to the reality which is the judgmental society he lives in. Acts of rebellion When the society sets the rules for acceptable behavior and rejects those who do not act accordingly, the latter are sometimes forced to rebel. After trying to act “normal” and feeling suffocated by the pretense and trying so hard to seek acceptance to no avail, those people are forced to stop trying to please the society and start rebelling. Rebellion, in most cases, is a form of attention seeking in which the rebellious person wants to be noticed by others. In this case, the rebellious person engages in activities that are bound to elicit controversy from more conventional people. Acts of such controversy make the rebellious individual feel worthy as people take notice of their actions and start discussing them. Lautreamont gives the example of how Maldoror decided to rebel against all the rules set by his society and engage in controversial acts. According to Lautreamont, at one time, Maldoror goes to the ocean and finds people enjoying swimming but instead of allowing them to continue having fun; Maldoror shoots them and later has sex with a whale (151). It is dumbfounding that Maldoror chooses to engage in acts that are not only considered illegal but are also bound to shake the very foundation of human morality. The problem with rebellious acts is that instead of getting people to understand the rebellious individual, these acts only serve to alienate the person from the society even more. Giving up Societal outcasts are often rebellious people who refuse to conform to societal expectations and go around doing what others perceive as unacceptable. When these people engage in rebellious acts, it is usually a cry for attention from the conventional society. Sometimes, such people get the attention they need but often times, the more the rejects cry for attention, the more they get rejected. Lautreamont writes about a young man who has had enough being an outcast and seeking attention that he finally commits suicide (100). The irony here is that the young man commits suicide because he cannot get the attention he wants yet when he commits suicide; there is a group of people pushing each other to view his body. The young man elicits a lot of emotions from people including pity and admiration from the very society he had been trying to get these kinds of emotions from when he was alive. The situation described by Lautreamont shows how hypocritical the society is, considering that people are only capable of showing any kind of emotion apart from rejection to such people only after the latter are dead. In an alternate view of the reaction by the people viewing the body before it is taken to the morgue, it is clear that there are people in society who would want to be like the young man but do not have the guts to do so. Otherwise, why would the onlookers admire the young man? It could also be that they admire the young man’s courage in deciding to seek refuge in death rather than continue to suffer in an extremely judgmental society. The implication here is that a lot of people feel trapped by the societal norms they are forced to ascribe to, only that they do not have the courage to fight back through rebellion or escape it through death. Work cited Lautreamont, Comte De. Maldoror & the Complete Works of the Comte De Lautreamont. Trans. Alexis Lautreamont. New York: Exact Change, 1994. Print. Read More