Freedom in Various Aspects of Life - Essay Example

Freedom in Various Aspects of Life Freedom is an elusive concept which defines one of the foremost elements of life. While food, clothing and shelter have their own place, freedom is the force that helps one makes choices where the former three come from. Freedom is the very ability to choose to live a life filled with food, clothing and shelter. This paper describes freedom as seen from the eyes of various authors in various eras of history. The basic outline that the paper will follow is to learn about the various features of freedom as depicted in the works of the various authors featured in The Norton Anthology of English Literature. This volume consists of over 274 authors and works that offer a variety of issues for analysis ranging from freedom to democracy to the changing times and everything in between! To begin with, the paper will define freedom. From there, it will take random features that have been strongly asserted in individual works of literature from the said volume in order to meet various objectives. The first of these will be to see the changing character of freedom and what it has meant at different time periods throughout history. This volume assists the author in doing so by presenting the works of authors and writers from various periods throughout history. Another objective will be to study the parameters within which the ways of defining and obtaining freedom have been portrayed by the various authors and their work within this volume. Further, this paper will seek to draw of conclusion of how important freedom really is in context of the works that have been studied from the volume. Definition of Freedom The interesting part about defining freedom is the fact that it has no definition per se. Freedom means different things to different people as well as different periods of time and history. In modern times it has meant freedom of expression and before that, for many people and their countries, freedom from oppression, colonization and various other such factors. In today’s world it depicts the freedom to choose peace and your own leader. Freedom in a nutshell is an expression of what a person, a nation, a society and other such entities, really want from life. Freedom in Nationalism The French Revolution was an upheaval that was marked by the formal birth of what we call nationalism. This has been demonstrated by the work contained on the Romantic Period within the volume. The authors here have used a variety of themes to showcase the period including the French Revolution, Women’s Rights in the 18th century, the Gothic and many others. Spanning over a decade (1789 to 1799), this Revolution had a strong socio political dimension to it as far as writing goes. This may be seen in the work titled “Democracy” by Thomas Carlylye. In this work, the embodiment of nationalism in various revolutions arose as a matter of its ability to define the elements that would support the construction of a democratic society free of feudal patterns. This was described in context of the citizens from every quarter of the French society, who wanted to break free of the double standards that were being imposed on their way of life in the form of the Church’s intervention and the dictatorship of the aristocratic class. In the book, the revolution was an eye opener for the rest of world as regards rights and duties that must be equally distributed among the citizens of a nation irrespective of religion or socio economic standing. This in itself was a new definition of nationalism and freedom, where earlier the same concept had been seen as a word that was used to describe the national character through its history and artistic work. By virtue of being a social movement, the French Revolution contributed greatly to the formation of a systematic body of knowledge known as nationalism. This is owing to the fact that a social movement is one that is punctuated with a highly idealistic environment with realistic parameters that set the stage for immediate results and emergence of future trends that will go onto dominate the structure and functioning of that particular society for generations to come. This may be seen in the work titled “The Rights of Man” by Thomas Paine. In this work, issues like principles, revolutionary change and personal strength and a search for identity of a group of people or society, are synonymous with social movements. These issues form the very basis of nationalism. In his work, author Thomas Paine demonstrates the advantages of organising one’s plan of action as well as the course taken towards achievement of goals with concerted efforts diverted towards coordinated action. This is especially true of the rise of nationalism after the French revolution. This revolution showed Europe and the rest of the world, the ways and means in which entire societies could be organised to form an identity that would define the entire nation, and then implement the elements of this identity in their everyday lives, with the available resources like art, literature and movements. While this was the first step in a concerted action plan, the second step was to achieve a victory in order to bring the government to take a stand against racial discrimination besides serving as an example for the aristocratic class. The French Revolution showed writers and thinkers like Karl Marx to undertake a more positive, yet people intensive approach to problems facing the structuring of nations. Talking about the legitimacy of having any norms at all in social movement, Paine argues that sometimes the distinction between normative and non normative forms of expression in the course of such movements is stretched too far. This is in context of “normal” assertations of collective interest. This form of normal assertation was another element of nationalism that came out after the French Revolution. This is a thought process propounded by Virginia Wolfe in the almost fairy tale like volume titled “A room of my own”. This volume is an expression of a free world – one free of any discrimination in terms of resources and people. In his utopian ideals, the author has managed to bring out the concept of nationalism through his characters. According to the author, such sentiments are a part of the national consciousness – they simply need a sense of affiliation to make their presence felt. (Voltaire, 2005) In this way, the French Revolution managed to tap into the national conscience and bring out the common sufferings and problems that defined it national climate. There was an impetus among the people to take matters into their won hands and change this climate for the better. This was something new and it defined nationalism in a whole new light. (Levi, 1995) Age of Enlightenment and Freedom Following the “Age of Enlightenment” as it is known throughout Europe and America, the collective philosophies in these two continents were shaped during the 18th century. These philosophies were followed throughout the world with variations as were required depending on the situation at hand. The 18th century was popularly known as the Era of Enlightenment, which is also known as the Age of Reason. Accordingly, the era is marked by appeal to, and/or actual use of, the human beings’ faculty of reason or thinking. Since connected to reason is knowledge, so the Era of Enlightenment was also, in effect, rejecting the age-old held authority of institutions of the time, in particular, the Church as source of knowledge. During this period, it was the Christian Church – or more specifically, the Church of the Roman Pontiff based in Rome – that was dominant in Europe. In the work from the volume belonging to this period, it may be seen that the reality of the evil and various other such themes including feminism, are at the fore front of all social change towards defining freedom as well as ways of obtaining the same. This serves as proof that William Blake and Mary Wollstonecraft’s feet are grounded in the presentation of “All Religions are one” and “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” respectively. While both pieces of work are well-thought out and are unarguably products of high-degree intellectual exercise, they reflect the practical preoccupations of the time in their own subtle manner. Blake was even accused of being but a mere copy cat of Anthony Ashley Cowper or the philosopher Gottfried Leibnitz, whose philosophy was likewise dwelt on (and argued against) by various other poets of the time. In this regard, Blake further appropriated in his writing the metaphysical notion of order of the universe (likewise held by many scholars of his time), while Wollstonecraft’s disapproval of Manichean beliefs cannot be denied in her work. Of the two, however, Blake is decidedly the more moderate. Conclusion In conclusion, it would be imperative to point out the fact that freedom is a concept that is changing with each passing day. This is due to the fact that issues like globalization and shrinking boundaries have caught the imagination of people. Having set themselves free was merely the first step in defining and implementing freedom. The next step lies in finding ways and means of living with each other in harmony. The ways in which freedom has changed can be seen towards the beginning of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century. The very character of freedom has taken a more peaceful tone owing to the fact that there is no a focus on defining people as the country and not the country as its boundaries. With the advent of communication and information technology, there has been an increased focus on celebrating and sharing national spirit. Freedom now depicts respect for boundaries and cultures. Therefore, the spirit of freedom remains respect –whether it involves gaining or giving. The difference is in perspective. With changing times, the perspectives on nationalism have undergone a sea change in order to accommodate new schools of thought and innovations in leadership and democracy. Reference Greenblatt, Stephan (October, 2005). “The Norton Anthology of English Literature.” (8th Edition). W. W Norton. Read More