Logic in Thinking - Case Study Example

Cyclical Rationality The meaning of the word ‘rational’ is different fluctuates depending upon who is providing the definition. At the beginning of the modern age, this was a major point of confusion and investigation as the world’s focus shifted to the power of the cities and technology as a benchmark for progress and advanced thinking. Traditionally, the term rational is defined as using reason or logic in thinking out a problem. In many fields, it was thought that a concentration on the rational as it appears in this definition was the only means by which truth, the ultimate pursuit, could be discerned. It meant a focus on what was here and now, what could be physically seen and deciphered, what was the true nature of relationships between people. This was contrasted against the irrational, which also suffers from a fuzziness of definition. ‘Irrational’ means the opposite of rational, which would mean it is not based on logical reasoning. Thus, anyone unwilling to focus on the truth as it could be defined in real, rational terms was considered irrational. This included such flights of fancy as believing in the supernatural, such as ghosts, as well as focusing on the superficial at the expense of the real. In the extreme gender divisions of the age, the terms rational and irrational were also often used to distinguish between the male mind (rational) and the female mind (irrational). Within this early modern period, two female writers, Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf, attempted to show that the differences between rational and irrational were not so easily defined or separated. In her short story “The Garden Party”, Mansfield attempts to illustrate through her character Laura how the irrational superficiality of her family gives rise to the rationality of the character in correctly assessing their interrelationships with others in their community based upon the irrational feelings and impressions she gains during the day. Virginia Woolf attempts to blend elements of irrationality with elements of rationality to reveal a deeper truth within her very short story “Haunted House.” In both cases, the reader is presented with the impression that both rationality and irrationality are required in conjunction with each other as a means of reaching the fundamental truths of human existence. In “The Garden Party”, the main character Laura is seen as she helps her mother and sisters get ready for a garden party the family is throwing. In reality, it is Laura who prepares the house and grounds for the party while her mother and sisters involve themselves completely in making themselves appear pretty. Laura’s mother tells her, “I’m determined to leave everything to you children this year” (Mansfield 59). Irrationality enters the story as the older females of the household seem to place a great deal of importance upon the success of the party to the family honor, yet no one is willing to sacrifice their own individual preparations in favor of ensuring party details have been appropriately dealt with. “Meg could not possibly go and supervise the men. She had washed her hair before breakfast, and she sat drinking her coffee in a green turban, with a dark wet curl stamped on each cheek. Jose, the butterfly, always came down in a silk petticoat and a kimono jacket” (Mansfield 59-60). The frivolity of the event is further highlighted by the specific reference to a marquee that must be erected somewhere on the grounds even though there doesn’t seem to be any logical place for it and the arrival of so many flowers that there isn’t truly space for them all. Although there is never any real reason, and certainly no specific special occasion, given for the importance of holding the party on this date, the irrational content emerges with the death of the young carter just down the hill and the family’s abstinent refusal to even soberly consider the possibility of canceling the party out of respect for the dead. When Laura interacts with the workmen, she begins to discern the way in which the irrational can reveal the rational. While her family does everything they can to ignore those they consider somehow beneath them, Laura directly interacts with the workmen, noticing in the process how these rough men struggle to try to make her feel more comfortable with an unfamiliar position. When one man entertains an irrational urge to take a moment to appreciate the scent of recently crushed lavender, Laura makes the rational realization that this lower class man was actually just as much a person as she was herself. “It’s all the fault, she decided, as the tall fellow drew something on the back of an envelope, something that was to be looped up or left to hang, of these absurd class distinctions. Well, for her part, she didn’t feel them” (Mansfield 62-63). The realization she has with the workman and the marquee drives her to the rational understanding of how another family might feel at hearing such a gay party just next door while they are mourning the sudden loss of a loved and much-needed young father. She pleads with her mother to cancel the party, telling her, “But we can’t possibly have a garden-party with a man dead just outside the front gate … And just think of what the band would sound like to that poor woman” (Mansfield 71-72). To her family, Laura’s request is irrational because the man did not die on their property and wasn’t of sufficient class to attract notice by their own friends. Laura’s rational response to the tragedy of her community is based upon the irrational emotional responses she has observed in others and the connections she’s made to her own irrational impulses. She has used rational thinking to come to her conclusions, illustrated throughout the story as her thoughts are conveyed, but her evidence is irrational in nature. Her response to the news of the carter’s death is rational based upon the conclusions she’s already reached, but this way of thinking is considered strange and irrational by her family, who has not gained the insight Laura has gained. There is one final scene in which the circle of rationality is completed. Laura’s mother, rationally considering that a poor young mother suddenly and very recently widowed with small children will have need of food and rationalizing that lilies such as those used at her party are often also used in funerals, believes she is acting in kindness when she sends Laura down to the house with the leftover party food and flowers. Laura’s recent realizations regarding the humanity of her neighbors enables her to see the truth of the matter, though, and the irrational but very real emotions that this family must be experiencing, particularly as she is sent down in her party dress after the widow has spent the most agonizing afternoon of her life while listening to the rich people laugh and play just next door. Woolf introduces a sense of suspense within the very title of her story in its suggestion that she is about to present the sort of gothic horror story that was popular at that time. This idea is reinforced as the story begins with “Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure a ghostly couple” (Woolf). Thus, the story begins in the irrational with the introduction of the implausibility of the existence of ghosts wandering through a house in the middle of the night. It is unusual among ghost stories both because there are two ghosts rather than one and that these ghosts travel ‘hand in hand’ rather than in some sort of opposition to each other. That these ghosts are seeking something is also made clear as they are heard speaking with each other, “’Here we left it,’ she said. And he added, ‘Oh, but here, too!’” (Woolf). The rational mind suggests that these ghosts are seeking some sort of treasure that was left behind, but this is in itself an irrational act as ghosts, being incorporeal beings, should have no need of any type of treasure they might have left in the old house. Before the reader’s mind can deal with this inconsistency, the ghosts are making another statement that seems out of place. Rather than attempting to disturb the peace of the living, as it seems most ghosts in this era had a tendency to do, these ghosts remain concerned about not bothering the new tenants of the house, “Quietly … or we shall wake them” (Woolf). As these tenants attempt to discover what the nature of the treasure might be, their rational minds drift into the realm of the irrational as well, attempting to find the ghostly couple’s treasure in the reflected light of the apple orchard, the shadow of a passing bird or the last gleam of sunlight prior to setting. And through it all, there remains an emphasis that the haunted house provides a sense of safety and security completely out of keeping with the ideas readers would have had regarding what should be found in a haunted house, continuing to confuse the rational while emphasizing the irrational and immaterial elements. The suspension of rational foundation within her story keeps Woolf’s readers in a state of mind that is ready for the conclusion by the time it is reached. Although they have been preconditioned to think of a haunted house as something irrational as something that cannot exist, yet love to read about the possibilities of the paranormal anyway, the readers have already discovered through a rational processing of the information provided that the ghosts are seeking some sort of treasure that is probably not something material. They are also not dangerous ghosts out to disturb the peace of the living but are instead anxious to know that their treasure has not been lost to the ages as they themselves have been. The rational mind continues to attempt to reject the ideas and activities that are occurring within the story, but cannot quite reject them altogether for a variety of reasons, the greatest being that each objection is met with a rational explanation – i.e. ghosts have no need of material treasures, but they are not seeking a material treasure. As the ghosts continue their search, they come ever closer to the living couple, allowing the rational mind to realize that the treasure might be something this living couple has already found somehow. Only as the ghostly couple continues talking, drawing nearer and finally looking upon the faces of the couple in the bed does the object of their search become clear. He mentions that despite her having died long before him, she still managed to find him. She seems to indicate this was easy as she found him “Here … sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing, rolling apples in the loft. Here we left our treasure­” (Woolf). Through the irrational progress of the ghosts and their strange behaviors, the living tenant wakes up with the rational realization of the true treasure of life – the light in the heart, the joy that two people can experience in each other – as the truth that lives beyond death and thus surpasses definitions of rationality or irrationality and simply is. In both Virginia Woolf’s “Haunted House” and Katherine Mansfield’s “Garden Party”, the authors emphasize the importance of both rational and irrational thought in achieving an understanding of the ultimate or fundamental truths of the human condition. Approaching life from only one or the other perspective typically meant blinding oneself to an entire part of life that was intrinsic to understanding, such as is shown in Mansfield’s story in the characters of Laura’s family. Allowing both the rational and the irrational to inform the intellect and senses enables a much deeper appreciation and understanding that ultimately fulfills to a much greater degree than the superficial elements suggested in the party decorations of Mansfield’s story or the imagined treasure chest of Woolf’s. Works Cited Mansfield, Katherine. (1922). “The Garden Party.” The Garden Party and Other Stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Woolf, Virginia. (1921). “Haunted House.” Monday or Tuesday. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. Read More