Analysis of European Identities - Assignment Example

European Identities Before beginning with the analysis, I would like to give proper acknowledgement to Virginia Woolf, who was probably the human who set a proper standard to novel writing. Mrs. Woolf was the woman who chose to stray from the usual road of novel writing. Back during the time of outrageous plots and extremely well explained characters, she chose to deviate. Her literary form conveyed inner life itself. Instead of sticking to the one-man-view-all method of writing, she chose a style that traveled from character to character, each character giving a monologue at some point, all of them expressing their views on a single, important center. The actual character of her . . . characters unfolds through the natural ebb and flow of natural feelings, emotions and thoughts. This makes the inner lives of human beings and our usual experiences seem extraordinary. So, proper regards given, we proceed to an important though abstract idea… Identity. To an individual, the importance of this abstract term is relatively large. One cannot function without identity; this is made quite clear by Mrs. Woolf in her brief anecdote on the amnesiac Toronto man. An individual lacking identity is bordering on the precipice of societal non-exsistence. We rely heavily on identity for we are social animals. Everyone must be labeled with a status, given his niche, sorted into the chaotic hierarchy. If one loses identity, the society casts you out, repulsed by how unclassified you are. Humans unconsciously draw to those who are the same, and are natural neophobes. This odd mentality may be traced down to the primordial instincts of our ancestors. They kept this sort of ideology as a kind of survival mechanism. We refuse to take in those who are unidentified for the same reason children refuse to eat bitter-tasting vegetables. Why would human nature reject change? Maybe we can evolve no further, and are using our instincts to flush out unwanted mutants, deviators, and the like. Or maybe the human brain itself is controlling our actions, asserting its dominance. It has done well enough in the past, providing us with strange new technologies that we seem to accept without any suspicion. Perhaps the human mind is trying to take control of evolution itself? Whatever it may be trying, one thing remains certain. The human mind, minds per se, function as one collective mind, as embodied by the things called societies. Now, what if we were to take a society, a society with a firmly planted identity. A society with rock-solid beliefs, cultures and principles. Now, we take that ideal society, and we send it through Hell. We do something to mess up that society real bad. We bomb it until nothing remains of their monuments; we torch their land until no indigenous species remains uncooked. We seek and destroy all forms of that society’s literature, and then we blast it to oblivion. We find whatever that society worships, and we desecrate it until recognition is no longer possible. We taunt their beliefs until they are so ashamed of them they choose to erase them from memory. We take their greatest minds, leaders, speakers, and anybody who is anybody in that society, and we starve them to death. We implement regulations that will ultimately lead to the death of the elderly, so that no one shall be left to pass down the knowledge of their heritage. We break their frail niches apart, causing distrust within the citizens themselves, furthering their delectable sense of confusion and loss. We destroy all that is left of their very pride afterwards, through means that I no longer care to think on. Now if all this is done correctly we should get a society that really doesn’t seem like much of a society. The people should have looks of sheer hopelessness on their faces, no room for hope, love, or even fear. The terrain should be gray and barren, plants should possess no leaves, and the temperature should be near or below freezing. There should be a nice helping of Pestilence, and a pinch of Famine as well. Heck, throw in the horseman Death to make things a bit more interesting. War not required. He was part of the preparation. The atmosphere should reek…no… ooze desolation. The people should all feel like Mr. Toronto Amnesiac: mugged, used, and left for dead. So, I shall say that this country has lost something. I would invite the reader to take a casual guess. Please, ignore the obvious losses of life, dignity, shelter, health, food, home, religion, principles, beliefs, culture… These are all part of what was lost, as a whole. Well the lost thing is Identity, of course. Any decent reader would have guessed that. He probably would have also cursed my unwanted antipathy. Sorry. Anyway, we may assume that if we blow up the idea of singular identity, no, no… if we fit it to a smaller scale, we would successfully illustrate the standing of our beloved society. Let’s say there are only eleven people in a town. Let’s make the town an old western one. Let’s say you walk in, dressed like a clown, with absolutely no identity. And the only words you can speak make no sense to them, insult them even. What would happen? Well whatever you guess, that’ll happen to our test society as well. Assuming that your guess was intelligent, of course. You might be outcast, you might be made fun of, or you might get yourself into a tussle with the locals. They might even take you in, only to turn you into a spectacle from which they could make some money. Of course, there is a slim chance that they would accept you as their own and let you live there. A very slim chance. All those assumptions may be done to our experimental society, though in a larger scale. So, after that discourse, I have led you, beloved reader, to one of my conclusions on national identity: It is essential for acceptance into the worldwide community. And now you know. Yes, I have formulated some conclusions and shall discuss them each in detail. But I shall do so subtly, in such a way that it shall not be noticed. Hopefully. Anyway, the story of our guinea pig society is in congruence with the story of The Holocaust. Every single malefic act I enumerated was purposely done to Jews throughout Europe, though the bombings and torching were minor exaggerations. This extreme movement was led by everybody’s favorite Hungary-Austrian, Adolf Hitler. Now Hitler hated Jews. With a vengeance. Similar to the hatred harbored by dwarves to elves, if you want a decent enough analogy. He blamed the Jews for the German defeat in World War I, where he was in a small Bavarian platoon. Hitler was awarded many medals of bravery, though he never seemed to be promoted past the rank of first private. His officials probably assumed that Private Hitler’s loner mentality would be more suited do dangerous recon jobs and would be more of a liability if given a position in command of many individuals. When the Germans lost, Hitler was healing in a hospital bed, temporarily blinded by mustard gas. Upon gaining knowledge of his beloved country’s loss, he started into the extremes of anti-Semitism. He vowed to enter politics and personally rid the world of the Jewish threat. Maybe that mustard gas got into his brain. Well, I do not need to expound all the trivialities of Hitler’s rise to ultimate supremacy, to furher-ness. There were a lot of politics, obviously, and I find politics an odd topic for this essay. So straight to the Holocaust we go. The Holocaust was probably the most successful genocide attempt in recent history, rivaling the Lord’s command to obliterate the Amalekites. That’s somewhere in Deutoronomy, if you’re curious. Jews were slaughtered in there thousands, and I do not use slaughter simply because the word sounds good. They were literally lined up like animals to be killed. The Nazis fed on the 19th century belief that humanity was divided into “higher” and “lower” races. Jews were among the mongrel races, and posed a threat to the “purity” of the “higher” races. Nazis enforced this belief with their shiny containment camps, which boasted the most new fangled chambers ever to hit the German market. Jews were forced to work, then subjected to the choking gases of the chambers. The manual labor is really just that dignity-crushing stuff I was talking about earlier. Jews were not the only minorities subjected to the containment camps. Gypsies were not spared from the wrath of the Nazi regime. Homosexuals suffered as well. The handicapped, both mentally and physically, were spared no mercy. Such was the conviction of Hitler to a nationality that was not even his. Yes, the mind is an odd, odd thing. If we look back on the life of Hitler, we can see that it was all really just a search for, of all things, identity. Young Adolf had problems with acceptance, as most youth do. But his natural persona really had nothing to do with the commonplace. His overactive emotions led to the things he did, his young mind unchecked and unguided when it was most vulnerable to influence. If Hitler had a better upbringing, he would have probably turned into one of Europe’s finest leaders. But all of Hitler’s soul seeking paid of in some way. The man has become one of the world’s greatest icons, even if the negative ramifications all but scream at your face. Hitler is in league with a handful of men, all of whom have similar aspects. They get what they want, and everybody knows who they are. An example is Nikola Tesla. This individual was quite eccentric, and everybody knew him for it. Nikola did what he wanted. Period. He may have looked weird in doing so, but his exploits were still brilliant. The law never stood in his way, for his methods made his work seem harmless. Though there was a time that he caused a small earthquake that destroyed the foundations of a construction site. Another individual is Bill Gates. The man probably made a deal with the devil to get all that wealth, but hey. You’ve still got to admire his guts. He showed no fear in entering cutthroat competition, and has proved himself quite worthy of his current status. He is also quite the personality. Your textbook nerd, the man displays his unique idiosyncrasy in his own fashion. These men prove something with their identities. Their lust for power has led them to great heights, yet without their reputations and unique characters they would be nowhere. So I come to my second conclusion on identity. Identity is required if you want to succeed. So what happened to the Jews? Well good ole’ Uncle Sam helped them out by killing Nazis. Nothing like the great American Dream of killing commie scum, eh? That is what America’s identity is. The worldwide police that nobody really wants. Well, America did a great job on Germany. Honest. The Germans were liberated, though it took quite a while. They even went and united themselves as one Germany. The breaking of the Berlin wall was really quite emotional, wasn’t it? The Germans were really never quite the same afterwards. Not just the Germans actually, but every other country affected by the Holocaust. But the effect on the others were none near as adverse when compared to that of Germany. Maybe the trauma was due to the militarization, the government’s coldness, or simply the guilt. Whatever it may be, Germany was the country to lose its sense of identity back then. The horrific acts of Hitler brought the country shame, and the brutal “sterilization” of Germany’s populace brought raw physical and emotional tribulations to the people. They became confused, the Germany they loved no longer existed, and the Germany they were left with was a machine of destruction. They had to form a new culture around the remains of their former country. The people were apprehensive of anything that they produced, anything they did only served to remind them of their violent past. Progress was slow. This is what our experimental society would have gone through after the rigors of destruction. The attempt to renew oneself is unstoppable. It is human nature to persevere. Our society would pass many stages before reaching an economic and mental stability. First would come the realization. Realizations of both their new freedom and the Hell that they had gone through. They populace is most emotional at this point, mostly doing nothing but licking their wounds and reflecting. The realization stage does not last long, for the natural instinct to survive kicks in quickly. Next come the scouring stage. The populace scavenges whatever is left of their once proud utopia, in order to find the basic needs for survival. This stage involves very few conflicts between the individual members of society, for they all share a common goal and work at it with all their worth. When the stockpiled resources reach a level of stability, the society enters the production phase. They begin to function once more as a society, though they lack the usual cultures a society displays. Hope may once again come in abundance, but it rarely does. The stage that comes next is most crucial for the society’s cultural future. The next stage may me the denial of all things that happened before, the complete erasure of whatever memories remain about those ancient times. That, or the society may choose to look back and learn. They may choose to take lessons from their previous mistakes, and apply it to their newfound lives. So it’s a choice of a fresh start, painless yet difficult, Or a simple recovery, the safer choice but definitely the most painful. Whatever they pick, this will inevitably lead to the construction of an entirely new identity for the society. One built on the mistakes of the past, built on the learnt lessons and painful experiences. So there you have it. My third and last conclusion. Society may lose identity, but identity can always be regained, just as long as the society desires it. When we look at Germany, we see a country that wanted to take the route of denial, but was pushed in the direction of recovery. Her people wanted never to be reminded of the past, but they felt it was necessary for the future. Hey, Hitler may have not been very nice, but he was still brilliant. So the people condoned references to the past, poems, stories, narratives, even novels. The poem by Celan is one such example. His blatant reference to the sufferings and injustices towards his people is quite frightening. The man screams out his frustrations in a manner most subtle, believe it or not. The lines of his poem have become legend lore in his homeland. He refers to the old Germany as the bringer of doom, well not exactly, but close enough. Bernhard Schlink is another example of such an artist. His novel “The Reader” portrays the unearthing of his country’s past. The moral implications of the story are directed towards those who choose to forget, and remind them that their past will always haunt them. His hesitance in the writing of the book is understandable. He was one of the first authors to try and write about Germany’s past, and he had a right to be nervous. His fear that his intention should be misunderstood is justified, his people were quite suspicious and wary at that time. He had a right to be afraid. His novel probably embodies the current identity of Germany today. The young boy is Germany, being influenced by the older pretty woman. America in other words. Germany was like a new country once the war ended. They hung onto the guidance of America, though they quickly let go anyway. So this is how I see it. Identity is of paramount importance, note my adjective usage: PARAMOUNT. It is what we subconsciously seek when we judge, the thing that makes an immediate influence, the hidden factor when it comes to partiality. Identity is what we all seek actively, as individuals and as societies. Identity defines our humanity, makes us one with our peers and companions. The identity of our nation is what makes our entire social world function, for if no identities were assigned, the endless non-chalance would be the end of us all. Perhaps that is the true purpose of Identity, in all its forms. My parting words. Identity can make us, it is that powerful. But you must remember that only you can form your identity. Only you can make your place on this pathetic little speck of inimitability called Earth. Read More