Molly Erlanger
EN 385D
Dr. Ellis
27 January 2015
Wendt
& Kolvenbach
Wendt
creates a society in his novel, Black
Rainbow, in which people must lay out their entire past for their
government. They must detail every bit of it for the Tribunal, and allow themselves
to be scrutinized for what is believed to be the greater good. In exchange for
their honesty, they have the potential to become an ideal citizen, allowing
them to have access to seemingly anything they could want in the world. Truth
is equated to freedom and superior in this society. However, this system seems
to present a bit of a grey area. It can be contested whether anyone can truly
know themselves if they give up ownership of their past. A person’s past
actions define the way in which they will act and perceive things in the
future. Without this responsibility and knowledge, the people of this society
become a tool of their superiors more than anything else.
The
Jesuits speak quite a bit about the idea of cura
personalis, or care for the whole person. Kolvenbach, in his piece The Service of Faith and the Promotion of
Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education, defines the mission of
teachers as “to tirelessly seek the truth and to form each student into a whole
person of solidarity who will take responsibility for the real world”
(Kolvenbach 35). In short, it is incredibly important to examine the whole self
in order to become a better man or woman for others. This is the sort of inner
and personal journey that the main character in Wendt’s novel experiences; the
real nature of his travel in the story is reflective, and his inner journey is
able to transform him.
This
is the importance of knowing and understanding a person as a whole. Not as an
idealized version of themselves, nor as only the parts of themselves that they
want to reveal. As a history minor, I study plenty of events from the past that
many people would like to forget. However, it’s important to know where
humanity as a whole came from, as well as individuals. People need to seek the
truth, in all its forms, so that we may understand why certain terrible things
happen. A reflective journey into the past can be painful for some, but it is
important to take responsibility for both the positive and negative aspects of
ourselves so that we are not doomed to repeat our mistakes. No one person can truly
be immortal or untouchable, and by facing the ugliness of human nature head-on,
we can learn to become better people for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment