In Dusklands, J.M. Coetzee explores the concept of liberation through two different characters, each representing two different time periods, circumstances, and experiences. However, in both instances, each of the characters presents a common experience in achieving liberation: anger, aggression, and violence.
The first character of Dusklands is Eugene Dawn, a disgruntled, misunderstood research analyst for the Vietnam Project. He begins his path towards liberation by first completely dismissing his boss’s recommendations for changes to his proposal – anger for being misunderstood as, not just a writer, but a writing artist. From there, Eugene Dawn completes his plunge into liberation by kidnapping his son – aggression – and then falling completely into a psychotic state, and stabbing his son before the police could intervene; therefore, resulting to violence.
Dusklands second character has a similar experience. Jacobus Coetzee, a farmer in South Africa in the mid 1700’s, finds liberation, although more racially based, by letting go of his inhibitions to maintain his dignity as a white man over black servants. Jacobus takes his black servant men with him on a journey into the interior of South Africa to explore the natives of the region. However, through a course of humiliating events, Jacobus is deserted by his black servant men, a great dishonor and humiliation for the white colonial settler; thus resulting in great anger towards his servants. As Jacobus is left to journey home alone, he too enters a completely psychotic state and goes on a “day of bloodlust and anarchy…an assault on colonial property which filled me out once more to a man’s stature…” (99). Like Eugene Dawn, Jacobus Coetzee exacts aggression and violence against his own kind. The resulting violence, however, continues for Jacobus as he goes back to the native camp that his men chose to stay at and completely annihilates all of his men.
Liberation, as J.M. Coetzee presents it, appears to be this pattern of anger, aggression, and violence. In the case of both characters, there is a point when the anger, usually directed at a non-related kind, thus results in aggression and/ or violence against their own kind – Eugene against his son, and Jacobus against another colonial settler. Really, Coetzee is expressing liberation of passions. Both characters felt bottled up and inhibited by their circumstances, and by completely releasing themselves – letting go of all concern and all awareness – they became uninhibited and liberally able to let their passions fly.
Hollywood found similar success with this idea of liberating the passions. Watch the clip below from Enchanted, as Gisele finds liberation from her innocent, inhibited state, when she experiences anger for the first time.
Works Cited
Coetzee, J.M. Dusklands. New York: Penguin, 1974. Print
Enchanted. Dir. Kevin Lima. Perf. Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsy, James Marsden, and Susan Sarandon. Disney, 2007. DVD
I am quite fascinated by your attention to "liberation" here, especially since we conventionally think of oppressed subjects seeking liberation, whereas you seem to be inviting us to conceptualize liberation quite differently. The comparison with Princess Giselle suggests a personal "liberation," in the sense of finally allowing bottled up emotions and feelings to be let out, but in her case, I am guessing (since I haven't seen the film) the consequences aren't as devastating for others as they are in the cases of Eugene Dawn and Jacobus Coetzee. I am facinated, then, by what you see as the political meaning of the liberations you are discussing. Are you suggesting that liberation might not always be a good thing? That it depends on who is being liberated and how? Or that these characters' "liberations" comes at such great cost to others (of their "own kind," as you point out, but also of other communities) precisely because something has been pent up for much too long?
ReplyDeleteSorry it has taken so long for me to return the comment. I wanted to comment on your seuggestion that liberation is not always a good thing. I think in the case of Giselle, her libeartion of passions eventually leads to a loss of innocence. (I totally recommend the movie, by the way; it hits on every major "Disney-esque" stereo-type, but is not prentitious with its characters). I think the same is true of Eugene Dawn and Jacobus Coetzee. Once they allow their passions to start to release, they loose a level of control and ultimately committ horrible acts...thus a loss of innocence could really be seen as a loss of control.
ReplyDeleteI think, too, that Coetzee is demonstrating that all races can loose control, even those in positions of power, control, or authority. Too often - at least in Westernized society - we view the "other" as the instigator of "liberation" in terms of committing horrbile acts and loose all sense of control.