Impulses Of The Consciousness example essay topic

The works of Conrad Aiken are informed by his life-long dedication to the exploration of human consciousness and its evolution. As Aikens earliest writings demonstrate, these - and the two corollary issues of identity and poetry as the means of evolving consciousness - pre- occupied him from the very outset of his career. In a book entitled "Impulse", Aiken through his hero Micheal Lowes tries to determine what is right and wrong. The hero, like mediocre poets, is opposed to superior ones, "do not extend the field of our consciousness in any new direction" (Collected Criticism, p. 40).

This statement clearly implies not only impulses of the consciousness are inextricably linked to our actions, but also that the task of poetry is to extend, expand and evolve consciousness into hitherto unattained and unexplored regions of mind and thought. Micheal Lowes, in other words, is an explorer who invites readers on an inner voyage of discovery to become more conscious and, thereby, learn their true identities. Interviewed by Richard Wilbur near the end of his life, Aiken - in a display of remarkable intellectual consistency - still maintained this evolutionary vision: However, a study of Aikens short story soon runs into an odd difficulty: Aiken never explicitly defines the term "impulse". Fortunately, Aikens prefaces and, above all, he offers an excellent starting place for remedying this situation.

Even a cursory reading of his long stories makes it clear that introspection, reverie, dreams, interior monologues and soliloquies dominate the impulse of these works. In other words, almost all the actions in which the main hero involved are in deep debate with themselves, or engaged in monologues wherein the Micheal as a listener functions almost exclusively. The prefaces Aiken wrote for his story (later called Impulse) clearly reveal his implicit definition of human impulses as self-consciousness. We see that the main character is in the the process of vicarious wish fulfilment by which civilized man enriches his circumscribed life and obtains emotional balance. It is an exploration of his emotional and mental hinterland, his fairyland of impossible illusions and dreams... This remarkable story does several things.

In the first place, it clearly focuses attention on the inner, mental and emotional, life of the protagonist instead of on outward events. Indeed, from the hero itself, readers cannot know whether or not any external events ever actually take place. As well, this preface points out that moral values, societal exceptions, philosophical principals are among the methods by which the extension or evolution of consciousness may be achieved. These activities increase the mains hero self-knowledge as he learns more about the various facets of his character.

Such self-knowledge, of course, not only creates increased awareness or consciousness of ones self, but is also an integral part of discovering ones own identity. The story also makes it clear that impulse activities, play an integral part of attaining and extending consciousness. Finally, Impulse also explains the impulsive method by which Micheal Lowes plans to pursue his goals. Consciousness is inherently unstable and for this reason "the attempt has been made to release these typical impulses, or vicarious adventures, not discretely, but in flux". (p. 18).

Moods, feelings, images and thoughts all shift as Micheal, the failed juggler, explores his own mind and emotions in a desperate bid to understand where his life has gone wrong and why he feels he is such a miserable failure. The flux of consciousness naturally lends itself to the techniques Aiken employs in this as well as all of his other major stories sudden shifts of perspective, mood, thought, imagery, dreams, attitude, action and perception as well as a wide variety of poetic techniques. a variety of movement. Mood and movement, in general, have been permitted to fluctuate together...

Bibliography

1) Conrad Aiken, Collected Criticism, Oxford University Press, 1968 2) Conrad Aiken, Collected Poems, Oxford University Press, 1970 3) John Locke, Locke Selections, ed.
by Sterling P. Lamprecht, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1956.