Their Own Estrangement example essay topic

Are Human Beings Essentially Estranged? Estrangement can take on many meanings in life. The ideas of conflict, war, hatred, and disunity are all seen as forms of estrangement. (Lecture Notes) Although we know that humans can be estranged, the question is are humans essentially estranged, or is estrangement something that occurs as a result of an outside source?

According to the founder of political science, Aristotle, human beings are essentially united. Aristotle believed that humans are all part of a greater city. If a person did not belong to that city, or isolated himself from the city, they must then be some type of beast or god. (Tinder 28) George Orwell also displays how estrangement is something that is learned or forced upon a person in the book "1984".

Orwell's ideas tie together the fact that politics create many barriers that we see in society between our different social classes. St. Augustine also follows up the argument that God had no intentions of having divisions amongst his people. Therefore it can be said that, "these conditions were not attributable to the human essence". (Tinder 30) Between these three connected ideas of how estrangement is derived, there is a strong base defending the fact that humans are not essentially estranged. There are many different divisions in politics. Depending on the society at hand, these divisions can be comprised of similar economic, social, religious, or moral beliefs.

Many times those who are wealthier achieve a higher status than those who are not as economically inclined. In these cases the needs and wants of the wealthy are place before those less fortunate. When this occurs, those that are not being represented fairly begin to feel resentment towards the ruling class. Such resentment leads to a greater division amongst classes. The larger these divisions become the more room there is for people to start formulating negative opinions towards other classes. As in "1984", the character Winston questioned all the things that he felt were wrong in his society and then wondered, "Why should one feel it to be intolerable unless one had some kind of ancestral memory that thinks had once been different?" (Orwell 52) By analyzing this thought, one might see that humans truly would not feel this separation or angst towards their society if they believed it was the way that life should and had always been.

Even though Aristotle argues with the idea that humans are essentially estranged, he does however that humans are not able to attain a completely egalitarian polity. (Tinder 28) Aristotle's main argument is that we do not realize our own essence until we are in the company of other people. It is when people come together as a whole society that differences amongst peers are noticed. However these differences are not to be seen as inequalities, but more as a balance of each person's strengths and weaknesses. St. Augustine addresses the point that maybe it is humans that bring about estrangement even though they are not essentially estranged. As a strong religious figure, Augustine is able to bring to us the connections between religion and estrangement.

He believed that, "Neither God nor the human essence created by God can be blamed for this dreadful derangement", (Tinder 30). Augustine felt that it was only humans that could be blamed for their own estrangement. St. Augustine believed that humans in general were inherently bad and not because of how they were created by God. The writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau agreed with Augustine on the grounds that humans were not created evil, but he did differ in respect to how humans became these estranged beings. Rousseau felt that the reason for this estrangement was purely an accident. He argues that it was in the distant past that humans began to divide and social classes controlled how society was run.

It was the power of the few that brought about the evil and conflict ion between all humans. Reason and sensibility largely control the way that a human being acts. If you take away this reason all that is left is passions. (Lecture Notes) In the book "1984" the members of the party are stripped all of their reasoning and are left with nothing but their natural passions. When looking at the structure of the party, we see that 2% of the population is controlling all that goes on in society. This 2%, or Inner Party, has stripped the rest of society of all their rights as human beings.

They are no longer able to think for themselves or make their own decisions. They have been forced to believe what they are told and not what they feel. What they do feel is to be ignored. They are only allowed to show such passions and emotions during such times as "Two Minute Hate". This is a time where all negative feelings and thoughts are let out and then suppressed by an image of their leader, Big Brother. This brainwashes them into feeling a greater love towards their leader when truly it is just choosing a lesser of two evils.

Without the influence of the inner party, people would be left to make their own choices. They would not be forced to feel separation from many of their peers, superiors, and even inferiors. Throughout the book, Winston questions the decisions and reasoning of the inner party. It is not just his actual questions that lead to the idea that this society has forced estrangement, but it is the fact that this questioning is seen as a crime in the eyes of the rulers. Winston realizes that with so few people in the ruling class, it would be a detriment to the inner party for the lowest class to take over. In realizing that a change must occur Winston notes that, "If there is hope it lies in the proles (the lower class)".

(Orwell 60) Since the Inner party has estranged the proles it is highly unlikely that they will take any action. "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious". (Orwell 61) Such a separation amongst classes and ignorance amongst the majority can only be a result of a forced estrangement by the few in ruling power. When deciding whether or not humans are essentially estranged, many factors must be recognized. The first of these is the political aspect. When a person is born they have just as many natural given rights as the person next to them.

It is not until they are introduced into society when they are placed into some type of class or stereotype. Many times these classes are based on wealth. Through history many of our leaders are those that have been financially well off. As seen in other examples, the past lays a roadmap for the future.

Since our ancestors decided that the wealthy should be in charge, we continue to follow this belief. As Aristotle once said, "Man is a political being", (Tinder 28). This leads to the belief that if everyone should remain alone we would be unaware of our true essence. It is not until we are placed into a society of many individuals that we begin to see how we truly feel about our self and others. Although it is been found that a person can bring out the best in you, clearly we can now see that in turn a person can bring out the worst in you.