Loosened Chains:Bordo, Jacobs, & Emerson’sView of Creativity & Freedom By Amy Schimmoeller aka. BordoJen Ott aka. JacobsandErin Wahl aka. Emerson The television program fades into a commercial where a svelte, blonde women is eating a low fat dessert, the heavy footsteps of Mr. Flint echo in the dingy hallway, and a man sits in a library surrounded by students poring over books, these are the minds of three individuals which we have attempted to enter and discover more fully. Susan Bordo, Harriet Jacobs, and Ralph Waldo Emerson each have very different opinions on the meaning of freedom and creativity. In our collaborative essay, we break through the barriers of time and miraculously establish an e-mail discussion about freedom and creativity between these three individuals. Our essay contains not only records of their correspondence, but our own interpretation of what freedom and creativity meant to them.Greetings Susan & Harriet!
It was lovely to see you both at the last "Ways of Reading" convention. I'm so glad we exchanged email addresses so we can continue discussing the interesting topics we first began at the convention. Thought I'd start off the email chain and get things going since I am a man and you're only women. We men have a lot of responsibility to shoulder you know.
-Emerson
Hey "smarty pantz",
Why do all the white males on this earth think they are better than everyone? You're not, that's for sure. I've worked myself to death serving the likes of you, and I know all your little dirty secrets. Your wives don't even respect you; in fact they rule you, so why do you even bother putting women down?
HJ
Ralph and Harriet,
It is OK if I call you Ralph, correct? Or would you prefer I addressed you as Mr. Emerson, even though I don't care! I ask one question, what is this so-called responsibility that men have to shoulder? Men aren't being oppressed by a society that expects all women to weigh no more than 120 pounds. Men are allowed to actually eat, when women are only allowed to look at food to fill their hunger. What is your "intellectual" reply to this Ralph?
Susan
Harriet,
You go girl, power to us women!! We are forced to meet these ideals set by men, which in fact are unattainable. Why do we give men the power to rule over us? Why should we have give up our freedom to be? We should be allowed to binge on chocolate during our "time of the month" without feeling guilty. We should be considered beautiful even if we are a bit "fluffy." Who says we have to be Barbie beauties?
Susan
Gee, Bordo, it must be nice to have too much food to eat. In my day I was lucky to get anything at all. It didn't matter how hard I worked for my master, I still didn't get a single morsel. You want to talk about lack of freedom, I tell you about a lack of freedom. Try being harassed daily, and forced to do someone else's work because they are just too lazy to do it themselves. Wouldn't want to get our hands dirty, now would we?
HJ
Susan & Harriet,
I am sorry if I offended anyone with my comments on the inferiority of the female sex. I was just
referring to the obvious role of the man in society as the provider, the instigator, the one who "starts the commotion" if you will.
-Emerson
The white man is not a provider. His slaves are the provider.HJ
Emerson,
You are starting some commotion, commotion you are not going to be able to handle. If men are the provider, the instigator, why are women assigned the role of cooking for their families till the end of eternity, with men never even picking up a spatula? Emerson you are very cynical man, and I do not like you!
Susan
Trust me when I say I was not talking about men oppressing women's eating habits. I was talking about slavery. You know, the thing where a rich white person captures an African American and claims them as their property, and makes them do hard labor for no pay at all. Heck, they don't even feed their slaves half the time. In the eyes of a white person a slave ain't no better than a dog. I've had the privilege of learning this firsthand, while you sit there and think you are suffering because you got too much food to eat. If that's suffering I would sure like to join you.
HJ
Harriet,
I understand the situation you are coming from, and you have my complete sympathy. But, doesn't it anger you that we haven't progressed very much from the basic ideals that you lived with? Women do not have freedom to be themselves, they have to strive to be an idealistic woman that doesn't even exist. While we do have food for nourishment, women have been so
brainwashed by the media that they don't eat food that is available to them. Women are starving themselves while cooking for their families...that is the evil truth.
Susan
Susan & Harriet~
Greetings to you both! My apologies if earlier emails gave you the wrong impression of my beliefs. But the interesting turn our discussion has taken intrigues me. I wonder myself... just what is freedom? And what is the price of freedom? If freedom is the ability to rule yourself and think for yourself then how do we obtain that freedom? You have mentioned the roadblocks
of media and slavery, but can you be a slave to a human master or to the media and still be free? And if not, then HOW do you become free? Is it by some break of the bonds of your slavery, or is it somehow a personal choice? Is freedom a state of being, or a state of the mind?
-Emerson
You pose excellent questions Emerson, and I believe the answers to them are unique to every person. Freedom is being able to be yourself without fear of prosecution, persecution, or stigma. The price of freedom can be very high, but this price can be different from person to person. I agree that freedom is the ability to rule yourself and think for yourself. However, how does one come about to obtain this "freedom?" I believe that in order to be truly free one has to have the strength and courage to be different, and have enough will power to go against the norm, even if people are mocking you. Therefore, freedom is a personal choice. A rather difficult choice to make, but always a choice.Susan
What if you don't have a choice? What if you aren't free to do anything? Not free to love, or to be
loved. Not free to do anything except serve a white person who doesn't even respect or appreciate the hard work that you do. How do you become free then? HJ
One then becomes free by freeing their mind. No one has control over a person's thoughts. Therefore, one can be free in spirit, creativity, and mind. You may be a slave with no material freedoms, but you can still be free in mind. And, no one can take away your freedom to love and to be loved. They can try to prevent love from happening, but if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.
Susan
Slavery is both a state of being and a state of mind. It is impossible to separate them because they go hand in hand. Once you are put in the position of a slave, your state of mind becomes the same as that of the slave. When your master treats you like a dog, you begin to feel like a dog. When your master steals your innocence, your life, everything you have, you feel like the lowest creature on earth. When you're a slave you feel like your are nothing. How the two of
you can sit back and talk about freedom from the clutches of food, I am unable to comprehend.
Obviously, neither of you have any idea what you are talking about, and neither of you know what it is really like to be a slave.
HJ
I agree that I do not know what it is like to be a slave, but I never said I did. The comments I have
made are in regard to the fact that women are given an assigned eating role, which takes away their freedom of choice. Though I have never been a slave, I do believe one can separate a state of mind from a state of being. How else does one survive? Harriet, you are a strong and courageous person, and I believe that you have survived because you have never let your master
control your mind. One can only have control over what you let them. If you let them, your state of mind can be supervised, but the key is - if you let them. One must remain creative in thinking to prevent a catastrophe.
Susan
Susan & Harriet~
Hello again to you both! What you say about creativity and freedom of the mind is interesting Susan. I would tend to agree that your mind can be free while you are physically not, but I think there may be some exceptions. What if, taking a sort of look at Harriet's perspective, you were born and raised a slave working on your master's plantation? What if from infancy you had been taught that slavery was a good thing and that you were better off that way instead of "free"? Does this type of so-called brainwashing make any difference I wonder? Harriet, you were fortunate enough to be enslaved to a kind white owner who more or less let you know that slavery
was not necessarily a good thing. Your mother was also very intelligent and sagacious enough to let you know the way things are. But what about those children who are sold while young? The brainwashing tactics of their white oppressors would more likely take them in. Although I believe Susan's opinion that you can always be creative and free in your mind even
if you are not so in body, I don't believe that you can be TOTALLY free until you are body, soul, and mind freed from the weights of oppression and constriction.
-Emerson
You make excellent arguments Emerson, but I still believe that one's mind is always free if that is
their will. I agree that if one is born a slave and knows nothing else they may succumb to a sort of
brainwashing, but no one can take away your hopes, dreams, and prayers. Even if a person was a slave from birth there will always be other slaves to teach him or her how to be free mentally. White or black, male or female, one is always going to face adversaries and oppression. The manner in which you deal with these conflicts is what matters. No matter what you do in your life someone will always be against you, but you don't have to let them take away your creativity and
mental freedom.
Susan
Unfortunately, my master did control my mind at times. He had the ability to get inside my head and strip me of my innocence. I couldn't avoid it because when you are a slave your master has a way of corrupting your soul, and making your only hope for freedom an early death. I had hopes and dreams when I was a child, but I soon learned that they were useless. Creativity is
only useful to the free because it just makes a slave hurt even worse for what they will never have.
HJ
Susan & Harriet~
Hello to you both. I wonder if you have thought any more about my previous comments on freedom and creative thinking. I myself have been doing some more thinking on that particular subject. I believe that creativity can be achieved both in freedom and persecution, but I think that the act of becoming free actually inspires one enough that creativity will reach a new level, a new understanding and more vast perspective. Just thought I'd share this new revelation with you both.
-Emerson
Emerson I have to say I completely agree with you. I also believe creativity can be achieved no matter what the circumstances. Once one learns that they can be an individual and not just another lemming of the status quo, a realization comes into play and the creative juices begin to flow. For example: women see hundreds of advertisements each year showing thin women taking
a few bites out of a low-calorie product. However, a few women realize they don't want to live their lives in hunger, and eat whatever they want to. This is the realization I was talking about, this is creativity and freethinking at its best. When one doesn't let an outside force change their ideals, they are practicing creativity and freethinking.
Susan
Emerson I do agree with your comment about being inspired and reaching a whole new level after being freed. There is nothing in the world as great as knowing that no one owns you. God gave us all a free mind, and it is wonderful to finally be able to use that without fear. However, I still stand firm in my argument that while in the clutches of slavery, one
has a difficult time keeping a "free and creative mind." He/she might imagine what it is like to befree, and wish that they could be free, but there will always be a voice in the back of their head saying "you're nothing but a slave, and that's probably all you'll ever be."
HJ
I think Susan Bordo believes that what is takes to be free and creative depends on each individual person, and is different for everyone. Everyone in their lifetime will have to deal with various barriers and adversaries in their quest for creativity and freedom. How one handles this situation will depend on the person. One cannot be a whole person without a sense of freedom. When one is truly free in mind, body, and spirit, one can then let their imagination fly and become creative.
In “Hunger as Ideology,” Bordo writes about the way in which the media somewhat controls women’s eating habits, therefore depriving them of their freedom. Women see commercials and advertisements featuring thin, beautiful women eating low-calorie products, taking single bites out of rich desserts, and having casual, friendly, even sensuous relationships with food. In reality, women try to eat low-calorie products but give in to the real thing, eat the whole dessert rather than just a nibble, and let food be the dominating partner in the relationship. Women go to these radical extremes because they feel their freedom to have a comfortable relationship with food has been compromised by idealistic women in tempting advertisements.
I believe Bordo places much importance on freedom and creativity, but I think her definitions of freedom and creativity are more along the lines of being able to be comfortable with one’s self by not trying to meet an unnatural standard.
In her autobiography called “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, Harriet Jacobs describes the many difficulties she faced as a slave. Throughout this story Jacobs describes her longing for freedom, and the hope that others would see the wrongs that have been committed against slaves.
Jacobs often wishes that she could be free to love who she wants without fearing that they may be taken away from her. “Why does the slave ever love? Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around objects which may at any moment be wrenched away by the hand of violence?” (484). She also aches for the freedom to be loved by others without being punished for it. A carpenter who she was in love with proposed to her, but nothing would ever come of it because Dr. Flint would not allow it. “Like many a poor, simple slave before me, I trusted that some threads of joy would yet be woven into my dark destiny” (480).
In order to avoid being used by her master and in hopes of being sold, Jacobs becomes pregnant by an “eloquent” white man whom she calls Mr. Sands. In her writing she begs the reader for understanding and forgiveness. “If slavery had been abolished, I, also, could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws; and I should have been spared the painful task of confessing what I am now about to relate; but all my prospects had been blighted by slavery. I wanted to keep myself pure’ and, under the most adverse circumstances, I tried hard to preserve my self-respect; but I was struggling alone in the powerful grasp of the demon Slavery; and the monster proved too strong for me” (489). Dr. Flint, though angered, still refused to sell her, and when she had her child, she made the statement, “Death is better than slavery” (495). With this Jacobs shows the desperation and despair felt by those in the clutches of slavery.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a man of strong opinions; at least that much is evident from his essay “The American Scholar.” In this essay, one of the points Emerson discusses is how to be free and creative and how to survive complicated situations without compromising your beliefs. Emerson relates freedom and creativity to students in his essay. He mentions that students are too used to just reading books and taking the knowledge written and memorizing it when what they really need to be doing is questioning all that knowledge or finding their own truths. That is how Emerson feels we can become free. Freedom and creativity are not achieved until we can think for ourselves and use our own potential and ideas and not copy what someone else has thought of. Discoveries are made by people who are freed, who take risks and make mistakes without caring about public ridicule. Emerson seems to believe that to survive in complicated situations we need only perseverance although I think he believes that a little intelligence wouldn’t hurt either. To Emerson, freedom, creativity, and the perseverance to survive are things we cannot live without.
It is clear from our essay that these people had many different opinions on what freedom and creativity should mean. Aside from the petty bickering and off track remarks, all three agreed that freedom was definitely a necessity and that creativity blossoms with freedom. Our journey into the personas of Susan Bordo, Harriet Jacobs, and Ralph Waldo Emerson were “freeing” in many ways. We had the chance to explore and analyze the world through someone else’s eyes and go deeper into the people we were portraying. All in all, this essay was an adventure in freedom for each one of us.