Civilization and Barbarism in Modern Culture Essay

In the twentieth century, Europe became the scene of some fierce episodes of collective violence in human history. At the same time, many evident improvements in all aspects of the life of humans were achieved: human life has greatly extended, standards of living have improved dramatically; total literacy has been achieved; the rights of women and ethnic minorities are better protected. During the First World War, the Eurocentric world came to an end.

The opposition of barbarism and civilization is rather old. Good and evil have always fought, but still, none of them wins. Walter Benjamin’s fate was tragic; from his own experience, he knew what the life of a Jew in anti-Semitic Germany was like. He was one of the Marxist thinkers who managed to see the threats that scientific and industrial progress could bring. But even he failed to foresee the tragic consequences of the development of these institutions¹.

“There is no document of civilization which is not also a document of barbarism”. This phrase can be applied to many aspects of the life of the “civilized” 20^th century. Maybe it means that every document has two sides. When a document reveals civilization it merely reveals barbarism, when it reveals barbarism it hides civilization. When “civilized” Europeans came to Africa to laugh at her savagery, it just meant that they were blind and failed to notice the peculiar features of African civilization and were unable to see their own savagery.

This idea provides good food for thought; one comes to understand that the good and the bad are interrelated² and interdependent. This idea allows us to try to preserve that which is considered barbaric. We may also see that the difference between the falsely civilized and the truly savage rather is vague.

The trip of Spanish soldier Lope de Aguirre in the film The Wrath of God is rather symbolic. He was searching for legendary El Dorado, the city of gold. The film presents a vision of despair and madness. Death and destruction follow the travelers wherever they go. Eventually, the men that used to be brave and strong hallucinate and starve. The crazed Aguirre, the hero, proclaims himself the Wrath of God. The audience is then offered to think about humans’ spiritual blindness and obsessions which may descend into madness.

In our civilized world, there are some cases when children are being brought up in the wild. The Wild Child is a film directed by Francois Truffaut. A small boy was found in the forest and then taken to the new unknown civilized world. The margins between the brutal laws of wild nature and the civilized aspects of Parisian life seem to be narrow. Eventually, Victor learns to have social relations but loses the ability to exist as a savage. Doctor Itard’s diary of his communication with Victor is the most documented case of wild children in human history. Though the film is black and white, the audience is offered a whole palette of emotions.³

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is the true story about a foundling who had always been kept apart from other people. Eventually, he was left in Nurnberg city square with a prayer book and a letter in his hands. He could not even speak. But after he was taught to speak his life hardly become better. During his short life, there were several attempts to kill him; he finally died of a stab wound. The poor foundling did not harm anybody; he has just started to admire the beauty of the universe. But society tried to tame him at any cost. It shows that humans, not nature, are in trouble. Herzog tries to show that there is something special in Kaspar that should not be violated by society even if people want to civilize him or treat him as a freak or make a pet of him.

‘When Herzog sets up a conflict between nature and civilization, he tends to arrive at the realization that man is more bestial than he likes to believe. This is not as bleak as it sounds: if there are any “heroes” in his films, they are those people who risk everything in pursuit of an epiphany. The dreamers, he seems to say, are the true driving forces of any given age”. ⁴

One more victim of society’s prejudices and indifference is Gregor Samsa, the main character of The Metamorphosis by Kafka. This is the story of a person who was isolated in his own family. The story begins with the climax; the reader has to accept the fact that Gregor is a bug now. This transformation can be considered a symbolic event. It may symbolize the degradation of bourgeois society. In the most general case, this metamorphosis symbolizes the degraded nature of our modern existence.⁵

Heart of Darkness explores the inner nature of imperialism in many ways. As the main character of the book, Marlow, travels to the Inner Station, he sees awful scenes of cruelty and torture⁶

The Congo River does not become navigable until some two hundred miles from the coast, and like Marlow, the narrator of the Heart of Darkness Marlow was obliged to make this uphill journey on foot. Skeletons and corpses littered the route, and he was asked to give first aid to a boy who had been shot in the head.⁷

In the book, the hypocrisy of imperialist rhetoric is depicted. The men working for the Company say that what they do is a “trade”, and they consider their treatment of Africans as a part of the project of “civilization”. As for Kurtz, he admits the fact that he just takes ivory by force. He knows what he does is called “suppression” and “extermination”; he admits that he rules by means of violence and intimidation. This perverse honesty results in his downfall; what is more, his success means that the evil practices of Europeans in Africa will persist. ⁸

In Remembering Babylon by David Malouf the theme of oppressing Australian Aborigines by Europeans is depicted. The aborigines are humble and peaceful people who believe in magic based on the earth. According to their beliefs, the earth could give energy to those who tried to understand it. They believe in spirits that must be respected. But this complex culture was laughed at by settlers.⁹ The main character of the book is an English boy Gemmy brought up by aborigines. The book reveals how shortsighted the colonists were and how they neglected what already existed in Queensland. Gemmy manages to awaken people to what was around them.¹⁰

So we may see that irrespectively of the fact that our science is highly developed our morals have to be improved. In some ways, civilized people are still barbarians. But if we are aware of this fact, it will be easier to admit our mistakes and improve our thinking and behavior.

References

Conrad, Peter. “Keep Right on to the End of the World.” New Statesman, 1998, 25+.

Godfrey, Brian J. “Regional Depiction in Contemporary Film.” The Geographical Review 83, no. 4 (1993): 428+.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Waking Lion Press ( 2006)

Lowy, Michael. “Walter Benjamin and Marxism.” Monthly Review, 1995, 11+.

Maldonado, Nancy S., Mariann Pezzella Winick. “True to Life/Nature and Nurture.” Childhood Education 78, no. 1 (2001): 59.

Moore, Gene M. “Art of Darkness: Joseph Conrad Went to Africa in Search of Adventure. What He Found Ruined His Body but Made His Career.” Book, 2003.

Moore, Gene M., ed. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Rooney, Brigid. “Remembering Inheritance: David Malouf and the Literary Cultivation of Nation.” Journal of Australian Studies (2007): 65+

Steinberg, Michael P., ed. Walter Benjamin and the Demands of History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996.

Webber, Tom. “The Dream Weaver: Tom Webber Marvels at the Grandiose Visions of a Passionate Image-Maker.” New Statesman, 2006, 43+.

Footnotes

1. Steinberg, Michael P., ed. Walter Benjamin and the Demands of History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996.
2. Lowy, Michael. “Walter Benjamin and Marxism.” Monthly Review, 1995, 11+.
3. Godfrey, Brian J. “Regional Depiction in Contemporary Film.” The Geographical Review 83, no. 4 (1993): 428+.
4. Webber, Tom. “The Dream Weaver: Tom Webber Marvels at the Grandiose Visions of a Passionate Image-Maker.” New Statesman, 2006, 43+.
5. Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Waking Lion Press ( 2006)
6. Conrad, Peter. “Keep Right on to the End of the World.” New Statesman, 1998, 25+.
7. Moore, Gene M. “Art of Darkness: Joseph Conrad Went to Africa in Search of Adventure. What He Found Ruined His Body but Made His Career.” Book, 2003.
8. Moore, Gene M., ed. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
9. Rooney, Brigid. “Remembering Inheritance: David Malouf and the Literary Cultivation of Nation.” Journal of Australian Studies (2007): 65.
10. Maldonado, Nancy S., and Mariann Pezzella Winick. “True to Life/Nature and Nurture.” Childhood Education 78, no. 1 (2001): 59.