Introduction
The main objective of the current paper is to reflect on the idea that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The context of this quote has to be viewed through the prism of various behaviors that could contribute to the appalling treatment of numerous individuals who were not in line with how those in power viewed their actions. In order to explain the idea behind power and its ultimate impact on individuals, the works of Tim O’Brien and Fyodor Dostoevsky will be analyzed to outline several important subtopics that hint at why people have a tendency to appeal to power even though they know that it possesses the ability to corrupt the human mind.
The following subsections are going to explain why power is a rather questionable concept that cannot be viewed as anything but a gray moral. As for the latter, one’s ethical principles can be defined as a bridge between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, and the notion of self-reflection will be reviewed as well. With this essay, the author intends to uncover the key ideas contained in Tim O’Brien’s and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s works while linking all of them to the hypothesis that power is the main source of corruption due to the delusional nature of human behaviors.
Perception of Authority in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
First of all, it has to be noted how Tim O’Brien addresses power while highlighting the general futility of war and its consequences. The characters are displayed by O’Brien as not even realizing the objectives they have to accomplish while engaging in particular missions that presuppose human deaths. Accordingly, none of the fundamental changes introduced by the characters are understood to the fullest, which means that the conflict is majorly artificial. This lack of awareness, paired with the impulsivity of Lt. Cross, leads to an air support bombing which results in numerous villagers dying under fire (Foust Vinson 151). Therefore, authority overruns common sense because people are corrupted by power and the ability to behave in a way they would never act outside of war. The latter can be considered a source of power because a person can easily become a killer without any particular consequences except for an innocent human dying over an uncertain conflict.
This is why O’Brien focuses on the idea that war actions tend to lead to nothing at all. There is no actual rationale for the authority that is given to each of the persons who has the right to kill other people without being held responsible for it. This is the key to understanding why one of the soldiers decided to shoot himself in the foot in order to go home and have nothing to do with a pointless war (Vernon 204). No one is judging those who choose to withdraw because there is nothing to prove within an environment where social acceptance does not play any kind of role. The proximity of death becomes stronger than any kind of authority, as many begin feeling shame for encountering their fears when being far from home. Hence, all the confusion and indefinite leadership make it irrelevant to look at power as a motivating phenomenon helping people to advance.
The Power of Death in Tim O’Brien’s The Lives of the Dead
To extend the discussion on The Things They Carried, it is crucial to link the devastating influence of power to how numerous people died because of a useless war. The vision applied by O’Brien in this story allows the readers to look at the whole situation through the prism of dreams and made-up stories that move the author forward. In the face of death, O’Brien recognizes the importance of saving the most important moments in order not to let anyone remain forgotten (Mahini et al. 1286). When looking in the mirror, the narrator dwells on how he has changed over the time spent during the exposure to war and all of its mishaps. Even so, he realizes that his essence is still untouched, and he does not need any power to remain a decent human being. Despite all the challenges, he focuses on how to make people immortal even if they do not have access to extensive power.
Accordingly, O’Brien shares all of his recollections in order to ensure that he gets the point across without spending too much time explaining why “death sucks” (O’Brien 156). The inevitability of death is one of the core ideas entrenched in The Lives of the Dead because it is crucial for the author to depict all the violence and horror that accompany war, regardless of whether it was started for a valid reason. There is no such amount of power to contribute to the rationalization of the use of power when addressing individual concerns through the interface of war-related activities. This is the main reason why O’Brien concludes the story by explaining that by remembering people, we keep them alive for an indefinite period. This is the true definition of power that has to be exercised in order for people to live better. Otherwise, death and its derivatives will never be conquered.
Tim O’Brien’s The Man I Killed as a Self-Reflection
In this particular story, the topic of the inability to avoid death is disclosed from a different angle, as O’Brien fantasizes about the man he killed and the characteristics that they could share. This is both a consolation and torture because the author relates to the killed person but at the same time realizes that they are completely dissimilar. The uncertainty of human mortality makes it safe to say that O’Brien begins to question patriotic motifs and the need for war (O’Brien 79). It is an important context because it shows how soldiers do not have the power possessed by those sitting in their offices and giving out orders. Regardless of whether he is in his own or the Vietnamese soldier’s shoes, the necessity to think about the injustices of war makes O’Brien sick.
The ambiguity of war is a danger to humility because all soldiers can easily identify with one another, especially when there is no significant rationale to kill people who do not even realize the need to go to war in the first place. This idea follows O’Brien throughout The Man I Killed because he ponders upon the complexity of the relationship between beauty and slaughter (Herzog 49). The contrasting images of life and death make the author think about how human existence is majorly ironic, where even one’s demise can still be good-looking. Accordingly, all the observations O’Brien makes serve to highlight the beauty of life that is destroyed by war and its rigidity.
Meaninglessness in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
The ultimate idea that has to be covered when discussing the importance of power is that meaninglessness turns authority into the only instrument intended to make that person motivated. In other words, powerless humans cannot be expected to do something of high value because they simply do not have the energy to look into the future and keep going. This is why Dostoevsky mentions that “a whole candle burns down overnight” (3). This is a metaphor that hints at how one’s life can become much shorter without purpose or at least a sense of hope. Therefore, when the main character of the story gets the opportunity to change something while having the right and the power to do so, he goes all in despite the dangers of becoming a victim of his own desires. Due to an incorrect interpretation of his surroundings, the main character’s subconscious became the only opportunity for him to understand why love and kindness represent the biggest value and stand superior to the power of any kind.
It is a rather dangerous scenario for a person understanding their meaninglessness to gain access to an incredible source of power. Hence, cruelty and unkindness are portrayed by Dostoevsky as some of the fundamental values forcing an insignificant person to behave sporadically, with no line-up against societal expectations and ethical norms. This is why the main character asks the following: “why am I unable to love them without hating them?” (Dostoevsky 8). There is a huge gap between his meaninglessness and the people whose power revolves around the ability to love and maintain a huge family without being corrupted by anything. As soon as the main character wakes up, he no longer needs to answer the question he posed to himself during the dream because he now sees the bigger picture and realizes that an outward outlook is much more important than constant introspection. The concept of love becomes an important thing to share, and the main character recognizes his mistakes from the past, giving up on the idea of obtaining power to feel happiness.
Conclusion
Within the framework of this paper, a number of Tim O’Brien’s works and one story by Fyodor Dostoevsky were analyzed in detail in order to reach a better understanding of how power affects humans and what could be the consequences of a person being corrupted by absolute power. The most important conclusion that can be made after going through all of the aforementioned literary works is that ethical behaviors are extremely rare among those having the ability to bypass societal rules and predefined expectations. Hence, the unwillingness to play by the rules shows how impulse-driven individuals who have excessive authority cannot be expected to communicate politely or curb their inherent desires.
A detailed outlook on the people having access to power makes it impossible to ignore the fact that common individuals become expendable over time. Regardless of how the norms are communicated to society, there will always be a disconnect between those in possession of power and those without it. The problems addressed in the works of Tim O’Brien and Fyodor Dostoevsky cannot be seen as superfluous because they touch upon the deception that catches up with individuals exploiting the power paradox. Therefore, it can be concluded that the majority of efforts to maintain equilibrium are going to fail due to the homogeneous contents of society.
Works Cited
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man.” 1992. Web.
Foust Vinson, Sarah. “Lives in Story: Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.” Autofiction in English. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018. 145-159.
Herzog, Tobey C. Tim O’Brien: The Things He Carries and the Stories He Tells. Routledge, 2018.
Mahini, Ramtin, et al. “Tim O’Brien’s “Bad” Vietnam War: The Things They Carried & Its Historical Perspective.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 8, no. 10, 2018, pp. 1283-1293.
O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” 1990. Web.
Vernon, Alex. “A Kinetoscope of War: The Cinematic Effects of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.” Journal of Narrative Theory, vol. 48, no. 2, 2018, pp. 194-224.