Balancing Equality and Freedom in America

The concepts of freedom and equality can never coexist ideologically, and it is ironic that the two are so closely linked through American history. Freedom entails liberty and independence, and it is based on the idea of self sovereignty. Translated into literature, freedom emphasizes the importance of the individual and self discovery. America was founded upon these very ideals, and it is uniquely American to place high priority upon maintaining this idea of individualism. Simultaneously, American political culture continues to stress the significance of equal opportunity, and its Declaration of Independence includes the infamous statement that all men were created equal. The idea of equality comes into direct conflict with that of individualism, as equality is inevitably linked to a decreasing disparity among people. Although equality protects the majority, it also shuns in a social context those who are not among the norm. Whilst freedom is based on the self, equality focuses on people as one entity. American literature tends to associate freedom with the unknown, generally representing the self in forms of untainted and pure nature. Equality is similarly linked to civilization and urbanization, and the idea is often muddied with human corruption. While any person can hypothetically learn to be free, all people are paradoxically both equal in the sense that they are human and unequal because every human being is different. Political and social equality is always an abstract concept because true equality only exists on a very basic level of universal human capacities. Thus, American equality is a man made idea, coming into direct conflict with freedom, which originates from a knowledge of one's innate being.

"It has often appeared to me, that if God should mark iniquity against me, I should appear the very worst of all mankind; of all that have been since the beginning of the world to this time: and that I should have by far the lowest place in hell. When others that have come to talk with me about their soul concerns, have expressed the sense they have had of their own wickedness, by saying that it seemed to them, that they were as bad as the devil himself; I thought their expressions seemed exceedingly faint and feeble, to represent my wickedness. I thought I should wonder, that they should content themselves with such expressions as these, if I had any reason to imagine, that their sin bore any proportion to mine."
-Jonathon Edwards, Personal Narrative (1741)

When the early colonists fled to the new world, they left not only known civilization but also much of its religious conventions. In the absence of a strictly organized church amongst the colonies, a more personal spirituality developed, and the role of nature as a conduit towards self discovery emerged. Edwards used this concept of personal interaction with God to emphasize the role of himself as an individual and not as a mere member of an entire religious community. Taking an almost melodramatic tone throughout his writing, his passionate laments are consistently extreme as he states that he is "the very worst of mankind" and that he "should have by far the lowest place in hell." While his diction in self description seems to be demeaning as he continually calls himself the most "wicked," it is almost with pride he takes the self appointed role as the very worst sinner. It is ironic how in being the very worst, he becomes the very best at something. In striving to compete against others, Edwards proves that he is straying from the path of true freedom, in which a person can only measure discoveries against his or her own self. Societal ideas of equality are based on a constant comparison amongst a group of people, and though Edwards enters into the isolation of nature alone, remnants of human civilization prevent him from wholly embracing the idea of complete individualism.

"- she felt or fancied, then, that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts. She was terror-stricken by the revelations that were thus made. What were they? Could they be other than the insidious whispers of the bad angel, who would fain have persuaded the struggling woman, as yet only half victim, that the outward guise of purity was but a lie, and that, if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynnes?" (77-78)
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne gives Hester Prynne a most depressing backdrop, and he spins her story in a time of strict adherence to convention. The Puritans of his novel are bleak, practicing the very intolerance which drove them to the new world, and Hester's scarlet letter begins to take on many forms as the only flash of color in their mundane universe. Hawthorne grants her "a new sense," and it is with this that she begins to step outside of their world of rigid equality. In becoming separate from the community, she is ironically granted more freedom as she escapes the confines of societal expectations and can thus see past its thick facade. The diction is harsh in referring to their world of contrary values, and Hawthorne calls their "outward guise of purity but a lie." This is in stark contrast to his diction towards Hester, who is described as "sympathetic" and a "victim." He makes reference to religion, the most important aspect of their life, in terms of "the bad angel" and conspicuously removes God from the context. His syntax grows increasingly complex as he questions the supposed purity of other women, and his awkward question reads almost like a definitive statement when he asks if "a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynnes." Although Hester is their literal symbol for sin, her role becomes like that of a martyr, while those who cast her into social inequality continue to hide their own sins under a semblance of moral righteousness. Human corruption is inevitable among societies and it is only after Hester is free from the community that she can become an individual.

"In all your deliberations in the Council, in your efforts in lawmaking, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not away the warnings of any others, if they should chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return the way of the Great Law, which is just and right.
Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the earth - the unborn of the future Nation." (24-25)
-Constitution of Five Nations, ed. Kent Nerburn, The Wisdom of the Native Americans

In creating their Constitution of Five Nations, the Iroquois became the first nation to adopt a written constitution, emphasizing the role of democracy, promoting free speech, free thinking, and tolerance. Numerous political components found their way into the American Constitution, although stylistically the framers lacked the eloquence embodied by the Iroquois. The original natives of America composed their own Constitution so that it reads similarly to an essay, in that it flows smoothly and has a more literary, as opposed to a strictly political, tone. Although it includes such harsh diction as casting away "self interest" into "oblivion," it transitions fluidly into a tone almost reminiscent of a story, speaking of "faces... beneath the surface of the earth." Similarly, the contrasting ideals of both equality and freedom are woven into its meaning. Equality embodies the idea of one group as opposed to one person, and its underlying tones can be evidenced in the focus away "self interest" and towards the "welfare of the whole people." Yet, when the Native Americans emphasize the "welfare of the whole people" they include in this the land, as their unborn generations are "yet beneath the surface of the earth." It is ironic how significant an impact the Natives made on both political and social American ideologies, in spite of their supposed inferiority. The Native Americans associate nature with a person's very being, and it is this concept that becomes the basis for American freedom, subtly separate from the political theories of liberty by Locke. American freedom is not synonymous to liberty or independence, but must also include the discovery of one's innate self without contamination by civilization or society. Yet, even for the Native Americans, ideas of equality were beginning to hinder a person's search for freedom, as it took away the power of an individual and gave it to a collective group.

"At length a fresh Difference arising between my Brother and me, I took upon me to assert my Freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce the new Indentures. It was not fair in me to take this Advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first Errata of my Life; But the unfairness of it weigh'd little with me, when under the Impressions of Resentment, for the Blows his Passion too often urg'd him to bestow upon me. Tho' he was otherwise not an ill-natured Man: Perhaps I was too saucy and provoking" (70)
-Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

In letters to his son, Franklin disguises his appeals for independence within his seemingly innocent account of his life. As one of the founding fathers, his emphasis on political freedom for the American people greatly impacted the formation of the nation. It was the ideal of freedom which became the basis of the American independent movement from Britain, and Franklin epitomizes these emotions. Assuming a tone of exceeding humbleness, there is a satirical element behind this allegorical image of indentured employment as he concludes that he was "perhaps... too saucy and provoking." In his self effacing reflections he manages to gain sympathy for his boyhood self, while insinuating that it is his brother who is indeed a tyrant. He claims that it was "not fair" for him to "assert [his] Freedom," thereby nudging the reader to rush to his defense, and thus defend the right of freedom. Franklin paints an image of boyish innocence suffering unduly, inevitability linked to the fledgling colonists under the rule of the English monarch. He believes that freedom is a natural state of being to which the American colonies are entitled. Although the state of inherent freedom is not synonymous with political self sovereignty, political independence is necessary within a civilization.

"Carl shook his head mournfully. 'Freedom so often means that one isn't needed anywhere. Here you are an individual, you have a background of your own, you would be missed. But off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike, we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are our mourners, and we leave nothing behind us but a frock-coat and a fiddle, or an easel, or a typewriter, or whatever tool we got our living by. All we have ever managed to do is to pay our rent, the exorbitant rent that one has to pay for a few square feet of space near the heart of things. We have no house, no place, no people of our own, we live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder.' " (62)
-Willa Cather, O Pioneers!

Manifest destiny ensured the eventual spread of the American nation from coast to coast, and Cather captures the spirit of these pioneers. Focusing on the evolution of equality, she emphasizes the growing loss of individuality in Carl. There is an extreme disparity between the wilderness in which Alexandra resides and the bustling urbanization of his city. It is ironic that the pioneers who settle these new lands are consistently immigrants, and it is these new generations to whom Cather gives the individuality which is so coveted by Americans. In short spurts, Carl recites to Alexandra essentially a list of his losing battle to equality, continually using the word "we" as he is assimilated into the growing civilization. The diction associated with this metropolitan area is bleak, and Cather incorporates words like "mournfully" and "shudder." Although Carl is "free from obligations to others with "no ties," he can never achieve a true understanding of himself as an individual as they become increasingly "all alike" in the city. Cather abandons her eloquent speech of prior chapters, and plunges into description of this newer America in bland tones. Her sentences are choppy and separated awkwardly by numerous commas, lacking variation in both syntax and diction. She scorns the settled American nation and exults in the wilderness, affirming that that much of the unknown wilderness has succumbed to civilization. Carl concludes that Americans have "no people of [their] own" and yet "look about at hundreds of [their] own kind." America has fated itself into this paradoxical situation in which it has become so obsessed with the assimilation of the masses that it has lost sight of any sort of culture into which the people should assimilate. Thus, people grow increasingly alike, but have no common bonds beyond the mundane.

"Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim." (251)
-Emily Dickinson, A Bird Came Down a Walk

While America was in the grips of a wave of industrialization, transcendentalists like Dickinson, Hawthorne, Melville and Whitman sought to protest against the general state of culture and society. Dickinson mocks the ignorance of Darwinism, exulting in the supposed superiority of nature. Unlike Edwards, who enters into the wilderness for the isolation is provides, Dickinson uses nature to exemplify both freedom and equality in their most inherent forms. She rejects man completely, insinuating always of its corrupt contamination as the bird flies from the "offered" "crumb." Omitting a foot in the third line of this stanza, she manages to give a sense of urgency in the bird's escape. It is not until the bird is free that she changes her diction to one which invokes a more fluid sense of calm, using words like "[his feathers] rowed him softer home." When the bird ascends into the air, it places itself above man, both physically and metaphorically, as the tone has changed into one of almost reverence. In the absence of corruption, the inherent states of both freedom and equality exist. The bird and the butterflies revel in their perfect flight, while manmade innovations like "oars" can never recreate the natural smoothness that is "too silver for a seam." They are free in the truest sense in that they have no obligations to a society or civilization, embodying only their natural intuitions. Inequality exists in creation, and there is no struggle to maintain a sameness between every creature. Dickinson contrasts nature's perfection to the inevitable corruption of society, arguing that true freedom can never be obtained while remaining a part of civilization.

"Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and the sun, (there are millions of suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself." (182)
-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

Like Edwards, Whitman celebrates the importance of the self and personal discovery, yet Whitman's celebration of himself is starkly different from that of Edward's pride in his lowly wickedness. While Edwards continually places himself within a social context, Whitman emphasizes the idea of complete individualism and embodies a truer sense of American freedom. His diction is forthright and his verse reads almost like a list of commands as he tells the reader to "stop this day and night," and begins each proceeding line with "you shall." He demands the self reliance of true freedom from his reader, and it is through this that the "origins of all poems" and the "good of the earth and sun" will become available. There is no history in "the eyes of the dead" nor any books from which a person can live vicariously. It is almost contradictory how he uses this commanding tone throughout his verses, but then concludes by saying that "you shall not... take things from me." Whitman subtly focuses on the irony of American political culture in that it flatly rejects forms of this authoritarian command, and yet submits so easily to the influence of others. True American freedom is not merely the instatement of a politically democratic regime, but it lies in the ability of a person to interpret the world without the contamination of other thoughts or ideas. All people are equal in the sense that each person has the ability to formulate his or her own beliefs. The "origin of all poems" is a viable prize not because every person can then find the same origin, but because each human being can find a plethora of different origins within themselves. Whitman attests that when a person discovers true freedom, equality in the manmade sense will not exist because each person will be inherently unequal.

" As for the black - whose brain, not body, had schemed and led the revolt, with the plot - his slight frame, inadequate to that which it held, had at once yielded to the superior muscular strength of his captor, in the boat. Seeing all was over, he uttered no sound, and could not be forced to. His aspect seemed to say, since I cannot do deeds, I will no speak words. Put in irons in the hold, with the rest, he was carried to Lima. During the passage, Don Benito did not visit him. Nor then, nor at any time after would he look at him. Before the tribunal, he refused. When pressed by the judges he fainted. On the testimony of the sailors alone rested the legal identity of Babo.
Some months after, dragged to the gibbet at the tail of a mule, the black met his voiceless end. The body was burned to ashes; but for many days, the head, that hive of subtlety, fixed on a pole across the Plaza looked towards St. Bartholomew's church, in whose vaults slept then, as now, the recovered bones of Aranda: and across the Rimac Bridge looked towards the monastery, on Mount Agnoia without; where, three months after being dismissed by the court, Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed follow his leader" (315)
-Herman Melville, Benito Cereno

The issue of slavery was one of the most controversial social debacles in American history, playing one of the largest roles in the corruption of American ideals of equality and even freedom. Although Babo's slave revolt implicates murder, Melville does not focus on the morality behind this uprising or even bloodshed, but rather, addresses the question of slavery itself. Enslavement continues to be one of the largest contradictions to the ideals upon which America was founded. Its underlying presence throughout history is like the Puritan's outward guise of purity, a living proof to the inevitable corruption by man. Babo's head is "fixed on a pole... look[ing] towards St. Bartholomew's church," as if it is only right that the shell of such unique intellect face one of the most controversially corrupt institutions in history. It is Babo's "mind, not body" that "schemed and led the revolt" and his intelligence juxtaposition to the simpering figure of Cereno makes clear the universal inequality of people. It is ironic though that Melville chooses to portray the superiority of human character in Babo, the slave. Melville paints a portrait of stolid strength in Babo, who "[can] not be forced to" "utter a sound," while Cereno "faint[s]" "when pressed by the judges." In placing the enslaved over his master, Melville satirizes the entire human conception of equality, and embodies the paradoxical idea that equality, or lack thereof, only exists within a political or social context. True equality in an idealistic sense is impossible as all humans are inherently unequal, and thus the concept of American equality is wholly dependent on the opinions of society. Similarly, political freedom is contingent upon decisions made by others, and is outside of the realm of true American freedom. Although Cereno is free in both a political and social context, it is Cereno who "follow[s] his leader." Although political liberty may allow for an easier path towards self discovery, Melville affirms that it does not necessarily guarantee true freedom.

"that dark corrupt and bloody time while three separate peoples had tried to adjust to one another but to the new land which they had created and inherited too and must live in for the reason that those who had lost it were no less free to quit it than those who had gained it were: - those upon whom freedom and equality had been dumped overnight and without warning or preparation or any training in how to employ it or even just endure it and who misused it not as children would nor yet because they had been so long in bondage and then so suddenly freed, but misused it as human beings always misuse freedom, so that he thought Apparently there is a wisdom beyond even that learned through suffering necessary for a man to distinguish between liberty and license" (276-277)
-William Faulkner, The Bear

Following the emancipation of slavery, the American south experienced a social upheaval as both blacks and whites were suddenly granted an immediate change to all they had ever known. Faulkner introduces the concept of a fated universe, as opposed to the manifest destiny which had driven so many earlier Americans towards the uncharted wilderness. His diction gives the passage a fatalist tone, referring to American past as a "dark corrupt and bloody time." The syntax is exceedingly complex, and his sentence goes for pages, continually branching into separate thoughts and ultimately confusing any sort of clear meaning. It is only when Faulkner leaves the untainted wilderness of the first half that his syntax goes so awry, making clear the distinction between nature and human civilization. The paradoxical land that is "created and inherited too" by the people acts almost as a ball and chain, and everyone is "no less free to quit it" than any other. Just as Melville emphasizes the fact that true freedom is not contingent upon political independence, Faulkner affirms that "human beings always misuse freedom" and that "there is a wisdom beyond even that learned through suffering necessary for a man to distinguish between liberty and license." Liberty is not synonymous to a license to do anything, but rather, a freedom from obligations to others and to the land. True freedom relies not on an ability to escape enslavement itself, but on the ability to become an individual separate from people as a whole.

"All that day and all that night there sat an awful gladness in my heart,--nay, blame me not if I see the world thus darkly through the Veil,--and my soul whispers ever to me saying, "Not dead, not dead, but escaped; not bond, but free." No bitter meanness now shall sicken his baby heart till it die a living death, no taunt shall madden his happy boyhood. Fool that I was to think or wish that this little soul should grow choked and deformed within the Veil! I might have known that yonder deep unworldly look that ever and anon floated past his eyes was peering far beyond this narrow Now. In the poise of his little curl-crowned head did there not sit all that wild pride of being which his father had hardly crushed in his own heart? For what, forsooth, shall a Negro want with pride amid the studied humiliations of fifty million fellows? Well sped, my boy, before the world had dubbed your ambition insolence, had held your ideals unattainable, and taught you to cringe and bow. Better far this nameless void that stops my life than a sea of sorrow for you." (173-174)
-W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

Like Melville, Du Bois acknowledges the disparity of intellect among all people, and consistently makes reference to this inevitable inequality. Yet, Du Bois also emphasizes the equality of human emotions, and uses this chapter in his book to invoke common senses of empathy among readers. In spite of its deeply personal content, it is so paradoxically universal, and again the tension between the lack of discrepancies between people and individualism surfaces. Du Bois takes his own loss and places it within the larger context, and in contrasting this universally tragic emotion to racism, he makes his argument in a way that relies upon this equality. His previous chapters are based on logical thought, grounded in historical and sociological ideas. Within this chapter, Du Bois has suddenly changed his style so that it reads like a story. The tone is passionate without being overtly dramatic, containing points of exclamation and the repetition of rhetorical questions. He uses phrases that focus upon himself as a person and not a scholar, saying that "[his] soul whispers ever to [him]." Drawing the reader into himself, Du Bois depends on the empathy he evokes in all humans, as opposed to the intellectual debate he may spark in the minds of some people. Although decades have passed since the political emancipation of African Americans, he emphasizes the façade of freedom and equality, referring to racism as the "bond" and placing even the death of his own son above this bitter fate. Like Faulkner, Du Bois takes a more fatalist approach, using such oxymoronic phrases as "a living death" to focus on the paradoxical nature of freedom. A person may be able to achieve the true freedom of self realization, but if stuck within the confines of a civilization he will have his "ambition [dubbed] insolence" and his "ideals [held] unattainable." Du Bois' argument is strikingly similar to that of Franklin's, and although he distinguishes between true freedom and political liberty, he also recognizes that political liberty is first necessary within a society in order to obtain real freedom.

Although America was founded upon ideals of equality and freedom, the contradictions to these original ideals were patently evident throughout much of its history. Freedom in the truest sense is an inherent state of being, and it is the existence of society that bars people from living in this state. Ideally, freedom should be mutually exclusive of political liberty, but as society binds otherwise independent beings into a network, the ability to be free becomes contingent on political liberty. Yet, it is important to note that political liberty does not guarantee freedom. Although freedom is often associated with seclusion and nature, it does not necessarily promote the idea of isolation from society. It emphasizes an escape from the influence of others, so that it becomes a land of individuals living together, as opposed to a land of one people. Equality in America is the concept that consistently comes into conflict with this idea of a collective group of separate persons. Unlike freedom, equality is not an inherent state of being, and beyond the universal capacities of all humans there exists only natural inequality. Political liberty grants an equal opportunity for all people to achieve true freedom, but it also promotes this idea of forced equality in which disparity amongst people is discouraged. With rapid increases in both political liberties and urbanization, equality in this sense flourishes, and a loss of individuality results. As the American majority become more similar and swells to greater numbers, the gap between the majority and the minority actually grows. In spite of an increased sameness among more people, there is a more distinguishable difference between the diminished minority and this new majority. Ironically enough, as political and social equality increases for the majority, the inequality between the majority and the minority increases as well, thereby shunning the individualism required for true freedom. Because equality promotes the idea of one people, it actually hinders freedom as social equality and political liberty increase. Thus, America is always stuck balancing a state of innate freedom and the manmade equality necessarily to check the corruption of society.