Notes

Since the beginning of civilization man has lived in society with varying degrees of success. For the most part, man has thrived and prospered when he has chosen to live peacefully among others. The conflicts among people since the days of Cain and Abel, however, demonstrate that some have had difficulty living with others. They have chosen a solitary path, and most have suffered because of their choice. Man is a social creature and is, thus, best suited to live in civilization; however, he sometimes chooses to leave society because man has more individual freedom in isolation as shown in a Smithsonian article about a Russian family living in the Siberian taiga, the stress of getting along with others proves too difficult for him as portrayed in The Truman Show, and he may want to escape the oppression of “The Boss Man” as in the movie Cool Hand Luke demonstrates.

The article “For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II” shows the suffering that people are willing to endure in order to enjoy religious freedom in a society that oppresses them. A reason of this escaping society so they can live out their religion without being threaten to be killed of being a christian, “During the purges of the 1930s, with Christianity itself under assault, a Communist patrol had shot Lykov’s brother on the outskirts of their village while Lykov knelt working beside him. He had responded by scooping up his family and bolting into forest” (Dash). It shows that society has limits on what religion you can believe in and some will punish you if you believe that religion, maybe resulting in death like Lykov’s brother did. While living in isolation it shows that you can live freely, without being punished of believing your religion. Another example is when they completely miss World War Two, the Vietnam War, and the bad parts of communism (Dash). They flee in 1936 and lived in the Taiga for 40 years, without needing to suffer against getting attacked by the Germans during World War Two and completely missing it. As demonstrated as the Lykov family, man has more individual freedom in isolation when he leaves society.

In addition to leaving the company of other people for the sake of religious liberty, others may isolate themselves because living peacefully in society simply becomes impossible. Truman tried to isolate himself because living peacefully was impossible for him. An example of this is when Truman tries to get tickets to go to the Island of Fiji and he was told that he couldn’t get the tickets because they were overbooked for the whole month and nothing could be done for him (Weir). These incidences begins his discovery that his whole life is a falsehood of people who are scripted. Another time is when he was on a bus, about to go to Chicago but the bus broke down, and the bus driver told him and other people on the bus to get off. Truman did and walked back home (Weir). Truman now feels annoyed being around with people who don’t show emotions besides being happy, but they are not making Truman happy. As Truman discovers, sometimes the stress of continuing life among those who have caused suffering by their deceit or betrayal becomes too difficult for man to endure and must isolate himself.

Showing that living peacefully there's always the harshness of prison that enslave people as shown by Luke in Cool Hand Luke. Luke shows that man’s spirit cannot be broken, and thus, he tried to escape from the cruelty of the oppressor who is “The Bossman” even though it meant social isolation for Luke. A reason is that man should escape the oppressor and live in isolation is when Luke stays in the box for the first time praying because his mother died, “calling it your job don’t make it right boss” (Rossenberg). This shows that man can be cruel to one another, punishing another to keep their role in society. The quote shows that man shouldn’t do things that punish others if they don’t want to do it. Another example is at the end of the movie when Luke was just about to shot and be killed, “What we got here, is a failure to communicate” (Rossenberg). After he said that he was shot by “The Boss Man” and the bullet killed Luke. Before that happened, Luke looked broken in the film, trying to escape two times and getting beaten for that. Instead of giving up, he didn’t and was still happy, finally getting away and his soul getting to isolation. As in the end of the movie, after he died, he did leave society, by spiritual living the earth and getting away from “The Boss Man.”

There's one problem though, man is a social being, not really fit to live in isolation. Man’s nature and man’s free will could dictate isolation. Lykov went into isolation of his strong religious beliefs. Truman chose isolation because he was stressed out by other social beings. Luke tried to escape but couldn’t communicate with his oppressors, like “The Boss Man.” These reasons showed that man could live in isolation but their lives in isolation will be tougher and harder to live by than living a good normal life in society.


Work Cited:
Cool Hand Luke. Dir. Stuart Rosenberg. Perf. John Newman. Warner Brothers, 1967. Film.
Dash, Mike. “For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact,
Unaware of World War II.” Smithson. 28 January 2013. Web. 10 December 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/for-40-years-this-russian-family-was-cut-off-from-all-human-contact-unaware-of-world-war-ii-7354256/>.
The Truman Show. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Jim Carrey. Universal Studios, 1998. Film.