Objective truth and personal perceptions or interpretations remain to be the cornerstone of literature. However, the debate revolving around what either means remains active. Truth can be described as that which had occurred and exists in the present neither can it be changed. On the other hand, perception refers to the lens through which we observe the truth. Authors have argued that perception remotely means what we want and what we do not want to be the truth. This essay seeks to evaluate the works of three renowned writers to examine the parities and disparities as they seek to either support the power of objective truth of the power of personal perception or interpretation.
To begin with, we shall discuss the American work poet- Walt Whitman, ”O Captain! My Captain!” this was a poem based on the life of America’s 16th President – Abraham Lincoln. Walt Whitman, through the use of literary devices such as symbolism allusions, can tell the tale of the Civil war in America and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the end of the civil war. The Captain in the poem is Abraham Lincoln, while the ship is the United States. Being the Captain, he steered the ship; that is, he led the people of the United States through the civil war, and now that the ship is anchored, ”our ship is anchor’d safe and sound… our fearful trip is done!” However, the Captain lies cold and dead on the deck, ”no pulse nor will.” (Altieri, 1999).
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The author remains conflicted whether they should rejoice or mourn the death of the Captain. As we established earlier on, the truth is that which happened and cannot be changed by the present. Although this poem stokes the personal perception and interpretation of many, the truth about it representing the life of Abraham Lincoln from his advocacy on the end of the slave trade to his assassination and the Civil War that ravaged the North remains to be the underlying bedrock that all interpretations arise. This is the perfect epitome of a work that adds power to objective truth in literary works. (Outka, 2002).
On the contrary, Henry David Thoreau, a renowned essayist in his work ”Civil Disobedience,” focuses more on his beliefs and the government’s perception of the government dealings. In his work, Thoreau perceives the government as not only unjust and corrupt but also as the source of corruption and further argues that ”government is best which governs the least,” he goes ahead to state that, in fact, ”government is best which does not govern at all.” Thoreau is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that governments are naturally (harmful) than they are helpful to the people. Besides, he believes that although the majority chooses the government does not imply that the majority by the mere fact of being the majority become wise and just in their thinking. (Newman, 2003).
Further, Thoreau argues, ”It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do what I think is right at any time… the law never made man a whit more just and by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.” By this, he propounds that it would be fallacious for the people to think that they can wait to vote for justice through the political process. Instead, he calls for the people not to pay taxes as he believes that civil disobedience is the key to these answers. Some criticisms have been hurled at Thoreau’s work, such as civil disobedience being unjustified in a democracy as there is democratic society since laws are made by a democratically elected legislature they can as well change them. Besides, critics argue with Thoreau’s beliefs proposing the use of the legal system exhaustively before making radical measures such as civil disobedience. Unlike ”O Captain! My Captain!” written while upholding objective truth (history), “Civil Disobedience” revolves around the beliefs and perceptions of Henry Thoreau about the government beliefs which impacted the likes of Martin Luther Jr. in leading the civil movement.
Also, in seeking to establish whether authors of the 19th century gave power to objective truth or personal perceptions, we look at the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne – ”The Scarlett Letter.” This is one of the renowned romance-themed fictional stories by Hawthorne. Hawthorne narrates the story of a woman who was put to shame for adultery by being forced to wear a scarlet letter ”A,” symbolizing her adultery near a scaffold in the township. The woman was the centre of the ridicule despite there being the man who enabled her to partake in the adulterous act. Although this is purely based on the imaginations of the Hawthorne, it depicts the truth about the society we lived in 1800(s) a time when women were facing several social inequalities and men were considered to be a superior gender over women, hence the reason for Hester Prynne being put to shame and not Dimmesdale. (Fetterley, 1978).
Besides, Hawthorne exudes the themes of social stigmatization and guilt. Later in the text, the reader describes how Dimmesdale’s life becomes deemed as he is eaten up by guilt form the sin he committed with Hester. A sign is believed to be showing from the inside of his ministerial garment depicting the guilt. The element or remorse which leads to Dimmesdale climbing up the scaffold to confess his sins has since been criticized by most religious leaders, citing the failure on the part of Hawthorne to understand sin, guilt, and remorse while other claims that the book promotes ”Bad morals.” These criticisms lean mostly on the part that man is inclined towards the personal interpretation and perceptions of the surrounding happenings.
From the preceding, we can see that various authors in their works, in one way or another, promote objective truth, personal perception, and interpretation. Perceptions are more often than not influenced by the society we live in, our interests, and the experiences we have been through. It all begins with the selection of the various attributes, then a grouping of these specific attributes before we can interpret. Perceptions may be either physical or psychological. From the works, the Authors were significantly influenced by the environment, society, and culture. Whitman was encouraged by the occurrence of that time, which was the end of the civil war in narrating the life of Abraham Lincoln. Similarly, Thoreau was motivated by the society he lived in, leading to his scorn towards the government.
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