Steinmetz, Joy

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28 MANUSCRIPTSThe Lament of Little Orphan AnnieWilliam MorrisonFOROVERforty years the comic strip of "Little Orphan Annie"with her dog "Sandy" has graced the comic' page of newspapersfrom coast to coast. Almost every week Annie, aided only byher perpetual virtue and her total ignorance of worldly ways, casuallyblunders into a seething pit of human misery, decadence, and pathos.Carefully, she analyzes all involved with the entanglement, and thencomes up with a solution that delights everyone except the "badguys," who, revolted by her radiant goodness, flee the scene and arelater eliminated by her guardian, "Daddy Warbucks."This is a typical example of stereotyping in a comic strip,because Annie must be good, sweet, and pure-she has no choice.Over the years the American public has drawn a mental picture ofAnnie, and anything that would destroy their image of her wouldalso cause the circulation of the strip to decrease. That is why Annieis a forty-year-old teenager, because the cartoonist has been forbiddenby the public to let her grow up and have real eyes instead of a pairof empty sockets. That is why Annie cannot walk down a street witha cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other, kicking warm, cuddly,sad-eyed puppies out of her way. She is so stereotyped that shecannot move out of her image without the permission of the public,and they like her the way she is./ "Little Orphan Annie," then, must continue in her role as apure, sweet, homeless urchin whose only mission in life is to per-petuate the ideas of goodness, temperance, pluck, and mother.Civil Disobedience. or Obeisance 7. .Joy SteinmetzWHEN THOREAUstated that, "There is but little virtue in theaction of masses of men," he displayed an intellectualkinship with Socrates who said, " ... they (the many)can do neither good nor evil. ... " When Socrates said that a man"ought to do what he thinks right," he established the principle ofindividual freedom of conscience which Thoreau defended so mag-nificently 2,200 years later. In their disdain for the expedient-whether expediency meant to save one's life or pay one's tax-when principle was the issue, both men's opinions coincided. Bothwere true philosophers in their concern for Truth and Justice,Right and Wrong. But Justice and Truth and Wrong and Rightdid not always wear the same faces for each of them.It is interesting to observe how two wise men-geniuses if youwill, albeit from widely di fferent ages-can start with basic prem-MANUSCRIPTS 29ises so m.uch alike and, reasoning logically, draw conclusions sovastly different. "Philosophy is nothing but discretion," as JohnSelden said.In the mind of Socrates the Laws, the State, were supreme;a ma.n.was "child and slave" of the. State, and this was an agreeablecondition to be preserved and chen shed. He listed laws along withvirtue and justice and institutions as "being the best thinzs amongmen." He proclaimed love of country as holier and nobler than loveof parents. "Doing wrong is always evil," he said, and clearlyhe Implied that defying the law is the highest wrong. A man mustobey the law, obey it with his life if necessary, even if it appearsto him unjust, Socrates thought.Thoreau, on the other hand, regarded the law and the govern-ment as "only the mode which the people have chosen to executetheir will ... we should be men first and subjects afterward."The poet of Walden Pond also employed the analogy of patriotismand parental honor. True love for either must be a "matter ofconscience and religion, and not desire of rule or benefit." Thus, heequated neither love of parents nor country with love of the law.On the contrary, defying the law, if justice and conscience dictate,might be the highest good. While Socrates apparently conceived ofjustice first in terms of the body politic, and of law as the properinstrument of justice, Thoreau understood justice as a matter forindividual conscience when he expressed the thought that, "Lawnever made men a whit more just."Civil disobedience, or obeisance-which shall we choose?"Every intellectual product must be judged from the point of viewof the age and the people in which it was produced," said WalterPater. He might have added that its ajJplication must be judgedwithin the context of each present moment. Every man sees truthfrom a different angle and every man's own conscience must formhis perspective.On Worlds ApartGretchen RhettsITWAS A hot, muggy day, and I was more than a little tired ofsight-seeing. Swinging my camera over my shoulder, I beganthe walk toward the monument steps. As I approached I mentallynoted that the outward appearance of the building was similar tothat of buildings I had been looking at all day. It was white, lime-stone I believe, with pillars encircling its main walls. It is a statue Ithought, only a monument to a dead man. The time is dead too, deadand forgotten. Brushing my hair back from my face, I started up-ward, toward the entrance of the building. The steps seemed end-less, and my camera grew heavier while the stark whiteness of thebuilding reflected the sun's rays, making an almost bearable glare.

Civil Disobedience, or Obeisance…?

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Civil Disobedience, or Obeisance…?

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