Innocence
Throughout the duration of our class, innocence has been a resigning theme. It is not only a theme in America, but also a common theme in American Literature. From ‘Daisy Miller’ to ‘Lolita,’ each novel featured at least one person who is innocent in one way or another. Whether they are innocent to the world around them or innocent to the people around them, each person had to learn to either loose their innocence, or die. In each novel that was chosen for this class, a major theme in each it innocence.
William Butler Yeats once said: “The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.” This captures ‘Daisy Miller’ by Henry James perfectly. She was beautiful, ‘innocent’ (although perhaps her innocence was more of a performance, than genuine) and captured men’s hearts all over the world. So much so that one such man, Winterbourne, decided to follow her all the way across the country. Although, by the title of the novelette, it would seem that it was Daisy’s innocence that this story was about, in fact it might have been more about Winterbournes’ innocence. He replied to Mrs. Walker’s, after she was horrified by the spectacle that Daisy made by being with Mr. Giovanelli alone: “She is very innocent,” as if to say that she didn’t know what she was doing, or why everyone was so horrified (James 38). He saw in her a child-like innocence, and as a gentleman he felt it was his duty to protect her. Although it would seem that it was Daisy was naive to the world, with a deeper glance, you can see that she was in fact manipulating, and that it was Winterbourne who was in fact naive. He fell hard for Daisy’s charms and beauty, and felt that he needed to save her from the disgrace that her ‘naivety’ was bringing upon her and her family. But then, when he tried to tell her what she was doing, she told him: “I never heard anything so stiff! If this is improper, Mrs. Walker… then I am all improper, and you must give me up. Good-bye; I hope you’ll have a lovely ride” (40). By this statement it is clear that she didn’t care about her reputation, which implies that she knows that she is acting ‘improper’ and doesn’t care. To be truly innocent, you must honestly not know the ways of the world. Although this would make it seem that Winterbourne was not innocent as well, it is not the point. He was innocent in the ways of American women, not in the ways of his society. Daisy’s carefree spirit and innocence to the ways of society, eventually lead to her death.
Francis Thompson said: “Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of to-day. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its own soul.” To tell a story well, you must give yourself over to the story and become child-like and innocent. This is why there is a great theme of innocence in ‘Mules and Men’ by Zora Neale Hurston. To have an imagination, you must keep a piece of that childhood innocence with you, and maintain it to make sure it doesn’t leave you like most of your childhood. The men and women, who are telling Zora the stories in this novel, have done this extremely well, without even knowing it. To believe in the stories that they told, is to believe in magic. Although a ‘mature’ adult knows that magic is not real, they must believe in it to read or listen to a story, which is exactly what happens to the reader while reading the stories that Zora retells. Because ‘Mules and Men’ is made up of many different small stories within a larger story, the imagination must be at work the entire time. From the very first story told, it is clear that the reader is entering the world of the imagination: “Folks ain’t ready for souls yet. De clay ain’t dry. It’s de strongest thing Ah ever made. Don’t aim to waste none thru loose cracks” (Hurston 3). If the reader has no imagination or innocence they will never be able to understand or enjoy this novel.
In Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Wise Blood’ the theme of innocence is hidden, but still there. It can be found in Enoch Emery’s blind devotion to obtaining the ‘new Jesus,’ it can also be found in Hazel Motes new-found beliefs. All Enoch could think about was how he needed to steal the mummified corpse to be Haze’s ‘new Jesus.’ He wanted to steal it so much that it consumed him, like a child can be consumed by something that he ‘has’ to have. He wanted it with a child-like vigor, which made him irrational to everything else. Hazel Motes had a vision, a vision to start a new church: ‘the Holy Church of Christ without Christ.’ He went out everyday to preach his beliefs and try to gather a following. He did this with a stubbornness that was almost supernatural. His innocence can be found in this blind belief, which isn’t very different from Enoch’s. They both had a child-like obsession with what they believed in, and it caused each of them to do terrible things. Enoch stole a mummified corpse from a museum, and Haze killed ‘The Prophet,’ Solace Layfield. Like Humbert Humbert in ‘Lolita,’ killing a man takes away your innocence, making Haze loose his focus and his goal.
The theme of innocence is clear in “The Bear” by William Faulkner as well. Boon, the most innocent of the group, is the one that actually ends up killing the bear, Old Ben. He tames Lion, a gigantic Airedale mix, to help him, and he is the only one that Lion trusts. The boy, Isaac, also learns that the only way to truly hunt and become one with the wilderness he must leave everything behind, he must become as innocent as the woods to find what he is searching for. He learns Boon’s innocent ways, and uses them to find Old Ben. He also learned a great lesson from hunting him; he learned patience, perseverance, and how to be one with nature. William Blake once said: “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.” To be one with nature, Ike had to get the innocence that nature has, he had to embrace all that was pure and true. Like Old Ben, he had to understand the delicate balance that is in all nature. That was the most valuable lesson that Boon could have taught him.
‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison is perhaps the clearest example of innocence in all of the novels. The Invisible Man has no idea what is going on in the society around him, and it seems as if every terrible thing that could possibly happen, happens to him. From the ‘battle royal’ to the riots in the street, he always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. At the ‘battle royal’ he just wanted to give his speech, and he ended up getting beaten up and tortured just to get a briefcase and a scholarship. Then, when he got to the college, he innocently gave one of the financial supporters a ride and ended up taking him to a bar, then getting expelled from the school. Then, he went to the big city and was in a terrible accident in the paint factory and was put through tortuous medical treatments. He finally found a job that he was good at, giving speeches, and his new ‘family’ framed him and excommunicated him from the group. At the end, after he had lost his innocence and optimism, he lived underground with 1369 light bulbs as his only friends, so as to not be disappointed or rejected by anyone ever again. It is a sad tale of a naïve and innocent man from a small town, who goes to the big city and ends up alone, and bitter. While he had his innocence and child-like optimism he was happy and upbeat, no matter what was happening, but after it was lost, all was lost.
Like Daisy Miller, Lolita from ‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nabokov, isn’t as innocent as she seems. Yes, she is a child, and yes she did get abducted by a lecherous old man, but along the way, her behavior proved time and again, that she was not as innocent as she appeared. At the very beginning, when Humbert first moved in with her and Charlotte, perhaps she simply loved him with a child-like adoration, but once she slept with him at The Enchanted Hunters hotel, it is clear that she isn’t as innocent as she seems. She used her beauty and charisma to get whatever she wanted from Humbert and every other person that she came in contact with. Towards the end of her time with Humbert, she gained more of her innocence back, when she would cry in his arms, and abhor his touches. By that time she was in love with another, and hated Humbert for all he had done to her. Humbert was also innocent, if only in the ways of his beloved. He was not innocent for abducting a child, and forcing her to be with him, but in the ways of Lolita, he was blinded by his obsession with her. He had no idea that she was seeing Claire Quilty for almost their entire time together, and had no clue that she was lying and manipulating him. Not until the very end, when she told him the truth, did he ever really see her for what she was. Not an innocent child, but a manipulative lover of another. He, however, lost all innocence when he murdered Quilty. No murder can ever be innocent.
The theme of innocence is clearly shown throughout all of these novels, not only because it is a popular theme in literature, but because it represents America. Although America is not as innocent as it once was, it is the youngest country, and is still learning from its mistakes. Like in all of these novels, American must make a decision to either embrace its innocence, or loose it, and become like the Invisible Man. Perhaps that is the bigger issue, seeing which path that American will chose to take. That is the great question: will America remain innocent like Ike, or to become jaded like the Invisible Man? The story of America is still being written, so it is difficult to say which path it will choose.
COPYWRITED BY BRITTINI REID. DEATH WILL COME ON SWIFT WINGS TO WHOMEVER COPIES THIS!!!!
