Devouring off Innocence

Devouring Off Innocence

Teacher: Mr. Gatt

Name: Rukhsar Baig

Course Code: ENG3U

Date: Thursday, February 28, 2016

Devouring off Innocence

John Kenneth Galbraith, once stated “[u]nder capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.” Galbraith conveys that under capitalism, men project their true dignity, and expose one another, while in communism, they try to hide information from other individuals. In, "Test" by Theodore Thomas, the authorities try and distort the individual and their reality, while completing a driver’s test, in order to gain control of their choices, opinions and freedoms. Which correlates to the satirical story, “The Elephant”, by Slawomir Mrozek, following a corrupt communist government controlling individuals. The protagonist who is the director of the zoo has foolishly deceived the innocent minds of school children by convincing them that the elephant was real, when in reality he is fabricating the elephant with a rubber balloon, in order to support his career. Both stories have a similar gist which illustrates that society is a victim of the corrupt government through characters.  Furthermore, these passages help us realize that, authority compels innocent civilians and deceives the way they perceive the world through the use of theme in stories. Lastly, symbolism in literature shows that authority has no disregard for anyone but themselves. And how the authority has a disregard for anyone but themselves through symbolism.

To begin, characters in stories demonstrate how society is run by corrupt governments, by distorting their view on reality. In the story ‘The Elephant’ the protagonist is evidently portrayed as a selfish and materialistic man who does not care about anything but establishing his profit from the zoo. The zookeeper “regard[s] his animals simply as stepping stones on the road of his own career.” (Mrozek, 103) Secondly, in the short story ‘Test’ the men in uniform are evidently ignorant, opinionated and entitled because they tend to come to conclusion about the protagonist Robert Proctor, by stating “Sorry, son. You failed your license test. You [are] sick and need treatment.” (Thomas, 132)  The examples of comparison between the two stories both show that the authoritative figures are both demanding and disregarding towards societies views and perceptions, they do not care for what their opinion is as long as the citizens do not stand in the way of controlling them. The comparison done between the two passages evidently portrays the government corruption, control over society and their distorted use of reality through the views of the characters explored.

The ‘test’ and ‘The Elephant’ depict authority compelling the innocent citizens and deceiving the way they perceive the world in their mental consciousness. Which ties in with the theme representing power, lack of morals and ethics between authority figures and citizens. In the story the ‘The elephant’ the protagonist, fabricates The Elephant by replacing it with a rubber balloon for his economic means. This way the director of the zoo has made the school children believe that the elephant is real. “the children were looking at the elephant with enraptured admiration” (Mrozek, 104)   Inevitably, the director of the zoo is dictating their consciousness which is morally and ethically wrong, nonetheless he has also captured enough power in his hands to gain a profit for his benefit. On the contrary, the story ‘test’ deals with hypnosis, which makes Robert Proctor feel as if the driver’s test is happening in actuality, which is perplexing with his mental consciousness.  The men in uniform are  power hungry, gaining dominance over people’s ideas, through their thoughts and opinions. However these men are prone to unethically performing tests on civilians and draw horrific conclusions based off of someone being put through the trial of hypnosis due to their dominance over the citizens. “... Killing people doesn’t bother you. We don’t let your kind run around loose in society anymore. But don’t you worry now, Son. They’ll take good care of you, and they’ll fix you up.” (Thomas, 132). Both stories evidently compare the lack of morals and ethics between authority figures and innocent citizens. Through the theme of power.