Mahesh Jakhotia YIF11M25

Individual and Collective Rationality

Theme: My essay focuses on the rift between the individual and collective rationality. Going

by Adam Smith's theory every individual has her own rationality and the decision she makes

in her life follows from that sense of individual rationality. This gives rise to a conflict

between the individual and collective. My essay will focus on how individual identity ushers

in a new sense of self and is actually a step in making of a new progressive society.

Introduction: Every person acts according to his rationality which may be for his own selfish

reason would make the society as a whole better. This is what Adam Smith‟s theory of

rationality says. But at times the individual‟s decision might not be compatible with the

societal way. Though society might object to it but most of the times it makes the society a

better place from a long term perspective. Individualism and collectivism conflict with each

other as the rational choices of a person and society may not be same. But if each person

behaves in a rational manner then the world will run in the most productive way. I have

chosen arguments from Beloved, Sula and The Joy Luck Club to prove my hypothesis

statement.

Body: If I see my personal life, even I was contradicting the existing societal norms for most

of my life. Individually I was satisfied of my decisions but they couldn‟t match with the

larger view. The notion of the individual and the collective is very complicated in Beloved.

Initially, with Sethe‟s killing of her child Beloved and the ostracization of the Sethe family

that takes place, the Hegelian dialectics come into prominence. Sethe and Denver are

increasingly looked as the „other‟.

Sethe and Denver constitute a single familial unit but in the initial part of the novel they also

move around as a single metaphoric individual. This has disastrous experiences for Denver as

she inherits her mother‟s supposed „guilt‟ of murdering her own daughter. Neither does she

complete her education nor does she venture out of Sethe‟s household.

This chain of events carries on until Denver ventures out of her house to cast off the evil that

has entered and is now devastating their lives. This binary of the individual and the

collective, gets very conflicting at the end with the individual intermeshing and becoming one

with the collective as I view it, this is a positive force that comes in the end of the novel and

adds a sense of closure.

Sula epitomizes the conflict between the individual and collective. The epigraph from The

Rose Tattoo “Nobody knew my rose of the world but me…..I had too much glory. They don’t

want glory like that in nobody’s heart” hints what is to follow in the novel. The Eva

household stands in stark opposition to Nel, and the familial unit Eva has built structures a

strong matrilineal lineage. This familial unit when seen as a single entity stands in strong

contrast to the collective town of the Bottoms. It ushers in a sense of new identity if the form

of independent, matrilineal lineage which neither needs men to run it nor to sustain it.

Shadrack fights as a celebrated soldier in the World War I for his community, however what

comes in the wake of it is estrangement, insanity and rejection by his community. That, he

becomes a scapegoat figure like Septimus Smith of Mrs.Dalloway is evident when

community becomes immune of his claims of the National suicide day. That he exemplifies

the rift between the collective and the individual just like Sula. Among the insane

stereotypical men and women of the Bottom, who view any alternate identity; he finally

comes across as a positive character.

Eva loses her leg and as people speculate it might be because of the insurance claim she

wants to get. Here she tries to be rational. For her money is more important than her leg. So

from an economics point of view the value of money exceeds the value derived from her leg.

Thus there is a conflict of individual and collective interpretation of the above scenario.

The reason why Eva puts Plum on fire is because he is addicted to heroin. In this case she

believes that a person dead is more valuable than the person living addictively on heroine.

Eva believes she has the right to decide what is best for him, and believes death is better than

addiction. Her explanation for killing Plum again raises the question of whether she was

rational in this decision or not.

Sula has always remained true to her personal desires rather than those of society. The impact

of Sula's individual rationality can be seen as the welfare of the society as a whole. Sula‟s

actions make the society a more closely knit community. Mother‟s start taking care of their

children, wives start loving their husbands and society becomes more productive.

One more incident to be analyzed is that of Sula sleeping with Nel‟s husband. She believes

that she hasn‟t done anything wrong and in fact Nel‟s husband was wrong as he could have

not done it if he didn‟t want to. Although she doesn't know it, she has sex because it opens

her to loneliness and sadness.

The Joy Luck Club is a heteroglossia that focuses on immigrant narratives. The individual

Chinese mothers stand in opposition to the larger collective society which also entails their

daughters. The mothers‟ act as subservient stereotypical housewives and thus, stand in strong

contrast to the highly individualistic society of the US.

Though it contradicts with the Chinese traditions, Waverly marries an American citizen.

Individually she goes with her rationality but it conflicts with the societal view point. At

different points in the novel, the major characters express anxiety over their inability to

follow Chinese heritage in the American atmosphere. That‟s the reason why Jing-me decides

to travel to china to meet her twin sisters.

The Joy Luck Club is what happens at the intersection of American and Chinese cultures. The

daughters fail to understand their mothers as senile creatures, as misfits who speak half-

broken English and wear weird collar fitting dresses. This chain of disjunction is broken only

when the daughters‟ come in contact with the inner world. This breaks the hegemony of the

dominant discourse and passes way for a new hybrid future.

Conclusion: Giving an absolute conclusion to this theme will not be realistically possible. As

we have seen that the individual and collective conflict happens most of the times. But if each

and every person behaves in a rational way for his own selfish reasons the society as a whole

will be much more better. The texts portray a deeper meaning and show that there is a sound

logical reason behind the weirdest actions done by the characters.

References

1) Sula by Toni Morrison

2) Beloved by Toni Morrison

3) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan