After The Bomb Upheaval Through The Collision Between Limitation And Freedom

Examine how the texts in this elective explore After the Bomb upheaval through the collision between limitation and freedom

“The upheaval of our world and the upheaval of our consciousness are one and the same.”

This statement by Carl Jung highlights the upheaval prevalent within the time After the Bomb both personally and collectively. The time After the Bomb was a collision between limitation and freedom, reflected through ways of thinking at the time that led to textual rebellions such as Sylvia Plath’s poetry, George Clooney’s film Goodnight and Good Luck and Harry Bluestein’s novel Cold War Games.

The poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath describes her feelings of oppression and her battle to come to grips with the issues of this power imbalance

between men and women. Plath’s subjugation is evident within the repetition of Jews within, “Chuffing me off like a Jew. A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belson.” and “I think I may well be a Jew” demonstrating her stifled life and inability to break free of her patriarchal childhood and marriage. The comparison of her childhood and marriage to the ways in which Jew were treated during World War II, clearly shows the feelings of anguished hopelessness and the ripping agony Plath experienced. Additionally, the reference to the Jews is able to demonstrate an upheaval in regards to the value of Jews and recognition of the severity of the holocaust. However, though the poem demonstrates the social paradigm of patriarchy surround After the Bomb, the agelessness of this poem guarantees the ongoing struggle of women to overcome the issue.

However, Plath acquires wisdom from her struggles with patriarchy within her childhood and marriage, providing her a sense of freedom and power within Daddy. This is evident within the confession, “So daddy, I’m finally through” demonstrating her realisation and gain of self power and control as a woman. In addition, win the final stanza Plath eludes to the downfall of patriarchy and the gaining of power of women within the metaphor, “the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you.” The line demonstrates how women have an understanding of the source of their oppression and their pain caused by it, leading to their need for it to end. As a result, the poem can be seen as a personal revolution and upheaval towards the social paradigm within a worldly issue. Hence, through Daddy it is seen that the through the collision of both her sense limitation and freedom within the poem, Plath is able to highlight an upheaval against the social paradigms.

Similarly, Plath’s Lady Lazarus is a metaphor of rebirth; the whole idea of a new life from death demonstrating both her sense of oppression and liberty through a religious way of thinking. Within the poem Plath sees herself as the resurrected Lady Lazarus, however, unlike the story she is experiencing this rebirth many times, and through suicide. Though the poem is seen as directed towards her husband as a cry for affection, it also represents the larger worldly experience that is the holocaust highlighting a darkness within the poem. The hyperbolic, “I have nine times to die” demonstrates the obscene amount of death and pain the holocaust survivors had to endure, demonstrating their perceived lack of value. Through the exploration of Jewish victimization throughout the holocaust, ‘Lady Lazarus’ is seen to be shaped by an upheaval towards the social paradigm of patriarchy and the treatment of Jews.

However, as previously mentioned, the poem is a metaphor of rebirth, entailing liberty of new life, established through the biblical allusion of ‘Lady Lazarus’ itself. Though the poem is surrounded by talk of suicide, the wonder and beauty of death and rebirth creates a lighter tone within the middle of the poem. This is evident within the repetition of “I do” within “I do it exceptionally well…I do it so it feels real” in conjunction with “dying is an art.” The two lines reveal the power Plath gains through death but as a result also demonstrates a sense of strength gained by holocaust victims after living through death. Thus it is clear that the religious way of thinking in terms of rebirth within ‘Lady Lazarus’ introduces oppression within the poem through exploring the need for suicide and the holocaust. Yet it also is able to illustrate the power and liberty gained through rebirth and surviving death. As a result, it is clear that through use of the religious paradigm, Plath demonstrates the collision of oppression by male figures and her liberty gained through death, highlighting a personal upheaval against the social paradigm.

This conceptual social paradigm that is patriarchy and the struggle of women to overcome their male dominated society is also demonstrated within the Cold War Games.

The differing representations of women within the text demonstrates the limitation of American women and the freedom of Soviet women in comparison. This is represented through the collision of communism and capitalism at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The capitalist women are seen to lack autonomy and value as represented through the degrading tone within, “To the post war American pubic, a woman’s place was in the home.” The line demonstrates the limited and restricted lives and ways of thinking forced upon women by the patriarchal world. However, in comparison communist women are seen to have more opportunity and independence witnessed through the accumulation within “They ‘work side by side with men as miners, ditch diggers, stevedores, and in similar occupations.” The line demonstrates the freedom held by Soviet women to withhold the same occupation as men, demonstrating an upheaval against the patriarchy found within the capitalist

world.

Differently, upheaval is demonstrated through the role of dissent within Goodnight and Goodluck, though highlighting the collision between limitation and freedom in the time After the Bomb. Within the scene wherein Murrow’s team is reviewing his message, the team is situated within an intimate and compact interior space demonstrating the small number of people willing to stand up for their opinion. This is used in conjunction with the intertextuality of the newspaper reviews clearly demonstrating the upheaval caused by the collision between those who are standing against Murrow and those who find the freedom to fight for their cause. This scene shows that in society there exist individuals who are against McCarthy, yet they do not have the ability and freedom (whether burdened by fear or platform) to speak out.

Murrow’s broadcast provided a stepping stone for individuals who share the same view as them to voice their opinions through creating a rebellion against the social and political paradigm. Murrow’s speech was seen to provide support and a collective group of people sharing similar views, allowing supporters to feel reassured and as though they have the freedom to fight for their beliefs. This was able to disrupt the weight of influence from political leaders like McCarthy on the populous and more specifically on the individual. This shows the prospect of progression to break the restrictions and fear created by McCarthy. As a result, it can be seen that dissent played a role within the time after the bomb. Yet due to the fear and anxiety imposed by McCarthy’s witch hunts, “Joe McCarthy was on the rampage, finding communists in every nook and cranny of the government, in Hollywood studios and even in the CIA” as stated by Harry Bluestein, society was lacking in autonomy. However, this oppression was challenged by it’s collision with the freedom and power Murrow possessed to influence the populous.

Within the Cold War Games, media is represented to disagree with the values put forward by Murrow.

This role of dissent is represented by the magazine Sports illustrated, a company that was “not surprisingly…anti-communist”. Sports Illustrated presented a view that opposed that of Murrow’s See It Now, using the actions of Soviets at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics to provide reason against communism and communist sympathisers, supporting McCarthy. This is evident within “sports illustrated used the defectors to provide ‘a source of very cheap propaganda, which the American’s exploited at every opportunity.” This inference made by Bluestein demonstrates the power of influence media had over beliefs through demonstrating dissent within the capitalist world. As a result, media such as Sports Illustrated and See It Now are an upheaval against the beliefs of each other. Hence, through the freedom of media, Sports Illustrated was able to support McCarthy’s upheaval against communists through oppressing the capitalist world through fear of being associated with

communism.

Hence upheaval is extremely prevalent within the time After the Bomb both personally and collectively. The time After the Bomb was a collision between limitation and freedom, reflected through ways of thinking at the time that led to textual rebellions such as Sylvia Plath’s poetry, George Clooney’s film Goodnight and Good Luck and Harry Bluestein’s novel Cold War Games.