Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Prideful And Prejudiced



Last night May and I were on the phone discussing Pride and Prejudice which I had just finished listening to on tape. To be quite honest, I don't think I'd ever read it before and I'm not sure how that happened.
I told May that at first, I was not impressed with the book. I just did not CARE about those people and their silly crazy eighteenth century white English people problems. But I kept listening and before I knew it, I was suddenly quite involved in their lives and had put aside my OWN prejudice about how those people's society was run and cared very much as to whether Elizabeth would end up with Mr. Darcy. Mostly because I wanted her to live in his house but still....
Anyway, in the midst of this discussion, a fight broke out in my library. The young dogs had ganged up on old Pearl and I had to throw the phone down and break the fight up, tossing poodles and a Yorkie through the air to get them off Pearl who stood, shaking and confused.
After I got everyone settled down and checked Pearl for injury, I called May back and we talked about how animals just go crazy sometimes and it's so hard to understand what's going on in their minds. Look at Sam and Miss Betty- I don't understand why all of a sudden he has to prove his dominance over her. It's just so CRUEL, as cruel as the small dogs attacking Pearl.
But just as I can no more go back and live in the eighteenth century and truly understand the way their society worked, I cannot live in the mind of a dog or a chicken and understand how their society works.



The rules and opinions and culture of Jane Austen's time may seem silly and ridiculous to me and the rules and culture of dog packs and chicken flocks do too. And I have no more right to judge English society two centuries ago than I have the right to look at what my animals do and label it cruel.
It is what it is. Or, it was what it was.

And so it goes. I live in my world with my rules and my prejudices and my pride and I can't change the way the chickens perceive the pecking order in their world or go about establishing it. It breaks my heart to see Miss Betty hiding in the hen house day after day and it makes me furious and sad that Pearl gets attacked.

But it's the way of their worlds for animals to act this way.

The weak and the small and the old are not perceived as being worthy of food and attention, I suppose, and the way to deal with that is to kill the weak, the small or the old. It makes perfect sense to them and it has evolved this way for a reason, even if it disturbs my human sensibilities.
I wonder how humans evolved the way we have done- to care about the weak and the needy. There are stories always coming out about animals who do this too- mother lions who adopt puppies or chimps who act in what we would see as compassionate ways but these stories enchant us because not only do they remind us of US, but precisely because they are so rare.

I don't really have a point here except to say that just because we see things a certain way, it does not mean that is the way things are. Just because we would want the world to hold hands and be at peace, it doesn't mean it will ever happen.

Cultures and countries and societies and religions and social rules and our animal instincts and our human brains all contribute to differences between us that no matter how much we want to believe we are all, under the skin, the same, ensure that they are not.

And so it goes. It is interesting to read words written hundreds of years ago, to get involved with the characters, to hope they end up in happiness. It is human to want the animals we live with to all get along and act "civilized."

But what is "civilized"?

Hens being attacked in the chicken coop, dogs being attacked in the library.
These events occur in the societies of animals, civil or not.
I may not like these things but it certainly is interesting to observe them.
I may not feel completely at home in Jane Austen's world but it was a pleasure to visit there.

Meanwhile, the chicken house is very smelly and I need to attend to that problem, there is food to be made and taken to people I love, there is a rehearsal this afternoon and I should be icing a cake, writing my silly bio notes for the program for this weekend's performance and I haven't taken a shower or mixed up the salad and I am running behind.

But I'll leave you with this- I think it is a good and illuminating thing to observe other cultures, whether human or not, whether current or not, with an open mind. To cast aside our own prejudices and pride and observe and learn, thereby enlarging our own worlds.


18 comments:

  1. Very interesting post, Ms. Moon.

    Nature loves a pecking order just like reason loves an open mind. Hope the critters work things out.

    My daughter and I are going to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies together, but I think she should start with the original, don't you? (It has hilarious illustrations!)

    I love that you listen to books as you go about your day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this post, and I love you so much for thinking about such things and sharing your thoughts with us. You give me such hope for humanity. That someone such as you exists makes me believe there might actually be a wonderful God. You give me hope. I type this at work with tears in my eyes.

    Of course I think that animals are great, and I prefer their company to that of most people. I always give them the benefit of the doubt when they appear to be cruel and think that it's just nature or genetics and their wiring. They can't help it.

    Human beings, on the other hand, are cruel to one another despite the fact that most of them know it's wrong. They make the choice to be cruel, and it happens so often. I have very little hope for humanity overall. That's why meeting you has been such a blessing to me. You give me hope.

    I can't wait to wrap my arms around you and give you a big hug.

    I love you so.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh yes, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! It just came across my desk at the library yesterday and the front cover shocked me, freaked me out. What a crazy twist.
    I love listening to audios too. Have similar experiences with the classics, thinking oh who cares, really, do I have to wade through this language? But then become engulfed and enchanted.
    I like your comparisons with the animals. I struggles so much with accepting what is natural in the natural world, when so much of it seems cruel to me. I even want to rescue flies from spider webs. It's crazy.
    Glad your old dog is okay.
    Enjoy your day. Plum cake sounds divine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Poor Pearl :( I thought they all hated on Zeke when they ganged up?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes. Yes. and Yes. What I love about Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice, in particular, is its universality. That despite the centuries that have passed and the vast differences in both economics and culture, the behaviors of people in a social context are much the same. It gives me comfort, actually, to remember this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. From my reading of the Demon Male, we get it all from chimps, the good and the bad. If we'd come from Bonobos we'd be living in a matriarchal society now, and bonding with everyone by making sweet sweet love.

    Ah well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't know much about chicks and sure do not care all that much... they do have their own world, but those dogs... They live in YOUR world...I'm sorry, but I have to tell you what I really think... ALL animals don't act like those little dogs. They have been ill mannered since I can remember. Pearl is as her name suggests and she is the oldest and most precious of the bunch.

    She SHOULD NOT be dealing with the attacks of these furry pirana! They SUCK and should be accountable for their actions. What if you weren't there to help Pearl? Would they have just killed her? I'm sorry, but I love Pearl. I am a huge animal lover, but I have hardly any affection for any of the other 3, and that's odd for me.

    I wish we could take her. I hate those little mean furry bastards! Ok, now that I've ranted, let me clarify. I love Pearl, and I HATE injustice, especially where the old and weak are concerned. I am in no way chastising you, however, if you are asking for my comment... I have to say, I think something ought to be done about those other 3... doggie discipline school.. something. It's not fair.

    sigh. Sorry.
    xo pf

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's the same way with our herd of horses. There has to be an alpha, a top dog so to speak, and sometimes that alpha is cruel, sometimes more benevolent... but our 37 year-old is ostracized by ALL of them. For natural reasons you already stated, about food and such. So we keep him separate, and love him up in our own, human way.

    ReplyDelete
  9. lovely post!
    i read p&p back in the 6th or 7th grade...and a whole lot of her other books..all so poetic and thoughtfull...just like this post of yours...:-)

    how about some virginia woolf?

    ReplyDelete
  10. The first time I attempted to read the book (and a few times following that) I went a few chapters and lost interest. One time I finally determined to plow through it considering it's a literary classic and all. I still don't know what to think of it all, but I'm not plowing through it again to find out, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I forgot to add that GODDAMN I am mad they picked on dear old Pearl.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The first time I read it in school I didn't understand a thing about. I thought, how can some people be so...
    empty? I read it again in College and I thought, how can some people be so...empty? I guess I don't need to read it again. Those same people still empty. This is the best example by someone I adore. Almost as much as I love you :)

    http://tinyurl.com/yh8rvma

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mel- The day I discovered books on tape was a very, very good day for me.

    Ms. Bastard- I can't wait for that day either. And Pearl is okay. I promise you.

    Bethany- What I like about audio books is that you pretty much have to concentrate and sometimes that means you "read" better than you do when you use your eyes. Oh hell, I am just enchanted with the fact that I can "read" while I work.
    I let the flies stay in the spider webs- the girls gotta eat. Unless I pluck them out and feed them to my chickens. I am REALLY crazy.

    SJ- Sometimes it's the old one, sometimes it's the tiny one.

    Elizabeth- Isn't that the test of art? It's universality? I think that's part of it, anyway.

    Jo- I have often considered this myself. I wish I had more Bonobo in me and less chimp.

    Ms. Fleur- You're right and I know it. But remember this- when they gang up on Zeke, Pearl is right in there.

    Laura Lee- And there is no way I can separate Pearl from the rest of the dogs. They usually are a happy pack. It's just that once in a while...

    Danielle- Okay. I know I need to brush up on my classics. I do. We read these things when we are young and really don't have any idea what we're reading about. We SHOULD go back as adults and read them with the lens of age to truly appreciate them.

    Marsha- And that's OKAY!

    Allegra- You commented! I am praying this means you feel better. And I love Garrison. I feel incredibly honored to be compared in any way to him.
    I hope you've had a good day and that tomorrow is even better.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Amazing post!! I wish there were more people like you in this world (specially in so-called civilized societies) who would not denounce the way the other part of the world lives just because they do not understand it!

    Pride and Prejudice was one of my favourite books at one time!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ms. Roshi- You will find many people like that here. I promise you.

    ReplyDelete
  16. @ ms moon

    thats so right!! we totally should all re-read the books again..maybe every 10 years..just to see them through different eyes as we age and grow deeper into our own wisdom and expirience!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was thinking a lot of the same things last night when I wrote about the dolphins! Animals have these crazy instincts, but somehow at certain times, are able to act in the most compassionate and interesting ways.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Danielle- Exactly. Unfortunately, I think we also grow lazy as we get older. Well, I have. In certain ways. Not others.

    AJ- Yep. True.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.