Restricted Existence

One of the universal issues, the human being has always worried about is that of the existence, and we found that worry portrayed in contemporary writing in English. The poem “Being Always” by Martin Carter posits the question: Do I live my life or is it my life that lives me? This question is a way to summarize the conflict between my will, what I want to do and what circumstances allow me to do. In a way, this poem becomes a criticism to the religious dogma which states that the human being has free will, he has freedom to choose what he/she is and wants to be. However, the poem proposes a wider perception of reality which includes that freedom is limited by reality and; although it is true that people have freedom, it is also true that the choices are limited by external factors. And from this reality emerges Ortega y Gasset’s famous maxim "I am myself and my circumstance".

The same idea of limited set of opportunities is reinforced by the poems: “Patriot” by Ciryl Dabydeen and “Give T’anks” by Mervyn Morris. In this poem, the idea of existence conditioned by circumstances is presented as in the verses: “I am tropical to the bones” the problem of identity that will determine who and how you are. This limitation can be either voluntary as in the example above or not-voluntary as it is expressed in the essay: “The Media’s image of Arabs” in which the author explains how the perception of the world about Arabs has been affected by the negative stereotypes divulged through mass-media.

Human existence is delimited or conditioned by culture. People either conditioned their being to their culture because of a sense of identity (voluntary) or are being conditioned and determined by their culture because of stereotypes (not-voluntary). There are other reasons to condition the existence like resources, time, etc. In any case, Christine Craig gives us a hope in this dilemma through her short story: “In the Hills”. She lets us know that although circumstances get us trapped, culture exerts pressure on us, or any other restriction, there is always a way out.