Gavin Sapontzis
Perception Should Not be Reality
Using emotional connection is a very powerful manipulation tactic. Mark succumbed to the pressure of the “inner circle” and wrote false articles about the disturbances at Edgestow because of a fear of isolation. Mark became so desperate to feel accepted he disregarded his morals and integrity. He was literally willing to ‘survive at any price’ as shown when stated, “This was the first thing Mark had been asked to do which he himself, before he did it, clearly knew to be criminal.” (Lewis 116). Despite this recognition of it being illegal he followed through because of the intimate laughter and relationship he felt he was building with these so called elite men. Similarly, in Solzehnitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago the Bluecaps succumb to the pressure of the Russian government by putting faultless people put in jail for crimes they did not commit. Solzehnitsyn states, ”They understood that the cases were fabricated, yet they kept on working year after year. How could they? Either they forced themselves not to think (and this in itself means the ruin of a human being), and simply accepted that this was the way it had to be and that the person who gave them their order was always right…” (Solzhenitsyn 67). Bluecaps accepted what they had to do because of terror and isolation, both of which are major topics relating to totalitarianism. Independent thinking and going against totalitarian society’s norms is something that neither Mark or certain Bluecaps would alter many situations and prevent bad
Without the tao man can lose control of itself. In the Abolition of Man it is described as, “The Chinese also speak of a great thing (the greatest thing) called the Tao. It is the reality beyond all predicates, the abyss that was before the Creator Himself.” Mark moves away from the Tao when he makes his decision to write the propaganda for the NICE. He genuinely knows this is wrong but still does what he is told. When man loses sight of the tao it becomes subjective to the group in charge. This is shown through the “inner circle” throughout the novel. They get to decide what is right and wrong. “ Stepping outside the Tao, they have stepped into the void.… Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of Man.” (Lewis 77). Lewis believed that the innovators of new technology would eventually become known as conditioners. These conditioners could change the tao in any way they’d like and control the outcome of humanity. In like manner, NICE tried to control the outcome of the disturbances at Edgestow by having the papers written the night before it happened. In this way, they can make sure they get control and dominance over this town. Every advance of man can weaken man because it leads individuals away from the Tao. The conditioners CS Lewis talks about in The Abolition of Man are very similar to the NICE in That Hideous Strength. They act like they are advancing mankind in order to gain more personal power and opportunity. The conditioners and NICE have a lot of similarities.