Individualism and Authority- Part of Human Existence

In Toynbee's (2004) altercate and Response, we cipher that like Tim O'Brien, offer and evening have the free go out to disobey the way of God but will similarly discover no happy way out. Toynbee (2004) discusses how raptus and Eve had to face the quarrel of the Serpent as a agent of illustrating their obedience to God's authority. However, being of free will, both Eve and Adam will transgress God's authority. By challenging this authority and exerting their individuality instead, both Adam and Eve will pay a harsh price. As Toynbee (2004) explains, "The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, which follows the encounter betwixt Yahweh and the Serpent, is nothing less than the Fall of world" (4). Adam and Eve assert their individualism and pay a heavy price for it; while O'Brien considers the heavy price he will pay by fleeing to Canada and submits to authority. Even though Adam and Eve assert their individualism against authority and O'Brien does not, O'Brien still pays a price for submitting to authority, having to experience first hand the horrors and atrocities of military combat.

The fence between individualism and authority is made readily discernible in O'Brien's depiction of his apprehension when he considers challenging the authority of the U.S. government. In struggles between individualism and authority, authority is often the more than(prenominal)(prenominal) powerful depict. In the case of Adam and Eve, God's authority is of a mu

ch greater power than their feature individualism. In the case of O'Brien, he knows that the government's authority is much more powerful than his desire to assert his individualism. Though he knows he may die if he submits to the authority of the U.S.

government and reports for agile duty, he also knows that to challenge this authority will pass off to a number of conditions that he fears as much. He explains that to challenge the authority of the more powerful U.S. government would basically force him to abandon his life and all it represents. He maintains this dilemma causes a moral schizophrenia in him, "I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile. I was afraid of walking away from my take life, my friends and my family, my whole history, everything that mattered to me. I feared losing the respect of my parents. I feared the law. I feared satire and censure" (O'Brien 1999, 44-45).

Toynbee, A. J. Challenge and response. Viewed on Jun 28, 2004: http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/toynbee_challenge_and_response.html, 1-9.

In Toynbee's (2004) Challenge and Response, we also see that despite individuals being willing to continue authority; authority is typically more powerful and more victorious than individual will. We see this when Toynbee discusses the mythical compact between Mephistopheles and Faust. Like O'Brien knows he will risk dying if he accepts the authori
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