Saturday, October 12, 2013

Essay: Peeling the Onion

My post for this week has been adapted from an essay I wrote in my philosophy class this year. While this essay seems clear enough to me to understand without having read either That Hideous Strength (the last book of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy) or The Inner Ring, I would highly recommend reading both.

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A common issue faced by believers and unbelievers alike is that of peer pressure. Usually peer pressure becomes a problem for believers when a person’s peers try to convince the person to do something sinful. However, even for unbelievers peer pressure is an issue when the action in question involves taking drugs, drinking alcohol, or other unlawful deeds. While unbelievers may not accept sin as a valid reason for avoiding peer pressure, they do often accept breaking the law as a good reason. C.S. Lewis did an excellent job covering the idea of peer pressure in his paper titled The Inner Ring. He also applies the same ideas he discusses in The Inner Ring to his novel, That Hideous Strength, in the shape of his character Mark Studdock. His representation of peer pressure in the form of Studdock not only reveals the danger of the Inner Ring, but also what it takes to remove oneself from the temptation of it.

According to Lewis, Inner Rings exist in almost every part of life, especially in universities. He represents the main concept of the Inner Ring as an onion which a person continues to peel the layers off of. Eventually, all the layers will be peeled back and nothing will remain. The closer you get to the center of the onion, the less the onion is valued. Lewis also says that the Inner Ring is not necessarily evil, but that it is unavoidable. For instance, friendships formed between coworkers are not evil, but are in fact good. The idea of the Inner Ring can lead to evil, though. When the members of the Inner Ring follow a certain practice, anyone who doesn’t follow that practice immediately becomes an outsider. So if the Inner Ring became sinful, virtuous people would be outsiders, and anyone trying to be an insider would necessarily become a scoundrel. Overall, the main idea behind the Inner Ring is that of belonging to something or someone. This is because all humanity is made to want to belong, since we all belong to God.

Mark Studdock, in Lewis’ novel, That Hideous Strength, lived by this idea of belonging. In the beginning of this story his wife Jane was, in Studdock’s mind, only a part of this plan as a trophy. He did not value her for herself, but for what she might bring him in his attempt to belong to the Inner Ring. Studdock wanted to be viewed as one of the academic elite by becoming important in Bracton College. As Studdock progressed further into the Inner Ring, he rarely agreed with the ideas and methods of his colleagues, but he followed along with them so that he would not lose his job. Even though there was a darker purpose behind what the N.I.C.E. (one of the Inner Rings Studdock found his way into) did, Studdock mainly chose to ignore it and to simply belong. He was pulled into evil actions and purposes merely by his instincts.

When Studdock finally came to realize the evil he had become a part of, he was disgusted and rebelled against his captors. Even before this point, Studdock had found very little to like about his new colleagues in the Inner Ring. He was repelled by Fairy Hardcastle, annoyed by Withers, and terrified of The Head. Studdock was also frustrated upon first entering the N.I.C.E. because he was not allowed to follow his career. When Studdock was taken captive by Frost, who tried to eradicate Studdock’s instincts, Studdock came to hate Frost and merely pretended to go along with his ideas. In the end, after Studdock had seen the truth behind the Inner Ring and was disillusioned by it, he escaped with the aid of Mr. Bultitude and Merlin.

The help Studdock required in escaping the Inner Ring provides an interesting illustration of how we cannot escape the power of the Inner Ring without help, as well. Our help, however, comes from God. But in order to escape, we also must want to leave. We must first break the power of the Inner Ring by understanding how pointless it is, and by going on with our proper work. When we have done this, we become what Lewis calls “sound craftsmen,” people who do what they are meant to do with their professions. Lewis also calls this group of sound craftsmen an Inner Ring of its own—one full of worthwhile people and worthwhile work. This is what Studdock truly wanted all along, but never found in the N.I.C.E. We too, in order to avoid falling into the same trap as Studdock, must find our Inner Rings of sound craftsmen to fill our lives with truth and goodness.

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