The Bound Man Wearing The Cloak

           

                                                

                                       Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

                                                                                                              ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau~ 

                   

                    

          The story of The Bound Man begins when the sunlight woke him up, he shut his eyes immediately for the light was so bright. Later on, when he tried to wave the swarms of flies away, which flew around him, he found that he was wounded, robbed, and bound by a thin rope which tied him from his ankles all the way up to his legs, thighs, hips, chest, and arms. He discovered that the way the rope was tied gave his legs and arms some freedom and he could maneuver to a small extent. He smiled (9). He then met an owner of a traveling circus and decided to join the circus and perform while completely bound (11). After a while, he became used to being bound all the time and felt an obligation to the circus (16). The Bound Man was written by Ilse Aichinger, who was born in 1921 and is an Austrian poet and prose writer. She was persecuted by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry. That’s probably the reason we feel the haunting atmosphere in her story. The bound man wanted to be tied up because his foolish and stubborn mind led towards a reason we never know. Are we all partially bound by our own ropes? What ropes do we place on ourselves? Sometimes we put ourselves in situations that trap us; and, for whatever reason, we do not try to escape from them. People cannot mentally tie us up unless we give them permission.          

         

          The bound man’s imagery stirred my emotion and took me back to my childhood. I was eleven and found that my father had died and the fact that I knew nothing about him except a long letter he wrote to me. I was twelve and found that I had a stepfather and my childhood died as well. My father had stayed in the hospital for more than a year before he died. That was the time my future stepfather stepped into our lives. My father and stepfather were comrades who shared the same destiny in life and death in the army during the Chinese Civil War back in 1949 and were separated during the turmoil when the army retreated across the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan. They reunited in the hospital while my father was very sick. My father had asked my future stepfather to take care of us before he died, and that was what my future stepfather did. He helped bury my father and then bought a house for us. My future stepfather told my mom that he had kept his promise. He did what he could to help and left. A year later, he became my stepfather.

         

          I was too young to understand the agitation in the trio relationships between my father, stepfather, and my mom. All I had was resentment; yet, I was raised and educated. My stepfather is like The Bound Man in Ilse Aichinger’s story. He gave up his carefree single life and bound himself with a wife who didn't love him, along with two resentful kids. He worked hard the rest of his life to support the family. There was an invisible rope my stepfather placed on himself. By keeping the promise, he did not try to escape from the rope with which he tied himself up. How I wish my stepfather were still alive so I could say thank you and I love you which I had never told him. Will I say my stepfather betrayed my father? No. I see responsibility, trust, and love as the story in The Cloak.        

         

          There are many suggestions about deception and infidelity in The Cloak by Isak Dinesen (pen name of Danish author Karen Blixen, 1885-1962.) Many people claim that Dinesen uses Angelo’s cloak as a method to show betrayal with which I disagree. For me, the cloak symbolizes responsibility, trust, and true love just as rope is the emblem of The Bound Man’s obligation. Both of which describes my stepfather. In the story, Leonidas, Angelo’s teacher, the great sculptor who was known as the Lion of the Mountains, was arrested for rebellion and condemned to death (246). Angelo loved and admired his teacher, Leonidas, so deeply that it was inevitable for Angelo to think that he had to take care of his teacher’s wife if the teacher would die (247). He took caring for the teacher’s wife as his responsibility. The trust between Angelo and his teacher, Leonidas, touched me the most. Angelo hastened to the prison (250). He was willing to stay in jail for twelve hours so his teacher, Leonidas could take leave of his wife even though Angelo knew that at the expiration of twelve hours, an execution will be carried out with or without Leonidas coming back (249). The trust Angelo had towards his teacher had overcome the fear of death.

         

          Angelo gave the cloak, which Angelo was supposed to wear to go meet the teacher’s wife that night, to the teacher, Leonidas. Angelo gave the cloak to Leonidas without hesitance because the weather was cold. He wanted Leonidas to be warm (252). Therefore, we understand jealousy ran through Angelo like fire in his dream while he was trapped in the prison and we give him our sympathy (254). Love has always been a complicated lesson for us all, from the ancient times to the modern world. The story The Clock ended in an unexpected way. Leonidas went back to the prison to accept his destiny even though we assume that he found out the truth that his wife was planning an affair with his favorite student (255). Leonidas was a kind hearted man that knew his beloved wife would be taken care of by his loyal disciple and there was nothing left to worry him. Leonidas kissed Angelo on his cheek (255). I see what true love is through the story.

         

          Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher (1712-1778), once said, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains;” chains that we place on ourselves. In the sonnet London (1794), William Blake (1757-1827) writes of “mind-forg’d manacles.” Like the rope that tied up The Bound Man or the cloak on Angelo’s shoulders or the promise my stepfather kept, we are all partially bound. People cannot mentally tie us up unless we give them permission. Human history is somehow tragic. We not only divide people but also things that we possess. Why don't we stop for a while to look at nature? To look at clouds floating, birds flying, and the stars shining without limits. Human beings are so insignificant; yet, so arrogant. We should set ourselves free because no one else can help us. But, for whatever reason, we put ourselves in situations that trap us--- like the bound man wearing the cloak. (1164 words)

          

The Bound Man          

http://simplethings.tribe.net/thread/455b8ed3-aa46-43c2-9fa2-8faa08e686f5