Essay on "Truth Telling and the Enemy of the People"

Essay 9 pages (3114 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The decisions of people like Peter Stockmann, Dr. Stockmann's brother, are not based upon actual evidence but upon what is expedient for them to remain in power. Although Katherine Stockmann speaks about Peter as having power, the truth is that his power is contingent upon pleasing the people who keep him in power. This can be seen in the attitudes of politicians in contemporary politics that must constantly campaign for reelection, seemingly only days after they are voted into office. Politicians are constantly polling the electorate to see what people think and tailor their votes accordingly. Their focus is to stay in power rather than to make the world a better place.

Of course, in a democracy, responsiveness to the expressed desires of the people is a good thing. But regarding certain issues, particularly scientific ones such as the environment, it is very difficult for people to evaluate the weight of the evidence like an expert. Even if politicians are not experts themselves, they must rely upon outside, expert sources of information (which is why hearings are held) just like Dr. Stockmann consults a university to receive a final determination of the extent to which the water is polluted. At the end of the play, Stockmann proclaims to his family "I will go so far as to say that now I am the strongest man in the whole world ... the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone" (V). Although this sounds noble (if somewhat unfair to his wife and children who are standing beside him and are considered not to be persons in his hour of triumph), the idea of standing alone and ignoring what everyone else things is certainly not a desirable way for a politician to think. It sound dictatorial rather than democratic.

The play raises the question of what to do when unpopular experts are right. Al Gore's documentary on global warming was called An Inconvenient Truth. Stockmann's truth is also inconvenient, which is why people are so reluctant to believe it. It is in the interests of politicians to only trust experts who believe convenient versus inconvenient ideas. It is also in the interest of the media, despite their function as the 'fourth estate' and a watchdog to print what the public wants to read. In the case of An Enemy of the People, what the reading public wants to hear is that the baths are healthy and there is no conflict between their pocketbooks and the safe and well-being of the future. Peter Stockmann and his ilk are only too eager to validate that desire since they look at the world from the perspective of a politician, not a scientist.

Reference

Ibsen, H. (1882). An Enemy of the People. The Literature Network. Retrieved from:

http://www.online-literature.com/ibsen/enemy-of-the-people/2/

Q1. Choose one of the characters from Ibsen's play and analyze the character's political role.

Petra Stockmann represents the voice of the younger generation. She is one of the more hopeful symbols in the play. Unlike the fearful people of the town that resist learning the truth about the contaminated water, she is determined that the truth will be exposed. She supports and admires her father. She has clearly inherited the Protestant work ethic from both of her parents and understands there are few easy solutions to difficult issues. She works as a teacher, teaching both in the early morning and late at night. "There is so much falsehood both at home and at school. At home one must not speak, and at school we have to stand and tell lies to the children" (I). Petra does not say what these falsehoods are but one assumes she is referring to sexual morality. While her father is understandably mostly focused upon the contaminated public water system he has discovered, Petra's sense of social justice is more all-encompassing. She is outraged at the provincial attitudes she encounters as a schoolteacher. She is very much an emancipated young woman. Although her mother is kind and supports her husband, Katherine Stockmann is much more deferential and worried about what other people think. Of all the people in the family, Petra is most loyal to her father, urging him on to reveal the truth.

Petra is very much her father's daughter. She never thinks of herself, only of him, even as he grows more hardened and more radical in his quest to reveal the truth. She does not think about how this will hurt her brothers, her own marriage prospects, or her job as a teacher. At the end of the play, Dr. Stockmann resolves to start his own school with Petra, after Petra loses her job thanks to her father's opinions. Her resolves to start it first with some street urchins and teach them all to be freethinkers. Ibsen suggests that the older generation is so corrupt a new way of thinking is needed entirely so that we must start again trying to persuade the young to change their minds versus fixating on changing the mind of the old. From Petra's point-of-view this is a happy ending because she can finally teach in a school where she is free to say and do what she wants, rather than teach how the state commands her to teach.

At various points in the play, Petra's marital future is alluded to: it is clear that she and Billing had feelings for one another but she quickly becomes disillusioned when she learns that the newspaper run by Hovstad is more concerned with keeping its readership than telling the truth. Hovstad, in contrast to Petra, is a more practical but dishonest radical. He may have views which are in line with Petra's own political philosophy but he is so focused on his ultimate ideological aims that he states "if I want to carry my public with me on the path that leads to liberty and progress, I must not frighten them away ... as a matter of fact that is Billing's idea and not mine" (IV). Petra does not believe in telling a lie to serve a short-term political need.

Q2. Choose a theme or topic salient to democracy that you find in this play. Explain the theme's relevance and presence in the play.

One of the central questions of An Enemy of the People is how an unpopular truth can come to light in an enclosed and often paranoid bureaucracy or institution. This issue has arose on many occasions in modern political life with the phenomenon of whistleblowing. Whistleblowers have revealed corruption in government departments such as the Defense Department and Pentagon as well as corporate organizations like WorldCom and Enron. Yet they are often extremely unpopular and viewed as betrayers. This can be seen in the attitude expressed to Dr. Stockmann in the play. There is a common, popular mentality of blaming the messenger rather than considering the validity of what he says in an objective light.

Even people who know what whistleblowers say to be true, they may be resistant to the responsibility that truth requires of them. This can also be seen in An Enemy of the People. The media is very reluctant to bring Stockmann's information to light because it may cause the newspaper to become unpopular and damage the other causes the editors are attempting to advance. Whistleblowers need a platform. Other than the government (which may be corrupt and unreceptive, or might actually be the entity the whistleblower is attempting to expose, as it is in An Enemy of the People) a brave and honest media channel is necessary for the whistleblower to be able to spread his message. Stockmann attempts to circumvent this by going around the government and the press and trying to talk to the people directly but he lacks credibility in their eyes and this strategy backfires. People become less rather than more interested in believing him.

The play suggests that unfortunately, politicians and other people charged with upholding the public's health are not always willing or able to be forthcoming about the truth and give whistleblowers with evidence the voice they deserve. If there is a failure by the media and other people in power to enable people such as Dr. Stockmann to get the truth heard, then the public will only hear a distorted, false version from someone else. A good parallel with this is McCarthyism. Because McCarthy was for a long time supported by the media through televising his witch hunt-like hearings attempting to find communists in every facet of American government, spanning from the State Department to the movie industry, he received a great deal of popular support. The media seemed to be giving the public 'what it wanted' by giving voice to McCarthy's ideology and ignoring the whistleblowers who opposed him but the way in which the subject had been presented… READ MORE

How to Reference "Truth Telling and the Enemy of the People" Essay in a Bibliography

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