Big Brother Is Watching

I came across the cemented face of this woman on an apartment building at 305 east 63rd street. I observed that her face was not as  characteristically grotesque and terrifying as that of other gargoyles. However, her humanistic features coupled with her anguished expression produced a feeling that was more unsettling to me than that of a typical gargoyle. With her lips pursed and eyes closed, she conveyed a real sense of sadness and anxiety. It was clear that the gargoyle was built to play on the influences from Gothic architecture. But I knew that beyond the aesthetics, lie a rumor of an antiquated Catholic tradition in which gargoyles were made to inspire fear within bystanders.  They are said to have served the purpose to remind illiterate Catholics of the presence of evil among us. This allowed them to extend their influence over the masses; many of which could not read at the time. I chose to blog about this gargoyle because I found the woman's expression of anxiety interesting in light of several books we’ve read this semester; namely in the uses of fear of sin and damnation as a means to control people’s thoughts and actions within certain Christian societies. 

 Over the years the biblical concepts of evil, sin and damnation have been magnified to the point of serious contention. Ideas of sin and damnation have been paired so frequently that we assume causality between the two. In actuality, the book of revelation is all but one chapter in the Bible. Meanwhile, the majority of the New Testament uplifts God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. At times, the Christian Church seems to harbor obsessive fixation on sin, spanning across denominations and historical contexts. By promoting fear of sin and damnation, the Church is then able to exert and maintain authority over adherents. However, in doing so it creates a rigid society that discourages freedom and encourages suppression. 

This problematic phenomenon was exemplified throughout Frederic’s The Damnation of Theron Ware and Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain. Theron is situation in the midst of a Methodist Revivals modeled after Great Awakenings of the 1800’s. As a young pastor, he finds himself at a crossroads when his curiosities draw him towards ideologies rooted in science, history and aesthetics. He is able to explore and grapple with these topics through his interactions with Dr. Ledsmar, Celia and Father Forbes, but is simultaneously distanced from his faith. In his new found intellectual freedom tempts him to think thoughts that he had previously suppressed; namely extramarital sex. In an ironic plot twist, his ultimate fall and damnation materializes in ostracization from the Methodist community. Thus, in allowing himself to indulge in “sinful” and “ungodly” pleasures, he practices the opposite of what he is meant to be preaching. Similarly, sin and damnation play a crucial role in John’s life. He internalizes the fear uplifted by the Black Church and suppresses his own intellectual, social and sexual desires. The Saints, his parents, and God himself, act as a omniscient, watchful eyes onto his everyday life.

For me, the gargoyle's expression on the building embodied the anguish experienced in both Theron and John lives. Their struggles stemmed from having to navigate between wanting to explore their humanly desires and wanting to live a godly life and be saved. The practice of emphasizing biblical sin and damnation lives on today in some forms of Christian fundamentalism. Other forms of Christianity chose to uplift love instead. Regardless of denomination or method of preaching, the Bible claims that we will all face God’s ultimate judgement in the end. In the meantime God; like Big Brother and Santa Claus, keeps a watchful eye on all of us in preparation for judgement day. However, until then, it is probably more psychologically beneficial to live a life that is free rather than one that is plagued with fear.

References 

Baldwin, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain. New York: Dial, 1963. Print.  

Frederic, Harold. The Damnation of Theron Ware. New York: Penguin Group, 1986. Print.