I connected The
Contrast with Henri Bergson’s Laughter when Bergson brought up the idea that laughter, in a community, is supposed
to be corrective for the whole community. Royall Tyler wrote The Contrast as a satire of modern
America at that time. Each character represented or brought up some vice or
something Tyler saw in American society that he believed to be wrong. Colonel Manly was portrayed as what
Tyler believed to be a good man.
In The Contrast,
Colonel Manly gives a speech on why greed and luxury is bad for America.
(pg.38-39) One of the things he says is “…Luxury! Which enervates both soul and
body, by opening a thousand new sources of enjoyment, opens, also, a thousand
new sources of contention and want…” Personally I both agree with this statement
and disagree.
Luxury under some circumstances is good and helpful such as
when someone goes on vacation. The time off of work and from a busy life is
needed and the luxury of staying in a hotel, not having to cook for yourself
etc. is really nice for a short period of time. When it gets dangerous is when
people continually live this way and expect these luxuries instead of seeing
them as such.
So why then does Colonel Manly seem to think all luxury is
bad, even things that aren’t necessarily luxury but common in society? His
sister Charlotte urges him to get his military coat tailored to the height of
common fashion. Considering most men and women kept up with what clothes were
popular, this wasn’t exactly a luxury so much as a common occurrence. However
when Colonel Manly replies he says, “…there was a time when this coat was
respectable, and some people even thought that those men…, at least deserved
that the poverty of their appearance should not be ridiculed.” (pg. 23) So in
essence, Colonel Manly doesn’t tailor his old coat not because he’s too cheap, but because he wants to show his patriotism for his country
and for the men who fought with him. With this being said he seems to further
extrapolate this idea into all of his life; living meagerly and not gambling or
spending money where it doesn’t need to be spent. Colonel Manly has seen and
lived in true depravity and so chooses to honor his experience, along with the
men who died next to him, with frugality and meekness.
I agree with the lifestyle that you have found Col. Manly to live. For example, one does not always need the most up-to-date fashion trends that cost hundreds of dollars when you can go to Wal-Mart and buy a t-shirt and Wrangler blue jeans for thirty bucks. In my post, I said Col. Manly was a true American, but now, in addition to that, I see him as the kind of person I can identify with.
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