Chained Liberty

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       AbouHamdan1

Yasmine Abou Hamdan

Ms Dania Adra

English 203

10 October 2015

Chained Liberty

             Water pouring out of springs, flows freely with no limits, unbounded! Water is born free…Naturally free…Then, people control its destiny, draw its path, they build dams, they build channels and force the water’s movement. The water still seems to be free, to flow freely but in fact its freedom is chained with people’s will and limitations.

             The preceding is a demonstration of what Rousseau has dedicated most of his writings to. Rousseau believes that man is born free and all we have to do is protect this freedom, but what actually society does is chain this freedom as he says, ”Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”(Rousseau 114).However, in his book “The Social Contract”, Rousseau decides that after what society has altered, it is so hard to maintain the “natural liberty” instead, and in attempt to save our liberty, we shall base our social order on agreements, he says, “But it doesn’t come from nature, so it must be based on agreements”(Rousseau 114).Rousseau captures reality in his writings, as it is true that the liberty we pretend to have is fake. Liberty and freedom are not based on conditions, are not determined by laws. Freedom is a natural trait born with us so there is no need for society to give us this freedom. Thus, all society is doing is penetrating our natural liberty and replacing it with “civil liberty”, an illusion of freedom!

             My voice is strongly expressed in the lines of Rousseau’s “The Social Contract”. Where his main idea which says that freedom isn’t given to us by society instead it is naturally born with us. Instead, society steals our freedom and chains our liberty to its rules. Thus, there is agreement between my idea and the main idea and thesis of the text, as we both share the same thought about “natural liberty” and “civil liberty”.

             Nevertheless, the water flowing out of the spring has to meet a river, a lake, an ocean. Each particle of water has no identity if not joined to its fellow particle. These particles complete each other, the particles together give the identity to the river or ocean or lake… This, raises the question of whether what Rousseau says about actual liberty being maintained by staying away from society is actually right? Is our nature discovered through individuality? At this point, we can’t fully agree with Rousseau, because human nature can’t blossom without the “group” or society. In addition, being free in a world like ours needs society to be hand in hand! The protests and movements Lebanon is encountering today are the best evidence of the need of society.

Work cited

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques.”The Social Contract. “Shifting Narratives: A Reader For Academic Writing.Ed. Sinno,Zane , Bioghlu-Karkanawi, lina , Flezsar, Dororta , Jarkas, Najla , Moughabghab , Emma , M.Nish, Jennifer, Rantisi, Rami, Ward, Abir.Beirut:Educart,2015.Print.