DIfficulty

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Farah Al Bayaa 

Professor Dania Adra

English 203 

October 9, 2015

The Social Contract: Is Man Truly Free?  

Bounded with chains that is how we live. As the picture portrays, man has imprisoned himself in the laws that were ought to liberate and moralize him. However, man is inherently evil and corrupt; those who belong to a high power will tame the inferior under the social order that restricts ones natural liberty and in return one gains civil and moral liberty. Yet what is civil and moral liberty? It is the obedience of the laws regardless to it being fairly given or not. Thus, man becomes a slave of true freedom and liberty that he will constantly long for. 

Similarly, this picture portrays the struggles lebanese citizens have been encountering; we have been tamed by the superior for so long and believed the false promises of a true democracy and a non corruptive system until we have bounded our lives with chains that restrict our freedom of thought and speech. We became slaves to the masters of exploitation that have bribed their way to power, robbed our municipalities, sold our country, and left us starving for an education or a job or a real life. Yet we have restricted our natural liberty by the social contract that limits mans behavior in return of being a thinking human and therefor we’ve become hopeless.

As mentioned above, The Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau states the main idea that man is born free yet he isn’t free in real life. (Rousseau 114) In fact the thesis statement clearly explains that man is bounded by laws that regulate his liberty and nature (Rousseau 15). As Rousseau stated man believes that he is the master of others yet he is enslaved more than they are, and this slavery has been legitimized under the state, under the social contract that offers man moral and civil liberty with regard to the freedom of speech and action (Rousseau 114) . According to Rousseau in a civil state man will find himself forced to deprive himself from the advantages he gains from nature, and in return he will become a true human being that is characterized by morality and freedom of speech, action, and thought (Rousseau 114). If mans rights under the social contract were given he will be living in happiness of transitioning from a thinking animal to a human being (Rousseau 115). Yet if those advantages were not given, then there is no prediction to what man might do. Hence, man becomes enslaved under the law and the belief that he is completely free.

In comparison to the photo, it concurs the idea Jean Jacques Rousseau has explained in his text. Both the photo and the text portray the limits human beings are bounded by, these limits have enslaved mankind because their civil liberty has not been given properly and Lebanon is the best served example to this statement. Nowadays we are witnessing several protests every week due to the corruption in the system, the lack of efficiency in governmental performance, the lack accountability, and most importantly the lack of every citizens primary needs that range from electricity, water, and proper garbage disposal. It is true that we are not free within the states we live in as Jean Jacques Rousseau stated, however we are supposed to be given our rights as citizens of a country to ensure our limited freedom. Yet, when our rights are being violated, what will be the end result? Will man expose his beastly nature and let go of what is moral and civil? Or will man further enslave himself and fall into the claws of injustice?

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Work cited:                                             

Rousseau, Jean Jacques. “The Social Contract“. Shifting narratives. E.d. Zane S. Sinno, Lina

Bioghlu-Karkanawi, Dorota Fleszar, Najla Jarkas, Emma Moughabghab, Jennifer 

M. Nish, Rima Rantisi, and Abir Ward.  Consolation and Research, Educart, 2015. Print.